Surface Laptop 3, Surface Pro 7 suffering slow Wi-Fi after waking from sleep

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An Intel Wi-Fi adapter bug is causing headaches for Surface Pro 7 and Laptop 3 users, but there's a possible temporary workaround.

Surface Laptop 3 13.5
Surface Laptop 3 13.5 (Image credit: Daniel Rubino/Windows Central)

What you need to know

  • Many Surface Laptop 3 and Surface Pro 7 owners have reported issues with slow Wi-Fi after waking the devices from sleep.
  • The issue appears to be related to an Intel Wi-Fi driver.
  • Microsoft hasn't acknowledged the issue yet, but there is a potential workaround.

Over the past week, several Reddit users have reported issues with their Surface Pro 7 and Intel-based Surface Laptop 3 devices have suffered from an issue that causes Wi-Fi speeds to tank after waking them from sleep. Microsoft has yet to acknowledge the issue, but there is currently an open thread on the Microsoft Answers (opens in new tab) forum as well.

According to another Reddit post, the issue appears to be related to how the Intel AX201 Wi-Fi adapter handles connectivity when entering and waking from sleep. When the Surface Pro 7 or Surface Laptop 3 is put to sleep, it disables one antenna while putting the other into a low-power state, which is meant to save battery life. The problem is that the disabled antenna doesn't appear to be activated and the other remains in low power mode when waking the device from sleep, cutting Wi-Fi connection speeds.

In the same post, the poster, Wiidesire, has posted a potential workaround:

  • Go to the hardware manager -> network adapter -> Intel AX201 -> Advanced -> MIMO power save mode -> Change "Auto SMPS" to "No SMPS". While this resulted in the bug occurring less frequently, only changing the setting to "Static SMPS" (-> disabling MIMO) eliminated the problem entirely for me.
  • (Optional) Go to the Windows Settings App -> System -> Power & Sleep -> When my PC is asleep and on battery power, disconnect from network -> Change "Never" to "Always"

The issue appears to be related to driver version 21.40.1.3 for the Intel AX201 adapter.

See more

Presumably, we'll see Microsoft push out a fix in the coming days or weeks. However, if you've encountered this bug, you can attempt to temporarily work around it by trying the steps above. Importantly, you should avoid installing Intel's generic AX201 drivers, as they are likely to introduce further issues.

We'll update this post if and when Microsoft acknowledges the problem and provides a timetable for an update.

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Dan Thorp-Lancaster
Dan Thorp-Lancaster

Dan Thorp-Lancaster is the Editor in Chief for Windows Central. He began working with Windows Central as a news writer in 2014 and is obsessed with tech of all sorts. You can follow Dan on Twitter @DthorpL and Instagram @heyitsdtl. Got a hot tip? Send it to daniel.thorp-lancaster@futurenet.com.
9 Comments
  • Another Surface, another wifi issue. I was hoping with the move away from Marvell we would be away from these issues.
  • I guess if anything it shows it's not just Marvell lol
  • So nobody at Microsoft has been testing these new Surfaces? You would think someone would have run into the issue before they were released to the public.
  • Bugs happen all the time no matter what, it's a fact of life.
  • Yes they do but THIS? Are you serious, this should have been caught by QA, I noticed this issue after 5minutes when comparing the amd version with the intel. The qcom on the AMD was connected at 800mbps while the intel was connected at 400bps, they were side by side!! 5 minutes!!!!
  • I also had the AMD 15" bluescreen on me randomly several times but I figured that had something do with the AMD chip not being optimized (drivers, blah, blah)and I had already decided to return it to get the Intel version so I didnt care.
  • Yeah, I have heard of BSOD on the AMD ones from a few users and reviewers. Likely right about the drivers not being optimized yet.
  • This should not happen with hardware and software controlled by Microsoft.
  • What about software controlled by Intel?