How to fix issues with Killer Lan

[flobelix]

Recently all MSI Gaming, MPower and XPower class mainboards as well as MSI Gaming notebooks do come with Killer Lan or even Killer WLan. Many reports about issues related to the Killer NICs can be found and result in a lot of frustration for the users.

Actually these problems (bluescreens, lags, bandwith limitations, connection losses, blocking entire net communication even of non Killer devices) aren't caused by the Killer NIC itself but the Killer software suite (meanwhile called Qualcomm Atheros Performance Suite) which controls the networking.

Unfortunately Qualcomm Atheros (as well as the Killer software packages available on MSI sites) does not allow to just install the driver but forces to install the software to install the driver.

To fix all issues while keeping the NIC fully functional one should use pure drivers without the suite which are offered >>here<<

Download this and decompress the archive.

Now we need to get rid of the Suite. To do so we'll use the Killer Cleaner (>>64bit<< / >>32bit<<):

 

This will completely remove the Killer software including the driverwhich is safer than just uninstalling the software via Windows (which will still also remove the driver). As you will lose the ethernet connection you should have the driver downloaded above ready to install.

It doesn't come with an installer but you can just enter Windows device manager after a reboot and choose to update the driver for the unknown ethernet device listed there. Now just point to the driver directory and Windows will do the rest. Afterwards you have a perfectly working ethernet without any software fuss.

If you like the software you can still try updated versions on the >>Qualcomm Atheros site<< too and revert to the pure driver setup whenever the software proves to be unstable or not working with your setup.

 

[tass42r0x]

i followed this threads instructions and most speed problems seemed to have been corrected (for now)

but i am still getting unusual long load times on the connection between my PC and my router, my 2 other computers are fine though

takes at least 2-3 minutes for the load to complete, can i get a point in the right direction to correct this as it makes my SSD redundant as hell

thanks

 

[BlueFear]

It works, thank you.
But this "KillerCleaner" does not uninstall the Killer software. It's just deleting the driver and keeping the software. You should uninstall it from control panel as well.

 

[Maja199]

It doesn't work... I've uninstalled the old driver and the Killer Suit, used the Killer Cleaner and installed the new driver from the "Killer E220x/Win7"-Folder. The installation worked fine but it seems that there is no lan-connection. Before, with the old driver, I had a ping about 17, download speed about 12mb and upload speed 1mb. Now I have a ping about 52, download speed 5mb and a upload speed about 0.60mb. This is the same result as if I'm just connected with wLan.

By the way: I'm going through a dlan-adapter in the internet.

And before I had the problem that the connection has often disrupted for no reason and I had internet speed-drop downs.

Has somebody an idea?

 

[flobelix]

It works fine. I'm just using the pure drivers too and I don't have any problems. Using the pure drivers does not affect download speed or ping. The problem might be realted to your general Internet access. TRy connecting the pc directly to the Internet (not via dlan). 

 

[Zumba.Crew2012]

I'm also having problems at boot where the Ethernet cord isn't recognized at all.

*i have to disable the connection and re-enable multiple times just to get the system to recognize it; even then it's a 50/50 chance it will hit a dns error down the line.

I have never downloaded the killer suite on this os(clean boot) and am using "pure" drivers.

Starting to regret my decision to go with this board. Having to ghetto rig a board really tees me off.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[flobelix]

Open a new, own topic.

 

[norbi07]

Hallo,

mit dem Mainboard Z87-GD65 Gaming hat alles geklappt und die Internetverbindung ist nach der Umstellung so wie vorher mit leichter Verbesserung im Download, aber im ?blichen Rahmen der Schwankungen - vielen Dank!

Und nun das Ganze noch einmal als TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language):

Hello,

everything has worked out fine with the Mainboard Z87-GD65 Gaming and the internet connection is as before with slight improvement with the download, but in line with the usual operating fluctuations - thank you!

Regards
norbi07

 

[flobelix]

Thanks for the report but only English language in posts please: >>Please read and comply with the Forum Rules.<<

 

[daniel.burgess.338863]

Can someone please give a link for the most up to date file of the Drivers again with just the Driver only please I think the ones in the initial post are out of date

 

[flobelix]

No, they are not. New Qualcomm Atheros downloads just include a newer software suite version not driver version. Driver is fine and working.

 

[daniel.burgess.338863]

ok good nice to know

 

[flobelix]

 

[daniel.burgess.338863]

No joy for me my PC still blue screens has done since changing the Motherboard & Processor

and I got a MSI Z97 gaming 5 board

 

[flobelix]

Not much to say with this little info. Open an own topic for your issue.

 

[StaticFX]

odd, I havent had any issues so far with the software? everything is running really well (MSI Gaming 5) - I have even used it to throttle down the Origin DL speed (It was hogging)

Cant you just exit the software first, just to test if thats the issue?

 

[Incriminated]

From what i know, performance of latest KillerNIC is still minimalistically lower than IntelNIC... the Pro is this great software ... that makes dissappear unfriendly online-teamchat-messages like this: "Stop downloading pR0n, you laggin!"

Ever thought of configuring your automatic tweaked apps once and for all manually???
Like... go to the application list, find the enlisted programm that you have problems with, browser, i.e., change its priority back from low to normal

Always at least try that first... the killer service feature is a killer feature.

Mine is running pretty nice too.

I agree nice Application-based firewall! App is automatically in list... just click Block. Try that with WIndows-Firewall xD

Also ensure latest drivers...not from MSI badly maintained board-support-download-page... but watch "station-drivers" for more actual drivers for Killer, you always find latest there.

I dont get it... why prefering a more power hungry, slightly less faster Killer of Intel, when you dont use this great feature... whcih Intel dont have...

In case you dont want the Service, you really dont need to uninstall everything and load and install it again without the service... just go into your windows-services and stop the Qualcomm Killer Service... thats it and you are finished.

 

[TDwayne]

Hey guys,

I'm only getting 10,0 Mbps on a brand new gaming desktop, whilst my laptop gets 150,0 Mbps. I tried this fix but it still won't work. Speedtests only give me around 3mb download speed. Anyone knows how i can fix this? Really want to play games but can't do that when the patch/updates take a week to download (@40kb/s).

Thanks in advance.

 

[flobelix]

Open your own thread on your individual issue please.

 

[gamerzworld]

If you're still having BSODs after ditching the software, do a Google search for Guide: Turn your Killer E2200 NIC into Qualcomm Athero AR8161 -- should be the first result from TechPowerUp. The chipset in the Killer lan is actually a Qualcomm Athero AR8161 which has far more stable drivers. This was the only fix that worked for me. Two days now and still no blue screen, where as before I was getting one every few hours.