M11xR1 DW1520 WiFi channel 13

Currently using a DW1520 WiFi card with the following driver.

Driver Provider: Broadcom
Driver date: 19/08/2010
Driver Version: 5.100.57.8
Digital Signer: Microsoft

Does anyone think there is a chance of being able to use channel 13 (New Zealand) on this card.

The original driver only stated country: US.

And the doco only indicates devices purchased in Japan have channels beyond 11 (14 for Japan)

Is there any setting that would make channel 13 available?

Thank you for any advise.

 

oh crap. I can't remember what mine said.

quick thoughts...

Driver by region - google for options
settings for adaptor - any options you missed?
region settings - adaptor/os? (or even just Dell support location)
Regedit to include more options?

Lenovo IdeaPad S Series Forum • View topic - How to enable wireless channels 12,13, and 14.

This is what is listed on Malaysia site:
Dell Wireless 1520 802.11n MiniCard WLAN for Desktops
Release Date: 27/5/2010
Version: A04 5.60.48.35

I wish I could recall what channel options there were... if I didn't have the option either then tempted to suggest regedit.

 

Thanks, this has given me a few more areas to check.

I found my WiFi setting in

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E972-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\0007\Ndi\params\Location]

I've done a bit of reading and it's almost as if there's a bespoke card for only two markets.

If you purchase your system in Japan you get channel 14 else you get US and channels 1-11.

On the original driver one did have Location: US.

I have added it in the registry, but it's not showing up as an option to set on the driver properties.

Available properties are:

Location

Users who purchased their DW WLAN Card in the United States have USA as the default location; users who purchased their DW WLAN Card in Japan have Japan as their default location. For all other users, the Location property is not available. See Radio Approvals for additional information.

Setting Advanced Properties: DW WLAN Card User Guide

More checking, tinkering and poking.....

 

When I installed the driver on an R1 under Windows XP, I ran into the same issue, but under Windows 7, my wifi on channel 13 was detected without an issue.

(Europe based)

 

Hello, you can modify some settings from the Wireless Card:

Go to Device Manager, right click your wireless network adapter and go to Properties. In the advanced tab select the Channel Property and change the Value to the same number as the one you chose on the Access Point(Channel 13). Disable and then re-enable the wireless connection.

Also you could check your router settings, here is an article that might help you out.

Worst case scenario, you could just set everything to Channel 11.
Let us know

 

Thank you Frank for your reply.

Sorry, I've been away..(damn those white suits that only buckle up at the back.)

The DW1520 WiFi mini-card doesn't have any obvious channel settings.

There are settings for preferred channel at connection time, but these settings do not release channel 13 for use nor do they even show it to exist.

I have gone back to the original DW1520 driver:

Driver Provider: Broadcom
Driver Date: 8/12/2009
Driver Version: 5.60.48.18
Digital Signer: Miscrosoft

I did have a look at the Win7 registry in the hope I could manually set EU or even JP as a country and thus release channel 13, but I didn't have any success.
In the Location field in the DW1520 Advanced settings I only have Country: US.

In the newer versions of the driver up to the latest one that I could find they don't show a country Location option. So by dropping back to the original old version I was hoping to continue to investigate that one country setting (US) and then extended those options out to include JP(Japan) at least. This is on the outside chance the card would pick up this change.

As one can see from reading the Dell DW1520 configuration guide, channels settings options are extremely limited or even nonexistent.

So, as Dell seems to be implying, "Have a hot dog, enjoy America, as there is no other countries."

Dell does refer to the following statement

Radio Approvals

It is important to ensure that you use your Dell Wireless WLAN Card only in countries where it is approved for use. To determine whether you are allowed to use your Dell Wireless WLAN Card in a specific country, check to see if the radio type number that is printed on the identification label of your device is listed on the radio approval list posted on the Dell support site at Welcome to Dell Technical Support.

In countries other than the United States and Japan, verify that the Location setting from the Regional Options tab in Regional and Language Options (from Control Panel) has been set to the country in which you are using your Dell Wireless WLAN Card. This ensures compliance with local regulatory restrictions on transmit power and optimizes network performance. Any deviation from the permissible power and frequency settings for the country of use is an infringement of national law and may be punished as such. ​

Having the regional Options setting set to New Zealand doesn't appear to make any difference.

I haven't given up yet, and I'm sure there is a solution that doesn't involve acquiring a bigger hammer.

 

have you tried the driver from Japan?
ドライバおよびダウンロード | デル [日本]

Dell Wireless 1520 802.11n MiniCard WLAN for Desktops
リリース日: 2010/05/27
バージョン: A04 5.60.48.35
重要度: Recommended
ダウンロードタイプ: ドライバ
ファイルフォーマット: Hard-Drive
ファイルサイズ: 79MB

 

Mushy mushy hi!! No.

Thanks for the info. I'll give it a go.

 

lol. moshi?

 

Thank you, but I'm OK, I've had Ice Cream and chocolate pudding.

With the magic of Windows Install the Japanese driver download turned into English and reverted to US again.

It is listed as the same R262653 driver file, HOWEVER, there are three folders in the unzipped content listed as

DRIVER_JPN
DRIVER_ROW
DRIVER_US

Now that looks promising. I just need to overwrite the existing US drivers with those in the DRIVER_ROW (Rest of the World) folder.

So new restore point, best pair of resplendent jeweled battle shorts and game on.

Channel 13 Enabled within 2.4GHz frequency!!​

Well that was almost to easy.

I downloaded the recommended Dell M11xR1 DW1520 R262653.exe (Zip file)

I then extracted and installed the Driver.

This created a US (Location) WiFi driver. This was the case even with the Language and environment options were set to New Zealand. In this configurations channel 13 is not available.

I then went back to the Dell Driver install folder and renamed DRIVER_US to DRIVER_NZ and DRIVER_ROW to DRIVER_US.

Update - Another option is to install DW1520 driver R262653.exe as per normal. When completed, then within Device Manager, Network Adapters, got to the DW1520 Wireless-N WLAN Half-Mini Card -> Properties -> Driver, upgrade the driver my selecting the drivers within the Dell driver folder named DRIVER_ROW. This should have the same outcome.

In the Dell Driver folder of the WiFi unzipped files I then evoked the IS.exe application again to re-install the DW1520 driver.

Installed, Restarted the M11xR1 and boo yaa. I have channel 13.

Now I haven't approached this in a considered and thoughtful way and there may be a more refined way, but this approach has delivered WiFi Channel 13 on the 2.4GHz frequency.

This gives me a little slice of my own 2.4GHz frequency without to much fear someone else is going to encroach on my patch of the woods.

Current Driver Installed.

Driver Provider: Broadcom
Driver Date: 21/01/2010
Driver Version: 5.60.48.35
Digital Signer: Microsoft

Thanks for all those involved who helped solve this problem.

 

Yahoo! Would recommend some ice cream to celebrate... or maybe some puddin'... but you already had some.