Intel 6205 wireless completely unreliable in X220

The past few months my x220 has been acting up a little, and I think most of the fingers should be pointed at the 6205 card in there.

It started out being a bi-weekly occurrence I think... where my wifi connection would completely drop (appears connected in windows, but other hotspots disappear.. disconnecting from my AP = no APs to connect to).

Eventually I upgraded to Windows 8 and installed the latest drivers from Intel... and the problem slowly got worse. I then found even newer drivers off of Lenovo's site and the bug continues to persist. Now it happens multiple times a day... completely random. Sometime after a couple hours of laptop use.. sometimes within 5 minutes. The only way to clear this out is to restart the computer (be it safely, or ripping the battery out). Disabling the driver and re-enabling while in windows won't clear it, uninstalling / rolling back drivers won't cure it, I've tried everything...

Feels like the only thing left is to replace the 6205... but I hope there's a miracle solution somebody has. Googling around people seem to have the same issue.

(also, btw... Windows 8 has like a 15% chance of locking up while booting up... I've updated the bios and it still randomly locks. really frustrating when I have to restart my computer just to fix the wifi... now I gotta rip the battery out so I can restart a locked up windows...)

I'm going nuts! Also... out of warranty, so don't suggest that.

 

Perhaps you want to try booting from a Linux disc to see how well the WiFi card works. You needn't install it and it might tell if it's the card or Windows to blame.

 

Open it up and make sure you have both antennas connected.

You have a good dual band 300Mbps intel 6205 wireless card but what about your router and how it's configured.

Have you flushed the router cache lately?

Is it a quality router that pairs well with the wireless card.

For Windows 7 the router security should be set to WPA2 AES or WPA2 Personal if you don't have an AES option.

You should pick a channel where there's the least traffic.

The 2.4ghz SSID and 5ghz SSID should be named differently.

The wireless card should have power saving disabled.

Do you have the FREE inSSIDer program installed so you can check your channel and connection strength.

How's the connection strength while in the room where the router is located?

How's the connection strength as you move out of the router room and have walls and floors between the notebook and router.

Do you have good Internet service?

Bluetooth signals,microwaves,large metal objects and cordless phone can cause interference on the 2.4ghz band.

 

Quite strange as people seem to have more problems with the Ultimate-N 6300 cards rather than the Advanced-N 6205 cards on the Sandy Bridge platform, before you upgraded to Windows 8 have you updated the wireless drivers from Lenovo or even from Intel themselves? I personally have the 6300 card in my T420 using the latest generic Intel drivers and generally it has been rock solid. WhatsThePoint above mentioned some good points about configuring and diagnosing the wireless adapter settings so try that before doing anything else.

 

6205 cards are good wireless card, i have them in lot of my ThinkPads and they are completely fine. Whereas the Intel 5100 and 5300 have lot premature failures, where they see the wireless hotspot but can't connect to them.

I think WhatsThePoint suggested is a good start for looking at the issues.

 

I could check out the linux thing... but that would take awhile. Guess I'll play with that over break.

I'll check sometime. I've never had problems with connectivity or up/down speed before. The fact that windows NO LONGER EVEN SEES THE ADAPTER when this happens is the worrying part lol... that has nothing to do with antennas. .

To answer your questions about the rest of my wireless infrastructure... that stuff is all configured just fine. WPA2 AES, Good Channel, everything. Have multiple computers, laptops, and phones and everything connects to it just fine... nothing there has changed over the years... it's my laptop that has slowly degraded. I also connect to multiple different kinds of networks on school campus too. One is public, one is WPA2 Enterprise... both used to work great... now both have the exact same problem I described earlier with the adapter just disappearing.

I know the 6205 is a good card... but something is messed up with it.

 

Are you sure the wireless switch is in the on position? The front of the laptop is where the wireless switch for ThinkPads is located.

 

Yep it is in the on position. I've tried changing it to off, and then back on too to clear the problem, doesn't work.

Just a btw, the switch is on the left side of the laptop near the expresscard slot.

 

The fact that Windows "NO LONGER EVEN SEES THE ADAPTER" when the issue happens would make me want to eliminate software/driver problems first. As mentioned by ZaZ, try booting from a Linux boot disc and see if you still have the issue, that will quickly tell you if it's hardware or software/driver related.

It's not difficult to create a bootable Linux USB stick or DVD and doesn't take long.

 

Well I have a copy ubuntu installed to a USB drive and everything is working so far. I'll use this like I normally would and see if the wireless ever takes a dump again.

 

Have used Ubuntu since I made that post until now. The laptop completely shut off for no reason and restarted (AC adapter was plugged in and charged battery is attached... so it's not a loss of power).

Shutting off must've been linux's response to the 6205 crapping up.

Can I buy a regular 6205 off of ebay? Or does it have to be a specially made one for the X220?

 

I wouldn't be so sure about that.

Having been a recreational Linux user for years - mostly on ThinkPads - I don't recall ever experiencing a shutdown due to a wireless card malfunction.

If it happened only once, I wouldn't pay too much mind to the event in question.

Nope. You need a Lenovo-issued card with a FRU number.

You may want to try a different model, though...to see whether it would work better for your needs.

Good luck.

 

Aren't my only other options more fancy? (and one of them is 3x3..) Not inlcuding the non-intel thinkpad-branded ones which I hear blow. I've heard the BIOS is also very picky...

I have an intel 5100 sitting around and I'd swap that in a heart beat if I knew the BIOS wouldn't throw a fit. Is that no longer a problem?

 

Lenovo whitelists WLAN cards within generation, I highly doubt the 5100 will work as it was never sold with the X220 (only ThinkPad WLAN, 6205, 6300, 1000/1030 IIRC).

 

Agreed.

I'd give ThinkPad WLAN a shot, but I'm not an Intel fan to begin with. Not a single ThinkPad/FrankenPad in this household runs on an Intel wireless card.

 

Can I install a 3x3 card when my laptop only has two antennas? Which two plugs should I use on the card?

Do these cards need to be from a thinkpad / x220 specifically? Or does the BIOS only compare the model number to some list?

 

I found quite the opposite, Realtek cards are a major POS. My Z61t came with stock Realtek card, random disconnects and slow internet. Upgraded to Intel 3945 ABG, all problems gone. I refuse to buy ThinkPads with ThinkPad Wifi.

It whitelists by FRU I believe, I haven't tested a newer generation FRU (ie sold with newer generation FRU in an older model that supports the same card but different FRU). You should use the white/black, grey is only for the 3rd antennae.

 

You must have bumped into a defective card.

Intel 3945 is one of the two worst wireless cards (the other one being the older 2915ABG) that I've ever used on any ThinkPad...

 

lol I've had like 8 laptops with 3945 ABG wireless card, never had a problem. Eh I probably did, but my 2nd Z61t had the same wireless card and it also was a major pos. Thankfully Lenovo FRU 3945ABG card is like 2.50 shipped on eBay lol.

 

Yeah to be honest the 3945ABG card that came in my T61 originally was my most reliable and consistent wi-fi card. It never dropped out and always connected first time, I replaced it with a newer card (Advanced-6205N) in the end just to take advantage of the N band of my new router.

I think you should be able to use 2 antennas on a 3x3 card as some people have done this before, it should be the black and grey wire that you just need to connect to the card.

 

I have not had reliability issues with the Intel 6205 in my X220 (which I have owned for about 1-1/2 years). I connect to a number of wireless access points without a problem. Disconnects are not a problem either. I am using Windows 7, Windows 8 preview (to a limited extent), Arch XFCE, Fedora 17 Gnome,and Mageia 2 KDE.

In Windows 7 I find the adapter slow to connect to all wireless AP's (about a minute or so), but I am using the drivers for the X230 which I installed a few months ago to get WiDi working. I plan on trying the X220 drivers again soon, and will probably stick with them if WiDi still works. At the time I installed the X230 drivers, the X220 drivers were missing a necessary file for WiDi.

OT EDIT: I removed the existing Intel Wireless Software and WiDi software, and installed the latest version 14.x of the Intel Wireless Software (with WiDi components) and the latest version of the WiDi software from the driver matrix for the X220. WiDi would run, but it would not connect to my Netgear PV2000 adapter.

Looked at the Readme for the WiDi software and saw the following:

As shown above: whether running Windows 8 or Windows 7, you need version 15.x of the Intel Wireless Software for WiDi to work. On the driver matrix for the X220 there is a version 15.x, but only for Windows 8. On the driver matrix page for the X230 there is a version 15.x for Windows 7 and a different 15.x for Windows 8. Looking at the Readme for 15.x for Windows 7 on the X230 page, it says that it supports the X220 (among other models).

I uninstalled the Intel WiDi software and the Intel Wireless software. Rebooted, then installed the Intel Wireless 15.x software for Windows 7 (from the X230 driver matrix page) [NOTE: When installing the Intel Wireless Software, when given the option for Typical or Custom install, choose Custom and then choose to add the WiDi component. Otherwise the necessary WiDi software is not installed]. Finally I rebooted then installed the WiDi software from the X220 driver matrix page. WiDi works fine with this software combo.

 

Hey guys what's the most stable intel wifi card out 6300, 6250, 6205, 5300? Bluetooth would be nice but I've heard the bluetooth makes the 6300 slow or unstable.

 

If you have WWAN antennas to spare in your X220, you can use one of them as a 3rd Wi-Fi antenna. I use one with my Atheros HB112AGN 3x3 card on my (de-whitelisted) X220. The WWAN antennas aren't properly tuned for wifi, but as a 3rd antenna it really doesn't matter a hell of a lot. It's still better than 2 antennas.

Your system restarting abruptly is certainly weird, that can happen with hardware errors. If your card dropped off of the bus or stopped responding it would give you at most a kernel oops but not a hard reset like that.

 

I've owned all 4 cards and they are all stable. I've owned 2 x 6300, 1 right now in my Alienware. 6250 WiMax in my brother's Clevo, 6205 in my sold X220t and my Vostro 1500 has been upgraded to 5300. There is no Bluetooth in the 6300, only __30 cards have Bluetooth.

 

The 6205 was working great for me under Windows 7, but I noticed that it was a bit more temperamental under Win 8. After I updated the driver directly from the Intel site (rather than from the Lenovo driver matrix), however, the 6205 has been a lot better.

 

Just took my laptop apart to inspect the situation. Everything was seated fine and both cables attached properly to the card. I reseated the 6205 and put it together to see if it will work any better.

I also noticed there is a red and blue antenna cables not plugged in. These are for WWAN like mentioned earlier, right? I might be buying a 6300 off ebay soon, go ahead and plug the red or blue to middle (3rd) plug on the 6300 for fun? What exactly makes these not "tuned" for wifi? Are both the red and blue equally a good one to plug in or is one better than the other?

Thanks all.

 

Hi guys,
I'm completely going crazy with centrino N 6205 also on my dell M6700...
under both win 7 and 8 there's no chance to have it to work as a normal wifi to connect to internet and as like an hotspot...
the card seems to work, since I run a live fedora 18 distro linux from dvd and the wifi is able to connect to internet.

any advices pls?
(of course I tried intel driver etc etc...)

thanks!!

 

what's your opinion on the 6235?

 

I second that question. Not sure I'll ever use the bluetooth, but if 6235 is OK I'll likely go that way as I can get one on eBay (HP/Lenovo specific) for $35.