Ready, set, go! Atheros a/b/g/N in my T60p...Please help!

Alright, I did some research and here's the jist. Apparently, only CTO (Custom To Order) models get the add'l N wire. I opened mine up, and could find no cable near the card. At any rate, I am ready to do this now.

Is it really true that the Atheros cards are simply "better", and have, perhaps, a wider range? I could use a slightly better range, N, or no N. I just installed the Atheros card, and it was quickly found by Vista, but silly me forgot to put the appropriate drivers there beforehand. So back in went the Intel 3945ABG.

I'm going to download the x64 drivers for the Atheros a/b/g/n card now and re-attempt. It takes 5 minutes. All I have to do is remove the palm rest, fingerprint cable, as well as the keyboard, and detach its cable that connects it to the motherboard.

Second question: As someone previously mentioned, I could possibly use a cable that doesn't necessitate going behind the screen, which was great news. There are TWO cables that connect the WWAN card to its antenna on the right side of the screen. I don't use it, as I said before, so would I be taking a risk other than that it would simply not work, by using one of the WWAN antennas coming from the WWAN antenna and put it where the "N antenna" goes?? Also, which of the two cable would I use (one is blue, one red), or does it even matter? Finally, is there any way that I can mess ANYTHING up by attempting this? Anything, such as shorting anything out?

Thanks for any replies. I am so ready!!! lol...At least, so far I know that the card works, and later tonight, I'll reattempt just connecting the non-N cables to see if there is any improvement for G alone. I'd love to hear about my idea about using the one of the WWAN antennas as the N antenna, so to speak!???

As much as I want to do this, under no circumstances do I want to take the risk of screwing up my Thinkpad in any way.

Thanks all!!!!!!!

 

In any case I would use both antennas. 1 may be for 2.4 and other 5ghz. If single band, for MIMO tech to work it prefers two antennas if available, but not required. As for which is which I have no Idea. But if you have a dual band card, Both antennas must be connected to the right ports. You may need to run some scans and determine which works the best.

 

UPDATE:

I just installed the Atheros card after getting the Vista x64 driver installed, and without attaching anything to the N part of it yet, and it is...GULP!!!!....BLAZINGLY FAST!! This thing beats the HELL out of the Intel 3945ABG card. And I'm only using it with 802.11g so far!!!!

This is sick. My network says EXCELLENT now, instead going between Fair, Poor, etc. and..well, I'm just blown a-WAY!!

Now to the N part LOL...as it IS the a/b/g/N card. The gray cable went to the right place, as did the black wire! The third (middle) cable is what I need now, and, well, an N-capable router!

The WWAN card has one red, and one blue, so I don't know which to use there, and I should use WWAN at all.

All I know is that thing is FLYING HIGH now. MUCH more range apparently, as the Intel card was also transmitting at tremendous speeds when I went closer to the router, but now, even in the room I'm in, which is about as far as I can physically be away from the router! What should I do to get wireless-N...

blue68f100: I want to use both antennas...However, I'm not sure where they're supposed to come from, and go on the Atheros card!!???

 

Need to look at the card closely and see if it's labeled on the circuit board. Or if any documentation came with the card.

 

Definitely no documentation...What labeling am I looking for on the circuit board? It says 802.11n, on one of the labels and there are THREE (as opposed to TWO on the Intel 3945ABG card) little connectors on top of the card.

The left one says TR1, the middle one says R0, and the right one TR2. TR1 has the grey cable, and TR2 the black one, which is how it's supposed to be according to Lenovo online documentation. R0 wants a white cable on Thinkpads where the card and wireless-N is installed by default, per the same documentation. I don't have a white cable. The WWAN card has one blue, and one red cable. Obviously I can use only one or the other. Hmm...Any ideas??

Thanks guys!

 

crunchdude

what model/number is the atheros card?

 

nobscot6, SORRY!! for the lateness of my response. I've been carrying the model # around in sig. in other forums LOL...I forgot this forum when I re-installed everything from scratch, now that I am pretty much at the end of this crazy "best of both world's" T60p!

Anyway, the model # of my Atheros card is AR5008. It is also the latest and greatest available from Atheros.

I pretty much resolved all of the questions that I originally created this thread for.

Thanks to all who've helped!

 

aarrgghhhhh

the suspense is killing me............

did you get an N router?? Dual Band?? What kind of speed??

 

where did you get the card? o.o does anyone know this compares to the 4965AGN?

 

This thread might help you.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=209534

 

I got it out of another Thinkpad T60p I bought, and simply switched it out.

Well...after MUCH research and debates on several forums, including this one, we have a keeper: D-Link...which I usually do not prefer for WiFi of any flavor, but it has the Atheros chip(s?)/chip set in it!!! So it'll be Atheros to Atheros communication. What do you think, guys? Good thought/idea? I'm getting a good deal on it from a local retailer, as I am a retailer myself, but not really with WiFi equipment. I do mainly the S-IPS AFFS IPS screens and Thinkpads for almost TEN years.

At any rate, tomorrow (Tuesday), or the day after, I shall be getting the D-Link DAP-1353e...I've tried to find it on the Internet, and it's not that easy to find. But I've found multiple sites and it is getting RAVE REVIEWS from both reviewers and end users alike!

I don't know what the "e" at the end of the model # stands for, but if you omit the letter, you get all kinds of hits... here's another one. For the purpose of this post, I was hoping to find one site in particular where there were very knowledgeable people reviewing it and it was mostly 5 out of 5 stars, hands down, and they also mentioned Atheros! It is doing in the Linksys AP's in some reviews, a brand that I usually am very loyal to, and might very well still get, when time comes for me to go back to the States. The Linksys 600N dual-band router also seems to be an awesome router!

But for the purpose of a simple Access Point, which is all I can do with my dad's setup, that will be interesting. It even has the "RangeBooster" proprietary "Super N" technology. I'm not going to buy into that for right now. I'm buying into the Atheros to Atheros communication, as the Atheros mini PCIe card I installed in my beloved T60p is night and day faster, better with range, and even when you only use it with G!!! Amazing piece of hardware!

I'll make sure to write a full report so others will benefit as well!

P.S. The card definitely works GREAT in an N environment. I briefly had the AVM FritzBox 7270 N router, and I got speeds between 180 and 260Mbps on average. When right next to it, I also got the full 300Mbps! Man, I'm excited!!!!!!!

EDIT: Hey hey hey!! It supports WDS, and can even act as a repeater!!! Whoohooo...That means, I should be able to put it closer to me, instead of wiring it to the router, which is 2 floors down, right? YeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeHaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwww!! Check this out!

And what's 802.11Q, and 802.11X? Woah!!! Anticipation is FUN!

 

Woohoo!!! So I got the D-Link Access Point DAP-1353 today and set it right up! The "E" I mentioned previously only means "version 2".

The reason I'm not more excited than I usually get with this stuff are a few things that I cannot seem to get working, and the speed is "only" 130Mbps.

Well, I used the CD to do this "Click'n'Connect" thing and it works great. First, I did it WITHOUT any security, as I thought, and as the software suggested, to do it after that part was finished and go right into the web-based tool to tweak everything the way I want it.

Well, the documentation says that the IP address of the router is 192.168.0.50,%2

 

Download the latest drivers. There never up to date.

Make sure you are using WPA2 Personal AES for speeds >130mbps and the SSID must not be hidden.

 

Are you still around? I need to know if your DLink DAP 1353 did indeed operate in repeater mode as the spec sheet says. I need a repeater for my DIR 655 and the manual doesn't show that mode. I am in Los Angeles area and this item is not sold in US so I will purchase in Mexico. But I would like to know that it will work in repeater mode before I go to the trouble. I understand that a v2 manual and firmware exists and maybe this is why there is some confusion.
CrunchDude? Anyone out there have the scoop on this DAP 1353?
Thanks in advance,
JoJo