Thinkpads Forum

Hello, I have purchased a Intel 5300 WLAN card as it would make an easy upgrade over the previous WLAN card (3945 abg)
There weren't any mentions of the issues I have with this card on forum (or anywhere else), so I thought it will be just another easy upgrade.
Here are the issues with this card:
No WLAN light while docking, WLAN light is present while on battery but just symbolizes when the wireless switch is on/off (no blinking when WiFi is in use).
Card randomly decides that it doesn't want to work, in that case I have to open the laptop replace 5300 with 3945, boot into windows, shut the system down, and replace the card for 5300.
Laptop can't go into "true" sleep mode, while using 5300 I noticed that upon putting system to sleep mode, fans would never stop spinning.
Upon going into the sleep mode system has to be physically shut off since lifting the screen, clicking buttons can't wake it up.

These issues are really frustrating, as they're not present when I use 3945. Is there just something wrong with my card, or is it just how using it is?

It sounds to me like a wrong driver is installed for the 5300, as you mentioned Windows. It should not be breaking sleep mode.

You can follow the instructions in this post to make the LED light blink again. https://www.snbforums.com/threads/intel ... post-13122

TPFanatic wrote: ↑

Mon Sep 09, 2024 3:47 pm

It sounds to me like a wrong driver is installed for the 5300, as you mentioned Windows. It should not be breaking sleep mode.

You can follow the instructions in this post to make the LED light blink again. https://www.snbforums.com/threads/intel ... post-13122

Yeah, the chance that this card has issues with drivers is pretty obvious. Unfortunatelly the official lenovo drivers that are said to work with win 10 don't work at all.
The other thing is that I have already tried to add LedMode into the card registry, each time I did so and rebooted the card wasn't detected until I removed the card or deleted dword.

It’s not improbable the card is defective and should be replaced.

Intels 6205 is a far more common and reliable N card. 6300 is the last tri-antenna intel card. 7260 is a fine AC card and cheap. Bootleg mpcie ax210 might still be a bit pricey but are otherwise fast.

Id favor just sticking with the 3965, g isnt awful and at least it works.