Thinkpads Forum

OK, I replaced the Intel wireless card in my T60p with the Atheros miniPCI Express card (FRU 40Y7026 - Atheros AR5BXB6) and all seems peachy.

I then wanted to get 108Mbps so I bought the Netgear WPN802 from NewEgg for about $70 after rebate to replace my Belkin Pre-N. All worked fine, but I cannot seem to be able to get more than 54Mbps connection speed.

I have already edited the registry as per an article HERE about adding 2 registry keys (screenshot HERE ), but while Super G seems to work and be recognized fine, XR does not show up as an available option during a scan in the Atheros Client 4.2.0.374 & driver 4.1.102.147 (though I can see some of my neighbors do have BOTH SuperG and XR showing up as features for their AP/Routers). Unfortunately I do not know what models they are using...

For reference I DID enable the XR feature in the WPN802 Netgear AP as well as set the mode to "Auto108", yet it is still not being recognized by the client software as supporting XR and I do not get more then 54Mbps.

Does anyone have any ideas?

OK, hate answering my own questions, but here goes:

A call to Netgear Support yelded this URL for the new 2.0.8 firmware of the WPN802: http://tinyurl.com/r587q

Seems like even though I JUST got mine yesterday it is Hardware Revision 1.0 not the "new" 2.0 and suposedly they were aware of these bugs. I updated the firmware to 2.0.8 remotely and will test this evening. If all is OK we'll all have a $70 solution for 108Mbps with the ThinkPads.

One more thing of note is that if you disable the SSID (hide it) on the AP, the clients can no longer connect even if they know what the SSID is supposed to be. This is a major bug and I was assured it is gone in the new firmware release... we'll see...

Hi ssimon,

can you please post back your results tonight.

i am interested in both the Netgear Wifi router and the atheros card -- right i am still using the stock intel 3945 that came with my 2623 d6u and an SMC Baricade which I think is nearing the end of its life...

No dice YET! The v2.0.8 firmware had no "visible" effect.

Here is a screenshot from the v4.2.0.374 client utility:



The WPN802 is the one shown as "TEST"

I called Netgear tech support and they now said my adapter in the laptop is not supporting 108Mbs. Their explanation for not seeing "XR" with my AP was because it was an AP and not a Wireless Router. Unsure if I buy that, but currently have no way to test. I do assume my neighbors have routers as few people buy just AP's.

Untill I get another answer it may seem like the Lenovo adapter is speed locked! I will have to call Lenovo next...

What application do you need that 108 Mbps data rate for?
For me, Internet access is limited to a few Mbps, so the plain vanilla 802.11g is more than I need.

I am really getting nuts with people here always questioning "why do you need it? why do you want it? Hello!!!!!!! This is a forum to find solutions. So if you can help him do it, otherwise this last post is dispensible, same as mine right now in this thread.

Sorry ssimon,

redburgundy wrote:What application do you need that 108 Mbps data rate for?
For me, Internet access is limited to a few Mbps, so the plain vanilla 802.11g is more than I need.

Maybe he hacked into Darpanet and is trying to download some big files from the mainframe before they catch him. Gotta be quick!

Also, for the record, there are people with faster internet... I believe there is FIOS service available really close to where I live in the RTP. Also remember that the faster your network, regardless of your internet connection, the faster you can transfer files between computers. He might have wanted to transfer some High Def Video to his HTPC sitting by his TV.

redburgundy wrote:What application do you need that 108 Mbps data rate for?
For me, Internet access is limited to a few Mbps, so the plain vanilla 802.11g is more than I need.

Well, let's see if I can have some answers for you redburgundy:

Q: Why do you need as much speed as possible?
Well, maybe it's because I am human, and humans tend to always want to improve things! Are you telling me that your computer is the 1st IBM XT machine or a nice Pentium 4 or Dual Core driven system? Why do YOU use/need a fast machine when you can write your docs and surf the net just fine on a PII running Windows 95?

The entire purpose of this forum is to educate and empower users with information. Said information is to be used to better our lives in the pursuit of the fastest and coolest laptops there are.

So, why are you here?

Honestly, and all sarcasm asside, if you cannot help, please refrain from posting and clogging up a perfectly good research and testing thread!

Thank you freakwave & jjesusfreak01 for stepping in. For reference I am trying to stream video, HD video, to and from the laptop and I need as much bandwidth as I can get.

Now, does anyone have any constructive ideas or has managed to get the T60p with the Atheros mPCIe card to work at 108Mbps?

ssimon wrote: Now, does anyone have any constructive ideas or has managed to get the T60p with the Atheros mPCIe card to work at 108Mbps?

No one will answer that question. Because 40Y7026 is actually an Atheros AR5006EX module and 54Mbps is its max.
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 32a1c515f4
An AR5006EXS module is what you are talking about. However, its not available at lenovo.

testthings wrote:

ssimon wrote: Now, does anyone have any constructive ideas or has managed to get the T60p with the Atheros mPCIe card to work at 108Mbps?

No one will answer that question. Because 40Y7026 is actually an Atheros AR5006EX module and 54Mbps is its max.
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 32a1c515f4
An AR5006EXS module is what you are talking about. However, its not available at lenovo.

Well thank you testthings, now that is what I call helping. I apreciate your insight and I guess we must wait to get our hands on an Atheros AR5006EXS mini-PCI Express card....

FYI: Here is a link to the AR5006EXS

Given that Lenovo does not carry one, are there any others out there anyone knows about that we might use?

Has anyone installed an internal wifi card that allows transmission at up to 108 Mbps such as the Atheros 5006 EXS at Super AG mode?

What about using an external card at up to 108 Mbps?

Besides the Netgear that Ssimon mentions, any experiences to report with other Wifi router that allow speed up to 108 Mbps? Microcenter hqs the SMC Baricade g 802.11g 108Mbps (wbr14t-g) for 49USD (after 20USD mail in rebate).

ssimon wrote:

redburgundy wrote:What application do you need that 108 Mbps data rate for?
For me, Internet access is limited to a few Mbps, so the plain vanilla 802.11g is more than I need.

Well, let's see if I can have some answers for you redburgundy:

Q: Why do you need as much speed as possible?
Well, maybe it's because I am human, and humans tend to always want to improve things! Are you telling me that your computer is the 1st IBM XT machine or a nice Pentium 4 or Dual Core driven system? Why do YOU use/need a fast machine when you can write your docs and surf the net just fine on a PII running Windows 95?

The entire purpose of this forum is to educate and empower users with information. Said information is to be used to better our lives in the pursuit of the fastest and coolest laptops there are.

So, why are you here?

Honestly, and all sarcasm asside, if you cannot help, please refrain from posting and clogging up a perfectly good research and testing thread!

Thank you freakwave & jjesusfreak01 for stepping in. For reference I am trying to stream video, HD video, to and from the laptop and I need as much bandwidth as I can get.

Now, does anyone have any constructive ideas or has managed to get the T60p with the Atheros mPCIe card to work at 108Mbps?

Hey ssimon, I don't have suggestions for your experiment but please keep us posted when you finally get 108mbps wireless speed running. I would be very interested to get one in the future although I don't "need" that speed yet.

Especially if it doesn't cost much to upgrade

Good news, though not yet possibly. A link to a CNet article was recently posted on this site. It regarded the future of the Thinkpad line. In it, Arimasa Naitoh is quoted as saying future Thinkpads will have integrated MIMO cards. If this is true, at that point it will be easy to obtain the cards for our current Thinkpads. You can read the Cnet article here.

I cannot wait....

I am such a speed junkie

Any new word on the Atheros AR5006EXS

Any other options out there?

I found this broadcom version:
http://www.broadcom.com/products/Wirele ... BCM94321MC

As to the person questioning the need for why... speed of transfer is only half the answer. Sure, surfing the net only requires a fraction of the bandwidth capacity but if you use a home network and ever transfer large files, you will appreciate the much faster transfer times, also if you ever stream any sort of media especially video, you will get much smoother transfers (sometimes my video streams stutter) However, the primary reason for me is because of the increased range.

At one of my wifi locations, we had to install the router in a barn which is about 100 feet from the home. With a desktop PC and an external high gain antenna, we got low connections with 802.11g. As a result, we constantly lost our connection. Upgrading to 802.11n gets us a Very Good connection and we never lose our connection. Needless to say, our laptop with a/b/g gets no signal at all. I'm looking at repeater options and such but a 802.11n PCI-Express card would probably solve this particular situation.

This of course is pretty unique but some people might have a router in the basement and would like to work out on the patio more reliably or something similar.