Generic Intel 4965AGN on T61

[XIII]

I want to upgrade a T61 with 3945ABG to 4965AGN. The Lenovo's brand is really rare and expensive to find.
Does anybody know if a generic 4965AGN will work on this machine without the 1802 error?
Thanks,

[erik]

anything but the exact lenovo cards listed in the T61 hardware maintenance manual will give an 1802.

[hellosailor]

The 4965AGN card might not be a good choice at all. If you look around at threads about it, many of us are not happy with the performance of the card.

Among other things, it has a 25mW (13dB) output power, making it among the WEAKEST cards on the market. That translates into the lowest range of any product you can find, no matter how well it does or doesn't do anything else. And that's got nothing to do with battery life--because the more powerful cards can all "power down" to this level through software control.

If I'd known that up front (I had to call Intel inside support and wait a week to get that information) I'd have never chosen it.

I can only think that low power means "cheaper transmitter" and someone at Intel said "how cheaply can we make one of these?" and they got the actual cost down to near zero. Like the range.

Terribly disappointing.

[bill bolton]

Among other things, it has a 25mW (13dB) output power

Supported Power Levels 1.0, 5.0, 20.0, 31.6, 50.1 mW

Transmit Power Default Setting: Highest power setting
Lowest Minimum Coverage: Set the adapter to a lowest transmit power. Enable you to expand the number of coverage areas or confine a coverage area. Reduce the coverage area in high traffic areas to improve overall transmission quality and avoid
congestion and interference with other devices.
Highest Maximum Coverage: Set the adapter to a maximum transmit power level.

Select for maximum performance and range in environments with limited additional radio devices.

NOTE: The optimal setting is for a user to always set the transmit power at the lowest possible level still compatible with the quality of their communication. This allows the maximum number of wireless devices to operate in dense areas and reduce interference with other devices that this radio shares radio spectrum with.

NOTE: This setting takes effect when either Infrastructure or ad hoc mode is used.

Transmit Power

If you decrease the transmit power, you reduce the radio coverage.

Default Setting: Highest power setting

Values:
TX Minimum: Lowest Minimum Coverage: Set the adapter to the lowest transmit power. Enables you to expand the number of coverage areas or confine a coverage area. Reduce the coverage area in high traffic areas to improve overall transmission quality and avoid congestion and interference with other devices.
TX Level 1, TX Level 2, TX Level 3: Set by country requirements.
TX Maximum: Highest Maximum Coverage: Set the adapter to the maximum transmit power level. Select for maximum performance and range in environments with limited additional radio devices.

NOTE: The optimal setting is for a user to always set the transmit power at the lowest possible level still compatible with the quality of their communication. This allows the maximum number of wireless devices to operate in dense areas and reduce interference with other devices that this radio shares radio spectrum with.

Local Restrictions on 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g and 802.11n Radio Usage

Caution: Due to the fact that the frequencies used by 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g and 802.11n wireless LAN devices may not yet be harmonized in all countries, 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g and 802.11n products are designed for use only in specific countries, and are not allowed to be operated in countries other than those of designated use. As a user of these products, you are responsible for ensuring that the products are used only in the countries for which they were intended and for verifying that they are configured with the correct selection of frequency and channel for the country of use. The device transmit power control (TPC) interface is part of the Intel(R) PROSet/Wireless software. Operational restrictions for Equivalent Isotropic Radiated Power (EIRP) are provided by the system manufacturer. 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.

For country-specific information, see the additional compliance information supplied with the product.

There are in fact many satisfied users of Intel 4965AGNs here!

Cheers,

Bill B.

[XIII]

I am very happy with the 4965AGN on my X61 tablet. The signal is always very stable with almost no interference/dropout at all.

[SHoTTa35]

yeah, i'm one of them too I don't have a side by side comparison with a Atheros but i get full signal here all over the house. I don't need full signal 2 blocks down the road I think for most people Intel cards will be more then enough as their routers should cover the whole house easily. Therefore the intel card should be more than sufficient.

I had a Intel 3945 and upgraded (with Zender's hack) to the Intel 4965AGN and i'm loving it 100%.

I've only had one instance where i thought the Atheros would be useful but that was 1 instance in 3 or more months of usage.

[hellosailor]

Bill, as of January Intel emailed me as below, specifics omitted here:

From: <...@....intel.com>
To:
Sent: Tuesday, January 15, 2008 1:52 PM
Subject: Intel(R) Technical Support
...
> Regarding your inquiry, this Power Output applies for the Intel(R)
> Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN MOW1 models. (Values are shown in dBm).
...SISO Limits 14 dBm (Remove 3dB for MIMO)
[Channels] 1 to 11 [Freq.] 2.412 MHz
================================

Which directly disagrees with the data you found on their web site.

I was wrong to quote it as 13db, but 14db translates into 25.1+db. A change to 50mW would be extreme, obviously someone at Intel is in error one way or the other. Or--there are two different cards in production?

Curious also to note that that in full ".n" mode, whatever that will be, the card also is rated -3dB compared to older modes.

Looking at the PDF you provide a link for, I see pages 145-147 provide all sorts of specs for it but NONE for power levels. Where did you get the power level from?

Compared to my older IBM a/b/g PCMCIA card, all I know is that this one drops signal more often, on the same router at home, and shows the airport terminal--but also weaker than the old external one. (Which I can't use under Vista apparently, because IBM and the chipset maker both have orphaned the old part number.)

Wanna try best two out of three, and see if anyone at Intel can confirm either number?<G>

[pipspeak]

I get occasional dropouts with my 4965 on a T61 (XP) machine, more than I got with my Atheros ABG card on my T43 but nothing too annoying. Range is also fine with me, too. Nothing stellar, but plenty for my needs.

The biggest problem I have, which is potentially not related to the card itself, is that my connections just freezes every now and then. Even trying to access the connection through the control panel doesn't work. Sometimes it'll unfreeze after 10 minutes but usually I have to restart the machine to get the connection working. This despite installing the newest drivers.

Now that's annoying.

[pae77]

I have experienced that as well, fortunately, not very often, but at least a few times over a several months period. Very annoying when it happens. Perhaps the new version of Access Connections, just released the other day, will help.

[pipspeak]

I no longer use Access Connections... found I just didn't need the functionality and wanted to get rid of as much surplus software as possible. Now I just use Windows and the Intel stuff.

Apart from the occasional freezing, the only issue I have with my Intel card is that it spends about 50% of the time "acquiring network address". The conneciton still works fine while it does the acquiring (which can take hours) and I suspect it is something to do with Windows rather than the card, but it's just another quirk on my machine.