Thinkpads Forum

I'm thinking about replacing the wifi card in my X61...

Has anyone got a 6300n working? Or am I better sticking to a 6200n?

Is there anything I need other than the OEM card?

Cheers

John

These cards are only half-size mini-PCI-e, so you also need a half-size adapter for them.
6200N only needs 2 antennas, 6300N needs 3.
I doubt very much if you would notice the difference.

I got a 6200N in my T61 and X60s, both working flawlessly.

inogen wrote:Has anyone got a 6300n working?

I'm running it in a X220... 450Mbps connections with 3T3R routers (like the Linksys e4200 that I am using).

Cheers,

Bill B.

RealBlackStuff wrote:I got a 6200N in my T61 and X60s, both working flawlessly.

+1 here, as RBS said make sure to buy the bracket. The card is running cool and with no issues so far in my X61s

RealBlackStuff wrote:These cards are only half-size mini-PCI-e, so you also need a half-size adapter for them.
6200N only needs 2 antennas, 6300N needs 3.
I doubt very much if you would notice the difference.

I got a 6200N in my T61 and X60s, both working flawlessly.

Good stuff!

When you say the 6300n "needs" 3 antennas, are you talking about antennas on the router?

No, (2 or 3) internal antenna wires inside the laptop.

RealBlackStuff wrote:No, (2 or 3) internal antenna wires inside the laptop.

Ah right. Thought so!

Any ideas where I can find out if my x61 has 2 or 3 without opening her up?

Just remove the keyboard, you should then be able to see the antenna wires (most likely 2, grey & black).
To swap the card, you also need to remove the palmrest.

Ok - I took the keyboard off last night...

3 wires, but on further inspection, removing palm rest, one goes to the modem.

So I'll get a 6200n.

Can anyone think of any reason I should get a genuine Lenovo part?

The OEM version should work as I've got a Middleton BIOS with the PCIE whitelist removed.

http://www.justop.com/catalog/mini-pci- ... anhmw.html
or
http://www.justop.com/catalog/mini-pci- ... y3191.html

John

I use modded BIOS and non-IBM/Lenovo parts.
Get the cheapest (working) card.

RealBlackStuff wrote:I use modded BIOS and non-IBM/Lenovo parts.
Get the cheapest (working) card.

Cool... Currently got a 4965AG in there. It's not great. Gets hot and although I've seen worse, I'm hoping for an increase in signal strength.

inogen wrote:Cool... Currently got a 4965AG in there. It's not great. Gets hot and although I've seen worse, I'm hoping for an increase in signal strength.

You wont get it with a 6200n.... performance will be pretty much the same for straightforward WiFi use on any 802.11 mode.

Cheers,

Bill B.

bill bolton wrote: You wont get it with a 6200n.... performance will be pretty much the same for straightforward WiFi use on any 802.11 mode.

Cheers,

Bill B.

Hiya Bill.

You mean I won't get an increase in signal strength?

What about it running cooler? using less power?

Not worth the upgrade for £20?

I'll be getting n instead of b/g.

It should be cooler. I have a "standard" Intel 4695 in my X60 and the 6200N in my X61s, the latter runs around 10°C cooler in my case.

Ok. Card in and running.

As Bill suggested, a negligible increase in range or signal strength.

According to TP the card runs about 5 degrees cooler though - at 35-37C.

Oh - and I can now connect with N. Although my network doesn't currently provide me with N, it will do shortly.

I thought the 6200N did that Personal Area Network thing? Access Connections' My Wifi is still greyed out.

Today I opened up my X61 and installed the cheap non-Lenovo card, which has two connector terminals; (1) Main (2) Aux. The old Lenovo card says (1) TR1 (3) RO (2) TR2. I think of the three wires the dark grey was on (1), the light grey on (3) and the black on (2). So which of the three wires do I need to attach to the new Intel 6200n? I was thinking maybe the two grey ones, with the dark grey on (1)?? Finally one thing I found with my cheap mini PCI-e bracket adapter, is that the supplied screws are too long and so I had to hunt around for some short Lenovo screws.

Dark-grey on left (1) and black on right (2).
The light-grey is for the middle connector (3) for MIMO, which the 6200/6205 does not have.

Thank you, I now have it working nicely and even in Windows XP. I know it has been said that this card does not offer more performance, but it does feel more responsive and snappier than the old one.