Thinkpads Forum

My X200s 7466-3JU runs perfectly with an Atheros AR9380 wifi card.
For my last T601FL Frankie I needed such a card, but it did not arrive in time.
So I removed it from my X200s into the Frankie.

To keep my X200s running, I tried an Intel 5350, Intel 6200N and Intel 6300N.
Drivers (both from Intel and Lenovo) install, but the card refuses to work with any of them
It shows up properly in Device Manager, and tells me everything is working, but it also keeps telling me that wifi is DISabled.
No matter what, I can't ENable it.
When I press Fn/F5 it also says that wifi is disabled and that option is greyed out.
The wifi switch works properly (tested it) and is ON.
BIOS settings are OK, but my guess is the Registry is holding me back.
Any idea where to ENable it?

I tried whatever solutions I could find on the web, NOTHING worked, the wifi card remained disabled.
I even uninstalled whatever power management and Intel-related programs I could find, NOTHING helped.

In my despair I removed the Atheros card from the Frankie again and put it back in my X200s: and IT WORKS AGAIN!
Three more Intel items to go on my blacklist.

I suggest you to tape pins 20, 45, 47, 49 on Intel WiFi cards and try again

geka3250 wrote:I suggest you to tape pins 20, 45, 47, 49 on Intel WiFi cards and try again

pin 20 = "wireless disable"
what are the other pins, or do you have a document listing the pins and their functions?

When I press Fn/F5 on my X200s right now to "Change Power Settings of Wireless Radio" it shows:
- Airplane mode, Status = Off, Click to change Status: Mode On
- 802.11 Wireless Radio, Status = Off, Disabled
- Bluetooth Radio, Status = Off, Click to change Status: Radio On

What is Airplane mode? Never asked for it, no idea what it does...
Wireless: my AR9380 works perfectly...
Bluetooth: need it maybe once every 2 years.
WTF is going on here?

What is Aeroplane Mode?

RBS you need to get out more.

RealBlackStuff wrote: WTF is going on here?

My experience with Intel cards - starting with 2200BG and all the way through 6200 - is that unless the card was present in the system when the OS was installed, the issues of this nature are likely to arise. Lenovo Forums is a chock full of stories that resemble your experience in one way or another, with the card refusing to "enable" itself.

Do I have an explanation? No, not really.

I do, however, have a suggestion: stick with AR9380 and forget everything else.

jaspen-meyer wrote: what are the other pins, or do you have a document listing the pins and their functions?

45 - CL_CLK_WLAN
47 - CL_DATA_WLAN
49 - CL_RST_WLAN
These pins are not required WiFi to work. Have to be taped on Broadcom cards to work in Thinkpad

This is an MS Windows issue.

If your case were judged, the registry would hang.

Here are some ideas:
https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forum ... irelesssdk
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/lib ... 10%29.aspx

"What is airplane mode? Airplane mode is a setting that gives you a quick way to turn off all wireless communication on your PC." (source http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/wind ... plane-mode)

shawross wrote:What is Aeroplane Mode?
RBS you need to get out more.

I've been all over the place with various ThinkPads (some with Intel 6200N or 6300N, but until now I've never had (or seen at least) that Airplane Mode!
According to that M$-link it's something for W8 (I have W7 Pro), and doesn't seem to work all that well anyway (why am I not surprised?).
Aerplane Mode probably switches everything OFF and then wifi probably remains OFF until the next OS-install (or you put in AR9380).
But then again, when does one ever use Fn/F5? Me, I only use it when I have wifi-problems.

Unfortunately both Registry-links were not helpful.

Are you using a modified bios?

Do the Intel cards work under Linux?

I had a same problem trying a intel 5300 in my dell D531 notebook. Sees it but then fails when driver is installed. I had to get atheros based wifi from my junk pile and that worked 100%.

Seems the intel prefers 100% intel burger for people to eat even sometimes the bios had to be untouched?

Cheers, thinkpadcollection

Yes, it has a modded BIOS 3.17 with Slic2.1 added and Whitelist removed, after which I installed that AR9380 card.
And probably because I never use Fn/F5 I never noticed that wifi was disabled in some obscure way, but AR9380 works anyway.
Too much hassle to swap wifi cards and try Linux, I'm not into that until W7 disappears. No W8 or W10 for me!

I was speculating either the OS or a modified bios with a bug were causing the issue.
Testing with a live Linux cd would isolate the OS as the culprit.

So did fn+f5 fix the problem?