Thinkpads Forum

I have a new T510 and am quite unhappy with the (stock) network card. It was barely able to connect in the last hotel I stayed in, and in my own home, it is terribly slow when connected to our ZyXel wireless router. All our other wireless devices (a PC, smartphone, and Roku box) do much better, and further from the router, to boot.

The wired networking is fine.

Is this just a lousy device, or do I perhaps have a defective one? Could I order one of the upgrade cards and swap it in myself? Or does that require a tech?

Thanks!
Mike

What card is in the T510? There are at least (3) different WiFi cards, possibly (4) that could have been ordered/installed there. I have the Intel® Centrino® Ultimate-N 6300 in my T410, and I think it's one of the best cards I've had. Also, are you running 802.11g or 802.11n ? N range will be less by design.

Thanks. The card is the Intel 11b/g/n Wireless LAN Mini-PCI Express Adapter II.

It is set to automatically use the speed of the network. Most hotel do not have "n". I am now at yet another location where it barely connects, and frequently disconnects. The T510 reports signal strength as poor. My smartphone (sitting next to it on the desk) connects without problems, and it reports signal strength as "good."

The Lenovo site gave little or no information (that I could find) to distinguish among the available network cards, so I ordered the default one.

My advice would be to order and install the 6300 card. The FRU# is 60Y3233. There is no way to increase the range of your current card, unless one of the antenna wires is loose at the card itself (there are 3 wires). You'd have to remove the keyboard to see.
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-74250
http://cgi.ebay.com/Intel-Centrino-Ulti ... 335cd98dc0

Harryc wrote:My advice would be to order and install the 6300 card. The FRU# is 60Y3233. There is no way to increase the range of your current card, unless one of the antenna wires is loose at the card itself (there are 3 wires). You'd have to remove the keyboard to see.
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-74250
http://cgi.ebay.com/Intel-Centrino-Ulti ... 335cd98dc0

Thanks again for the detailed info. That sounds like a great approach.

I take it you've ordered from that outfit before. How long does it usually take you to get the parts from Hong Kong?

They use regular mail. Plan for 3 weeks or more.

Does the 6250 and 6200 require 2 antennas but the 6300 requires 3? And the antennas are on the card or in the LCD case? I mean if one changes the card what about the antenna if not embedded in the card itself?

GrandMasterKhan wrote:Does the 6250 and 6200 require 2 antennas but the 6300 requires 3?

Yes, that is correct

GrandMasterKhan wrote:And the antennas are on the card or in the LCD case?

The antennas are in the LCD case

GrandMasterKhan wrote:I mean if one changes the card what about the antenna if not embedded in the card itself?

If you change the card you simply disconnect the antenna leads, unscrew the card, and remove the card

So if one orders the 6250, he cant change to the 6300 later? I mean the antennas are pre-installed right? Would be a situation where the customer switched to to the 6300 but has only two antennas? Or the notebooks ship with three automatically?

GrandMasterKhan wrote:So if one orders the 6250, he cant change to the 6300 later?

There's no reason you can't change later. The card interface is the same (same slot).

GrandMasterKhan wrote:I mean the antennas are pre-installed right?

I don't know. Someone with a T510 who's had it apart would have to answer this question.

GrandMasterKhan wrote:Would be a situation where the customer switched to to the 6300 but has only two antennas?

It might work, but I don't beleive it would work at 802.11n speeds without the 3rd antenna.

GrandMasterKhan wrote:Or the notebooks ship with three automatically?

See the answer to the 2nd question above.

I figured it out. Brief bullet points.
*Order the 6200 if you only have 2x2 antennas. Depends on what your have ie x201 if you have the camera, there is no room for a 3x3 antenna.
*Order the 6300 if you have 3x3 antennas. You need to have the antennas in the LCD lid otherwise by default your card will be essentially same as the 6200.
The 6200 has two antenna connectors on the card and he 6300 has three.
*6250 is the same as the 6200 + WIMAX.
See pics of the cards on the x201 threads.

I'm following up on my old topic for a couple of reasons. The first is to thank all who replied to the thread and provided tons of useful information.

The second is to let you know what happened. I tried Lenovo service as a first step, since the machine was brand new and WiFi wasn't working right. They replaced the wireless card (11b/g/n Wireless LAN Mini-PCI Express Adapter II) and the system board, with no improvement. It won't connect reliably with signal strength less than about -55dBm. That means the WiFi card useless in most real-world situations (most hotels, meeting rooms, airports, etc., or more than six feet from my wireless router).

I then bought a Belkin USB wireless adapter, which is much better (improvement of about 35 dBm). It is galling that to get a new $1250 Thinkpad to work, I had to buy an external adapter -- and also that Lenovo was willing to replace a system board for no apparent reason, but not to upgrade the WiFi card to a different model that works.

Though I plan to try Lenovo service one more time, I now believe that the card probably is operating as designed. I am baffled why Lenovo sells it, as I can't imagine a customer who would find it satisfactory.

@HarryC - I had poor WiFi signal strength on all of my T510s (59 of them in our company's fleet). I took your hint and changed the Wireless Mode from b/g/n to b/g, and it immediately gave me much better reception (after power cycling the WLAN adapter with the switch on the side of the laptop).
No need for WLAN adapter replacements, just a driver setting.
Thanks !

Intel 6300 N will work even with two antennas only.
However You wont be able to reach max speed.
You will be still able to connect to 802.1 N

good luck

if you want to save some money, go for intel 5300 it is nearly the same...

Here's a summary of and update to my old post, in case it helps anyone.

• I had the cheapest offered WiFi card in my T510. The performance was unusably bad.
• I bought external USB wireless adapters to use instead. They worked great, but each one died after 3-12 months.
• I finally ordered the Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 card, along with a spare antenna.
• When I opened the T510, I found it already had 3 antennas installed, though only 2 were used with the old card.
• Installation, including downloading and installing the driver, took about 1/2 hour, and the performance of the new card is great. The only tools needed were a very small Philips screwdriver and a small flat-blade (to free the keyboard). I should have done this years ago!
• Thanks to all who suggested this originally

The new information in the above is that the machine already had all the needed antennas.

The puzzle to me is why Lenovo bothers to offer a useless network card that "saves" the customer < $50 on a $1500+ laptop.