Madwifi with Atheros has terrible signal on T61 with Ubuntu

[nemik]

So I got a new T61 and got Ubuntu Gutsy 7.10 working on it pretty well. But a huge problem is the wireless driver of Madwifi. It gives very very low signal performance and I can't even connect to AP's that were no problem to do with Windows.

I know the card itself is fine because I get double or triple the signal and range with the same card on windows.

Has anyone else run into this problem? Have there been any fixes aside from using ndiswrapper?

Also I want to upgrade the wifi card now to an intel. Would an IBM-branded 3945 work on the T61 or be BIOS blacklisted? If not is there any way I could order a 4965? I do not see it for sale on Lenovo's website or ebay/amazon.

Thank you!

[gator]

You can try using ndiswrapper. I once had a T22 with Fiesty and I ahd to use ndiswrapper with my IBM a/b/g external card. It had the atheros chipset and the madwifi drivers were not good.

[Volker]

I have no experience with the atheros cards, but my intel 4965 works great. Are you using the old madwifi or madwifi-ng? There are different branches that you could try...

Apparently the old CMOS hack (no-1802.com) does not work on T6x thinkpads, so you are forced to always use "official" Lenovo wifi cards.

[nemik]

I have no experience with the atheros cards, but my intel 4965 works great. Are you using the old madwifi or madwifi-ng? There are different branches that you could try...

Apparently the old CMOS hack (no-1802.com) does not work on T6x thinkpads, so you are forced to always use "official" Lenovo wifi cards.

Yes exactly, it apparently bricks T60's so I don't want to risk it on the brand-new laptop.

As for the madwifi, I tried many revisions and branches, all of them sucked. Good to hear the 4965 works good. I'd love to get that card but don't see a way of just buying it separately, nothing on Lenovo's site. Should I try calling them or possibly see if someone in the marketplace of this forum would be interested in a trade (my atheros + cash) for a 4965?

[nemik]

Just an update, I received a 3945 I ordered from ebay that is for IBM's and it worked fine with no BIOS block.

Wireless signal is not MUCH better and the drover works great on my Ubuntu set up.

I would recommend this to anyone else who may have issues with the Atheros card to replace it with an Intel.