A30p 802.11n MiniPCI Wireless Upgrade - No Error

[larrystotler]

I have an A30p laptop. It had the original 802.11b MiniPCI wireless card. I was using a Cardbus card to get 802.11g until recently.

I purchased this from Newegg.com:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6833704061

It's a TP-Link MiniPCI 802.11n card. $22 shipped.

I had previously installed a couple different 802.11g cards, and always got the error about having 2 ethernet cards. However, with this card I do NOT get the error. It does seem to take slightly longer for the system to POST with the card installed, but it does so without any error.

As far as I can tell, this is the only company that makes a MiniPCI 802.11n card.

Linux reports it as an Atheros AR922X Adapter that uses the ath9k module. I do not have Windows installed on this laptop but it works fine in Linux. It seems to have good range. As I don't have a wireless N router to test it against at the moment, I can't confirm whether it's much faster than a G card.

Overall, I'd have to recommend this as an excellent upgrade for any older laptop with a MiniPCI slot.

[ajkula66]

That's the same card that I have in my T43p. Love it.

Older Atheros-chipped wireless cards identified themselves as "ethernet controllers" rather than "network controllers" and that's what was triggering the "01C9" error. Obviously, this issue has been resolved one way or another.

Thanks for the heads up, will be getting one of these for my A31p once the new motherboard comes in.

[mklym]

Thanks for the heads-up on this card. Just installed in my A31p with no problems. Have not done any benchmarking on the speed, but downloads from Win update come in quicker than on my X301, both connected to the same wireless N network. As an added bonus, Newegg.ca had them on for CAN$22. Thanks again.

[RealBlackStuff]

There's another, cheaper one that works on BOTH 2.4MHz and 5MHz: Broadcom BCM43222 (check eBay).
AFAIK that TPLink only works in the 2.4 band

[jronald]

On some totally random testing done ages ago on the X31's/T30's (same errors) I found that certain Intel NON IBM cards would indeed NOT throw the error codes. Often times they worked randomly using the IBM software to turn them on and off. So I guess what it boils down to is Your Mileage May Vary!

Ron