Wireless upgrade for T420s (with non-whitelist BIOS)?

[Edward Mendelson]

I've adopted my son's old T420s, installed a non-whitelist BIOS (thanks, RBS!), and would now like to upgrade the wireless card. Can anyone suggest a good choice? I've been installing Intel 7260 cards in my X201 models; am I right that this would be a good choice for the T420s?

Many thanks for any information.

[ajkula66]

If you like the 7260 - I don't but to each their own - then by all means go for it. There's not much out there when it comes to AC cards, and the ones that could perform better (Killer) require pretty serious hacking of antenna leads if one were to use them in a ThinkPad.

Happy upgrading.

[lembang]

@Edward Mendelson
If you are willing to extra mile like i did on my t420; I use BCM94360HMB 1300Mhz AC adapter. The only problem with this one is.
The antenna size a lil bit smaller, so you have to replace the antenna. Which is not that difficult.
But if you are not willing AC 7260 is good to go. Be just aware if you are using windows, thinkpad built-in broadcom bluetooth driver might conflict with the on comes from 7260.
I used to use the AC 7260 and switch to BCM94360, not because it has a problem.

[Edward Mendelson]

Thanks for these recommendations; I'll look into replacing the antenna, but will probably go for the 7260, as there's a limit to how much I want to modify this machine. (I'm still hoping for a new 7-row-keyboard ThinkPad someday...)

[wpyh]

@Edward Mendelson
If you are willing to extra mile like i did on my t420; I use BCM94360HMB 1300Mhz AC adapter. The only problem with this one is.
The antenna size a lil bit smaller, so you have to replace the antenna. Which is not that difficult.
But if you are not willing AC 7260 is good to go. Be just aware if you are using windows, thinkpad built-in broadcom bluetooth driver might conflict with the on comes from 7260.
I used to use the AC 7260 and switch to BCM94360, not because it has a problem.

Hi Lembang, didn't know you have the T420 (I have the T420s, it's similar). Thanks for the info, will come in handy when wireless-AC becomes common here. Maybe in 3-5 years, you know :p

What happens if you don't replace the antenna? The connectors are the same, right?

Nice configuration btw

[TonyJZX]

btw. Does this age of laptop whitelist official Lenovo FRU wireless cards?

eg. I buy a generic Intel 5300/6300/7260 whatever, will it work? I dont think it does because it only responds to official Lenovo vendor cards.

[ajkula66]

btw. Does this age of laptop whitelist official Lenovo FRU wireless cards?

Whitelists are present, but there's also a modded BIOS...

[RealBlackStuff]

If you can't be bothered with replacing antennas, or the Intel 7260 is not to your liking, check this USB-dongle out:
TP-Link AC450 Wireless Nano USB Adapter, Archer T1U.
http://www.tp-link.us/products/details/ ... r-T1U.html

I got one the other day and it's excellent!

[TonyJZX]

Many of us think external usb wireless cards are ugly and detract from the lines.

I do use them every so often for long range support but for home use, I prefer internal cards.

[lembang]

@Edward Mendelson
If you are willing to extra mile like i did on my t420; I use BCM94360HMB 1300Mhz AC adapter. The only problem with this one is.
The antenna size a lil bit smaller, so you have to replace the antenna. Which is not that difficult.
But if you are not willing AC 7260 is good to go. Be just aware if you are using windows, thinkpad built-in broadcom bluetooth driver might conflict with the on comes from 7260.
I used to use the AC 7260 and switch to BCM94360, not because it has a problem.

Hi Lembang, didn't know you have the T420 (I have the T420s, it's similar). Thanks for the info, will come in handy when wireless-AC becomes common here. Maybe in 3-5 years, you know :p

What happens if you don't replace the antenna? The connectors are the same, right?

Nice configuration btw

Sorry didnt realize this thread. Well the antenna wont fit if you didnt change it; as the connector for AC7260 are the standard wifi card antenna connector while for BCM94360HMB, they are slightly smaller. Without the antenna it will work, but you wont get the maximum performance of that card.

Hahaha, Ikr, a lil bit slow in there. I havent go back home for so long.

Thanks

[Lockheed]

If you can't be bothered with replacing antennas

For my t420s, I just bought Atheros AR5B22 (I believe this is exactly the same card as Killer 1202) and while I'm waiting for it to arrive, I would like to know what antenna replacement do you speak of.

From the pictures, it does not seem that the card has any different cable attachments than my current Intel 6205. What's more, just yesterday I used another Atheros PCIe wifi card - AR928X - in this laptop, and it worked fine.

[ajkula66]

If you can't be bothered with replacing antennas

For my t420s, I just bought Atheros AR5B22 (I believe this is exactly the same card as Killer 1202) and while I'm waiting for it to arrive, I would like to know what antenna replacement do you speak of.

From the pictures, it does not seem that the card has any different cable attachments than my current Intel 6205. What's more, just yesterday I used another Atheros PCIe wifi card - AR928X - in this laptop, and it worked fine.

Both of these cards are "N" cards, not AC ones. Newer Killer (AC) cards have different antenna attachments.

[jaspen-meyer]

I put a AR5B22 in an x60 a few weeks ago. It uses the same connectors as the AR928x and the Intel 6205.

[ajkula66]

I put a AR5B22 in an x60 a few weeks ago. It uses the same connectors as the AR928x and the Intel 6205.

And once again, that's not an AC card.

[jaspen-meyer]

I put a AR5B22 in an x60 a few weeks ago. It uses the same connectors as the AR928x and the Intel 6205.

And once again, that's not an AC card.

What is your point? Are you saying all AC cards use a different antenna connection than the Hirose U.FL connectors used on the Intel 6205?

Here is an AC card which uses U.FL connectors:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/191834474682

[ajkula66]

And once again, that's not an AC card.

What is your point? Are you saying all AC cards use a different antenna connection than the Hirose U.FL connectors used on the Intel 6205?

I never said that.

Killer AC cards that were previously mentioned most certainly DO use different connectors than the older ones. The same applies to many other - but not all - AC cards.

Here is an AC card which uses U.FL connectors:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/191834474682

Now that is a meaningful contribution to this discussion.

[TonyJZX]

to be fair to akula... why the hell would we be interested in N cards? in 2016? in a 420 that already has plenty of N cards

also are you guys posting full sized cards? they dont fit in a 420?

[SaskFellow]

And once again, that's not an AC card.

What is your point? Are you saying all AC cards use a different antenna connection than the Hirose U.FL connectors used on the Intel 6205?

Here is an AC card which uses U.FL connectors:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/191834474682

Good luck on getting Complex card to run under Windows. Atheros has not released drivers to the public that supports that card under Windows, it only has public support under Linux. Windows drivers may be available but they are only available if you are willing to pay for the code, last I checked.

I've lusted after that Complex 900 card for awhile.

[Edward Mendelson]

Good luck on getting Complex card to run under Windows. Atheros has not released drivers to the public that supports that card under Windows, it only has public support under Linux. Windows drivers may be available but they are only available if you are willing to pay for the code, last I checked.

Argh. I bought that card as soon as I saw the post above, and didn't see that the seller said in big letters "No Windows or Mac OS support" (or something similar). Fortunately, I didn't waste my time trying to put it into a ThinkPad, but I certainly wasted my money.

[jaspen-meyer]

Upgrade your OS to Linux! Or, sell the card in the marketplace.
There must be at least one Linux user out there interested in high-performance computing.

[ajkula66]

Fortunately, I didn't waste my time trying to put it into a ThinkPad, but I certainly wasted my money.

Maybe not.

If you still have it the next time I'm in the city - likely a couple of weeks from now since I'm out of the pocket for the time being - I might just grab it from you, and Starbucks is on me this time around...

How does that sound?

[Edward Mendelson]

If you still have it the next time I'm in the city - likely a couple of weeks from now since I'm out of the pocket for the time being - I might just grab it from you, and Starbucks is on me this time around...

How does that sound?

Sounds fine to me. I don't see any way I'll get rid of that card before then!

[SaskFellow]

Good luck on getting Complex card to run under Windows. Atheros has not released drivers to the public that supports that card under Windows, it only has public support under Linux. Windows drivers may be available but they are only available if you are willing to pay for the code, last I checked.

Argh. I bought that card as soon as I saw the post above, and didn't see that the seller said in big letters "No Windows or Mac OS support" (or something similar). Fortunately, I didn't waste my time trying to put it into a ThinkPad, but I certainly wasted my money.

The seller of the Compex cards does sell all of the required bits to install the new M.2 cards such as the newer Intel 7265 cards which fixes most of the glitches the 7260 cards carried or the 8260 or even the 60Ghz supporting cards.

Honestly if you want to stick with the whitelist compatible cards the Intel Ultimate N 6300 card is probably your best bet, unless you absolutely need the abilities of an AC card.

Upgrade your OS to Linux! Or, sell the card in the marketplace.
There must be at least one Linux user out there interested in high-performance computing.

Unfortunately there are things I can't do on Linux that I require my OS do. Even running Windows In a a VM, wouldn't be so great as you would not have native WiFi.