Change wireless card to Intel 6300 in W520

W500/510/520 and W700/710 series specific matters only
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shahmohit87
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Change wireless card to Intel 6300 in W520

#1 Post by shahmohit87 » Tue Jun 14, 2011 12:19 am

Hi,

I recently purchased a W520 Thinkpad with the Lenovo b/g/n wireless card. However, I'd like to change this card and put in an Intel 6300 that supports 5GHz channels. So, is it as simple as buying a wireless card online, looking through the hardware manual and replacing the current card? I ask since I read somewhere that buying external cards and putting them in won't boot up the W520.

ZaZ
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Re: Change wireless card to Intel 6300 in W520

#2 Post by ZaZ » Tue Jun 14, 2011 12:53 am

It's not external cards, it's non-Lenovo branded cards that won't work without a BIOS hack, even if they're a generic of the same card. Lenovo likes to whitelist non-Lenovo cards in the bios. Swapping the cards is pretty easy, but it looks like the Thinkpad card uses a 2x2 antenna configuration while the 6300 uses 3x3. You may need the extra antenna to get the better range and signal. I don't know how easy it is to do on the W520. It's probably not rocket science, but you'll need to take apart the LCD at a minimum.
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Re: Change wireless card to Intel 6300 in W520

#3 Post by tonyric » Sun Jul 10, 2011 7:42 am

Not necessary to pull the LCD apart. The additional antenna line is in there. I did just this on my W520.
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