[Wheely34]

I have an Acer 11.6" Aspire One AO751H netbook. I want to upgrade the wireless-G to N. This model takes the half size mini pci-e cards. I just recently purchased the Intel Ultimate N WiFi Link 5300 card. Installed it yesterday, booted the computer, and so far so good. It recognized the card right away and the driver installation was successful. The wifi activity light works, the card is recognized, but it is unable to detect any networks. It just flashes that little balloon at the bottom saying "wireless networks unavailable". Try to refresh the network list, and i still get nothing. I tried turning the card off, then on again, but nothing. I checked on the driver in Device Manager, and it says it is functioning properly.

I have the most up-to-date BIOS and I am running 32-bit XP Pro (downgraded from the factory installed VISTA). I was wondering if maybe there was an issue with the antennas? The 5300 card has 3 antenna inputs, but the laptop only has two antennas. I was told on numerous forums that it would still function fine with only two antennas, however. I obtained the most up-to-date driver for the card right from intel's website and it installed without any issues at all. Does anyone have any input on to why this card seems to have installed fine, but cannot detect wireless networks? Should I try an older driver? I know many people have upgraded the wifi in this Aspire Ones, so I can't see it simply being incompatible.

[JohnWill]

Well, I tried to upgrade my wireless in both a Toshiba and an HP laptop, and in both cases the machine refused to recognize the Intel 802.11n card. They have the BIOS configured to ONLY recognize the specific PCI ID string of the original shipping card. Are you sure this isn't a similar issue?

[Wheely34]

well wat happened when you say it wouldnt recognize the card? My machine recognizes it and successfully installs the driver. Everything seems fine except for the fact that it is unable to detect any networks.

i have a feeling its an antenna configuration issue...

[TerryNet]

Well, to ask an obvious "stupid" question--did you securely attach the antenna lead(s)? I know that I have thought I've done so, and then I nudge the wire to make sure and discover I was mistaken.

[Wheely34]

Yes, I have. I'm going to post some pictures so everyone gets a better idea of what's going on:


It is unable to recognize any networks, but the card is enabled and "on", and the radio is functioning, it just cannot detect networks.




This is the old card. It has an "AUX" (Auxilary) and a "MAIN" input. The black wire went to the MAIN, and the white went to the AUX.


This is what the new card looks like in the unit. The intel 5300 has three inputs. I have tried many different configurations with the wires and none have worked.

The computer POSTs fine when booting up. I really think this has something to do with the antennas, but there is no literature or anything around that explains anything about antennas and if the card actually can function with just two. The only thing I can think of is to call Intel, but I know that will prove fruitless...

[JohnWill]

A dumb question, does it function normally if you put the old card back in?

[Wheely34]

Yes, when I put the old one back in, it works perfectly.

Does it matter which antenna gets attached to which input? Is it possible that this card simply just requires 3 antennas and will not work with 2?

[TerryNet]

I'm guessing you are going to have to ask Intel. I remember from another thread that there is at least one adapter that has only one antenna connection. So, my guess would be that the number of leads requires a match between adapter and antenna. Maybe there is a way to "convert" from two leads to three connections.

If you want to, click on Report for this post or one of yours and request that this thread be moved to the Hardware forum, to get some more eyes seeing this issue.

[JohnWill]

FWIW, the 802.11n adapter I got from Dell had two antenna connections.

[Wheely34]

I have reported the thread. Also, I am going to have to call Intel about this i guess. I have heard that two antennas could be used with this card, but I am not sure.

Could it not be compatible with my chipset? The chipset in this unit is the intel US15W, which incorporates the GMA500 video core

[TerryNet]

I've moved your thread to Hardware. Let's see if one of these ladies or gentlemen know something about this issue.

[Wheely34]

hmmm, I am now actually getting an error code today. If a remember correctly, goes something like:

"Device unable to start: Code 10"

I am not on the machine now, so the message does not read exactly like that, but it is giving a code 10 error in device manager. Amist my searching on google, I have seen this code 10 error come up frequently, just haven't read into it because I myself was not getting this message...until now. Anyone have any input on the code 10 error? I'm going to go see what I can dig up on it now...

[TerryNet]

In my experience Code 10 has meant bad driver or defective device.

[Wheely34]

well literally taking the card out and putting it back in fixed the code 10 issue. It's just so weird. Everything looks perfect. The card wa recognized right away, both the driver and intel wifi utility installed flawlessly, the adapter just refuses to detect any networks.

I have a feel that the problem lies in the chipset. The chipset in this unit is an "Intel" chipset. I am reading now that this isn't even an intel chip, nor are the drivers written by intel...they just stuck their name on it. Could this be where the compatibility issue lies?