best thinkpad x60 wifi card

6 respuestas [Último envío]
Zancudo
Desconectado/a
se unió: 09/19/2012

Hallo again

I want to install a wifi card in my x60. Before the BIOS was upgraded to coreboot, an intel card was installed and it got really hot (right hand palm rest). So I wonder which of the atheros cards is best regarding temperature? Well of cause it should provide a stable connection too. Please, share your experience!

Also, I wonder if it was worth installing a three-antenna card. Is this possible at all? Can I just add a third antenna?

Any hints are much appreciated!
Cheers

ivaylo
Desconectado/a
se unió: 07/26/2010

В 22:36 +0100 на 13.01.2014 (пн), mono@nospam написа:
> Hallo again
>
> I want to install a wifi card in my x60. Before the BIOS was upgraded to
> coreboot, an intel card was installed and it got really hot

I've replaced the Intel wireless card in my Thinkpad x60 with Atheros
AR5212. [1] I haven't related any heating to the card, but
now that you mention it the right side is warm even with the card
disabled by the hardware switch. I don't know if it is related. The
keyboard surface is usually warm (to slightly hot) when I use the
laptop without a docking station and external monitor i.e. as a
laptop.

The reception of the card is good on good signal. It is usable on weak
signal. I have no extra antenna other than the one that was already
in.

[1]
03:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Qualcomm Atheros AR5212 802.11abg
NIC [168c:1014] (rev 01)
Subsystem: IBM ThinkPad 11a/b/g Wireless LAN Mini Express Adapter
(AR5BXB6) [1014:058a]
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17
Memory at edf00000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
Capabilities:
Kernel driver in use: ath5k
Kernel modules: ath5k

mYself
Desconectado/a
se unió: 01/18/2012

If you're going to replace the internal wireless card, go for the Atheros AR5B22 based models. If you want a 3x3 MIMO card, search for the AR5BHB112 based ones, just bear in mind, that they're not the cheapest ones (will cost you as much as the WiFi adapters sold by ThinkPenguin).

Zancudo
Desconectado/a
se unió: 09/19/2012

thanks both of you!

AR5B22 looks interessting because it includes bluetooth too.

Still don't know, if looking at temperature the newer cards are better than the older once.

mYself
Desconectado/a
se unió: 01/18/2012

The bluetooth part of all the Atheros cards require non-free firmware for operation. If your laptop does not have a separate bluetooth module, then you're out-of-luck, and only an external solution will work.

Google makes heavy use of AR5B22 based cards in their Chromebook line of portable computers, and I heard no complaints so far. Maybe you need to disassembly and clean the cooling fan, replace the thermal paste on the processor, or even better, buy a new computer.

Zancudo
Desconectado/a
se unió: 09/19/2012

thanks for clarification about the non-free bluetooth driver.

I got a AR5B97 AR9287 card for cheap at ebay. it is getting warm too, but far from the hot temerature with the intel card. It needs some custom modification though because it's a half size card and the laptop is made for full size cards.

trisq

I am a member!

Desconectado/a
se unió: 09/03/2013

Zancudo,

Check ebay again, they make an adapter card for half size cards to become full size. Inexpensive.