What!!! My 6300 wifi card is dual-band???

I just finished setup my new Netgear WNDR3700 router today. When setting up for wireless 2.4ghz, I was telling myself that I'll leave the 5ghz band on just for fun for one day then turn it off, since I don't have any receiver that's dual-band. But when I see that my Intell 6300 wifi detects both bands, I was sooooo excited. Yayyyyy now I can conveniently switch to 5ghz band whenever there's interference on the 2.4ghz one. I'm glad I went with a more expensive Wifi option

 

It's also 3x3 capable

 

What does that mean. Would please explain to me? I'm guess that we can use both 2.4 & 5ghz at the same time to obtain 600mbs?

 

No 3x3 just means that it has 3 antennas and if the router has three antennas it will connect 3x3.

 

ie, for up to 450mbp/s bandwidth support, iirc the dell 1520 is 2x2 as well.

dual band routers are able to boardcast two seperate frequency bands at the same time so 5ghz antenna devices can use the 5ghz frequency and devices that only support 2.4ghz operation can still connect to the router. Your wireless card is not dual band in this sense, you can only connect to one wireless network at a time, so there is no 'dual band' operation going on.

 

I don't like starting new threads, so I will post this here. I installed the 6300 card today, but I can't get it to work. The drivers off of the Dell website won't install, and neither will the drivers straight from the Intel website. I had the 1520 prior to this, with the white and black wires. There was the third gray wire that was stowed in the soft rubber to the right of the card. The card shows up in the device manager properly, but has the little yellow exclamation sign on it. The device manager properties say that it cannot start. Could someone verify exactly where the white, gray, and black wires go (as in left, right, middle)? I just put them where they were on the 1520, with the gray in the middle. The 6300 has no markings saying which color goes where. If none of your comments do anything to remedy the issue, I'll assume it's a dud. I got it on ebay from a US seller with good feedback. It was really cheap though, like $23 shipped, so it might be fake or whatever. I appreciate the help.

Also, I have NOT updated my BIOS for quite awhile if that makes any difference.

 

My 1520 had the grey and white wires connected to 1 and 2 pins/slots call them whatever on the card, and the 6300 came with a black one which I connected to ping/slot nr 3. I heard people saying that if you dont use BT much you can connect the blue cable to the 6300 without having to find a route for the third cable. You can also use it with just 2 antennaes but you wont connect in 3x3 (max 450mb on compatible routers).

 

The BT wire is headed all the way over the Broadcom card on the far left of the palm rest. My laptop came from Alienware with the black and white wires connected, and the gray wire stuck in the soft rubber stowage thing there. It doesn't matter how I hook it up, I get the same results. I'm guessing I got what I paid for!

 

Alright, well I've tried connecting the wires in every feasible configuration. The guy is a US seller with 100% feedback, and he's sold a ton of these cards. I'm pretty sure I've done something wrong.

 

TurbodTalon

Have a go @ reseating your 6300,but if it's showing up in Device manger i reckon its driver related your problem.Go to link below and try the Intel® PROSet/Wireless Advanced Enterprise Software for Windows 7 64-Bit*
which i use for my card.Download the File name:
ICS_s64.exe give it a go .

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=19338&ProdId=3200&lang=eng

 

Thanks Sauce. I'm not running the most current BIOS revision either. Do I need a certain BIOS for this card to function correctly?

 

That's a possibility, if i was you i would flash to A09 anyway.But try that enterprise software package.Oh & and another thing that crops to mind did you remove software for your old 1520 ie drivers from system if not go for it.Leaving flashing bios to last would be a good move .

 

It will work on any BIOS I have the 6300 usually it goes white black grey or white grey black I cant remember exactly but it is in that sequence I will snap a pic when this damn tech finally comes to fix my laptop.

 

Well guys, thanks for all of the help. At this point I'm pretty sure that the card is defective or fake. Like I said earlier, it was only $22 shipped. The next cheapest one was $35. I flashed to the A09 BIOS, reinstalled my 1520, uninstalled my 1520, and reinstalled the 6300. There's someone in the NBR marketplace that's selling them. I didn't notice until after the fact though. It shows up in the Device Manager, but really doesn't do anything else. The driver from Dell won't even install because it can't see an Intel WiFi card. Fakey or busted. One of the two. Anyway, thanks again.

 

What you might have bought on Ebay could possibly be a ES that's why i suggested using the enterprise software package as Dell 6300 driver would not work .Did you try the software package?.By the way the ES should be pretty much the same but have read that they don't perform with Linux but are good with everything else i.e Vista,Win 7.

 

Here's what I'm seeing on my end. I can provide more screens if needed, but I've tried everything I could think of AND all the stuff you guys have suggested. I don't really care if it's an ES, but it does need to work. Any other suggestions? How do I tell if it's an ES? Oh, and HWinfo32 doesn't show it either.

 

TurbodTalon

I reckon you should contact seller as there is a possibility you got sent a dead card.Check thumbnail of what you should see.Sorry i cant help you.

 

Yeah, he's shipping another one out. I still have my 1520, so no biggie. Nothing I did got that thing to work. No worries, my friend, I appreciate everything. If the new one does the same thing, I either have horrible luck, or something on the laptop is screwed. The latter is doubtful because my 1520 works fine. Thanks again.

 

@TurboTalon, you have a bad card for sure.
it doesn't matter in which order you connect the antennae cables, it should work anyway. i hope the replacement card will be good

@ScreenSaver - 6300 is a dual band card, and it's internal. It can work on 2.4 and on 5GHz

 

Theres dual band and simultaneous dual band.

Some routers only support dual band which means you can only choose between 2.4 or 5ghz. Then theres simultaneous dual band which broadcasts both.

Theres no simultaneous dual band adapters that exists AFAIK. I dont think its part of the 802.11n standard to use up both bands to double up the speeds.

One way to tell if its a re-stickered ES card is by the MAC address. Do an ipconfig /all in windows and match the MAC to the sticker on the card.

 

I'll pop in my question here as well.. I need to get a new modem and router (or possibly a modem router) any recommendations? I know very little about it, but use the 6300 card. price vs value, or simply best product comments arfe both highly appreciated.

 

Linksys E3000 FTW.

 

My vote goes go the netgear wndr3700. Awesome signal strength and throughout. I had a few Linksys routers before and I am glad I switched!