m17x-R1 Wireless Cards

What is the difference between the 1510 and 1520 wireless cards on the m17xR1? Is the 1520 version any better? Can I install and effectively use the Intel 6300? Would this offer a noticeable improvement?

 

you can install any card that has the same pci-e card interface and you have the nescessary driver.

I have found the Dell Wireless cards to be not as good as a Intel thus my Intel 5300 AGN card, which I find works better and does not suffer from drop outs

 

I ordered an intel ultimate 6300 from ebay couple of days ago and am waiting for it to come. From what I read around here it should be both compatible and better then the 1510/1520 dell cards.

 

6300 is better than DELL's for sure. but i think u can still give 1520 a try with latest driver (not from DELL website, grab form Broadcom)

 

Thanks for the info everyone. I am set to get the Intel 6300 card but my m17xR1 doesn't seem to have that third antenna. Where might I find one and about how long does it need to be?

 

you do not need the antenna for it to work the 2 will do

but yes you can install a 3rd if you want

search ebay for u.fl antenna for one source

 

agreed, most routers don't even support 3x3 anyway.

 

Agreed. That would be the only reason to upgrade to the 6300.

 

Got the 6300 card the other day. I doubt I will worry about the third antenna. I will be installing the card along with a couple of 640 gig 7200RPM drives as soon as they arrive. I'm anxious to see how RAID0 behaves. Thanks for the info everyone!

 

Got the RAID running just fine, but the 6300 card cannot start. I am getting the (error 10) message when I investigate the card via the device manager. So, the system recognizes the card but won't install drivers. Am I missing a step or is the card DOA?

 

Intstall the drivers from downloadcenter.intel.com

The stock MS ones won't let you enable dual band (required for WiFi-N 300mbps), anyways.

Did you plug in the card securely (not mashed in there, but securely)?

 

...still haven't been successful with installing drivers. Windows7 won't let me get that far. It seems as if the card must be "started" in order to get any drivers installed. I will try re-seating the card and antennae for the fourth time and try everything again.

 

You said you got the 640GBx2 RAID going? RAID0 I hope? I would be grateful for a benchmark with CrystalDiskMark (or whatever you use). I have actually been eye-balling that exact HDD on Newegg. Thanks man.

 

Will have to get back to you on that as I have never run any kind of benchmarking on my m17xR1. I did have a single 500GB 7200RPM drive and it seems my RAID0 setup is a bit faster. I will try and remember to run a benchmark for you and then I will start a new thread for those results.

Still unable to get the 6300 card to start up. Fortunately, the seller on Ebay will be sending me another. I hope this all just a bad card. I mean, the ol' R1 should be able to run it.

 

Well, I have had some time to test a few wireless cards in the m17xR1. I have tried two 6300 mini WiFi Cards, one 6200 mini WiFi card, and a full-size 5300 WiFi card. I could not get any of the mini cards to work completely. For each, the device manager correctly identified the card but mentioned, "This device cannot start. (Code 10)" I was unable to make any further progress. I took the bluetooth out and installed the bigger 5300 card and had no issues--Windows7 automatically installed drivers and I was good to go.

I put my mini 1510 card back in and had no troubles. What on Earth is the problem? Why can't any of the 3 mini WiFi cards start?

 

You need the specific drivers for each device, the Windows driver is not sufficient enough by the sound of it. Grab the Driver from the dell download page and try again.

 

I can confirm that the 6300 works just fine in the R1.....did you make sure that you did not hit the wi-fi button on the touch strip above the numpad?

 

Thanks scook9 for confirming compatibility. I am still encountering issues. It has been my experience upgrading hardware on the R1 that a new piece of hardware is identified right after start up. I have had no issues upgrading the processor, RAM, or hard drives and so I expected installing the 6300 mini card to be the same--just plug it in, turn on the computer, and the device should start up.

However, the device manager tells me that "this device cannot start (code 10)." Is there a way to force a piece of hardware to start?

Also, I have downloaded drivers from Dell and Intel. Neither will work. The driver from Dell was found from the m17xR2 page. When I tried using it, the file would extract just fine but when that file tried to run I would get an error saying, "This software package cannot be installed on your system. The setup application will exit." I tried to manually run the executable from the file I extracted the whole thing to with no success. The driver from Intel would install but then would say it could not find the appropriate adapter.

So there are my issues. The card is seated well, antennae are snapped into place perfectly, the Windows device manager correctly identifies the card, BUT it will not start or function. I mentioned before that I have tried 3 different mini WiFi cards and each failed. Is it possible that all 3 are duds? I thought this to be unlikely but maybe none of them work.

Any other useful thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.

 

This is odd. I'm having the SAME EXACT issue. http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/527688-2nd-intel-ultimate-n-6300-wont-work.html. I wonder if we got our cards from the same eBay seller.

 

Thanks for sharing a link to your thread. All I can really say is "whoa." I reviewed all the posts and examined all the photos and I am convinced I am fighting the same issue as you. The eBay seller I used has a 100% from 2146. This all should have been no problem. Have you received your new 6300 card from Babyhemi? Perhaps I will have to buy from from that seller.

 

Mine was from BabyHemi, who is always safe to buy from (even if NBR is stopping him from selling here because the other resellers were crying like babies)

 

I've got an update. Posted it in my thread too. I got a GENUINE 6300 in the mail this morning, and it will not install either. Same exact results as the other two I have from the eBay seller. Not sure where to go from here honestly. If none of the brains here on NBR can figure this out, Dell techs sure as hell won't be able to.

 

I thought I posted on this thread, maybe I didn't... you have 3 wires: Black, Gray and White.

On the card, on each slot you will see a small Black, Gray and White triangle. Match the wires with the colored triangles and try it again. I noticed on your pic that there are just numbers instead of the colored triangles, so hopefully the Genuine intel card has the triangles. Otherwise, view below.

 

Yeah, my card doesn't look like that, and I got it from Newegg.

 

Thats ok, just wire it like its show on the card pic I posted...

 

Have you tried installing the card then pulling the cmos for 5 or 10 seconds then put it back and boot up. Might make the card work properly

 

My WiFi is up and working now on the Ultimate 6300. I reset the CMOS and installed the driver that came on the disk. Can't tell which fixed it, but you can have the glory Scook. I can't believe I never thought to reset the CMOS. Unbelievable. Hopefully this can help the OP too.

 

I just remembered that has worked for hardware changes in the past lol

Glad to hear you got it working because the intel is much better than the broadcom crap from dell

 

Damn you taking my glory Scook!

Glad you fixed it OP and others!

 

Well ALL I installed was the driver from the disk. Not Intel's WiFi program or anything else. And thanks to both of you by the way. I was afraid I'd have to use that 1520 for the rest of my M17x's life.

 

That would be a shame haha

Glad it is working now. all of the extra programs are not needed

 

I've been out of the loop for a few days, but it's great to see the action on this thread. I'm gonna search out another 6300 WiFi card and put the recent suggestions here to use if necessary. Thanks everyone!

 

I got a new 6300 card from NewEgg today, reset the CMOS and the card is working. It's definitely worth the cost and an improvement over the 1510 card that originally came with my m17xR1. Thanks again to everyone who helped out here!