Compatible wireless cards? (M18x R2)

Hey,

So I was looking into replacing the POS wireless card that's in my laptop (the Intel Centrino 2230...it's god-awful and should never have been standard in a 2 grand system in the first place). What cards are compatible/recommended?

Specifically, I was thinking of getting a Centrino 6300. They're inexpensive and seem to work well (at least, the one in my old M17 worked well). Would it work? Anything else out there that might be better suited?

Thanks, guys.

(Also, what would the procedure be for swapping them? Presumably uninstall old card's driver, switch cards, install new card's driver? Anything else I'd need to do?)

 

I'm also looking to get a new wireless card, but so far I haven't had any issues with the 2230. What problems have you been having?

As far as I'm aware, you are correct on the procedures on swapping the cards.

 

The range and speeds are significantly worse than the 6300 was in my M17, the 2230 is known for barely functioning with any WEP-encrypted network (not a huge issue now that most things are WPA but still annoying), not compatible with 5GHz networks (the primary reason I want to upgrade), and it just generally doesn't seem to be 100% reliable on all of the networks I use (no problems with the routers as far as I know). I would also like something that can actually use all 3 of the antennae...it seems a waste to only have two of them in use.

 

Ultimate-N 6300 FTW... it's reliable and fast. Anything else that has the potential to perform as well or better also has potential to be a real hassle to have to deal with.

 

So the 6300 will definitely work, then? I just need to make sure before I drop the cash on one. (Or I suppose I could always pull the old one out of my M17, that laptop's basically dead anyway, not sure it's worth much more than a 6300 at this point.)

 

Yep. My Ultimate-N 6300 began its life in one of my old M17xR2. It was transplanted to the M18xR1 and now the M18xR2. Works like a champ.

 

Indeed it does. I have one too and it works great. I do like to switch I my Bigfoot 1103 from time to time as I have it inbedded in my mind that it's faster. Their advertising worked on me like inception. Bigfoot only works well with one old old old driver that someone linked a while ago on the forums

Sent from my SM-N900T using Tapatalk

 

The new 7000's series from Intel looks promising, as long as you have one of the new "AC" Routers. Looked at that route myself, but couldn't justify the cost when my Ultimate-N 6300 keeps up with everything I need.

You can pick up a 6300 on eBay for about $25. Well worth it.

 

I'm with you on that one, I don't think it's necessary to update yet. I'm sure there may be something even better on the way.

 

Bah. Disassembled my old M17, pulled the wireless card out and found that it's a full mini, not a half mini. Damn it.

Guess I'm picking up a 6300 from eBay then. Will any 6300 work?

 

Any half height card should work fine. That is as long as you have drivers.

To be honest, till I upgraded the card in m17xr4 to current Broadcom (from aw18), 2230 worked fine, same range as 6300 before it and reliable. Only issue I faced was wifi dropping out when running wep. Everything else it worked perfectly fine.

 

Just be careful to get one that is not a proprietary Lenovo or IBM version. Some of those WiFi cards have unusual firmware for their stupid BIOS hardware whitelisting crap that doesn't work well in other systems.

Here's a close-up photo of my Ultimate-N 6300. If you see one that has a label without the color-coded triangles for the antennas and different part numbers, consider finding a different 6300 WiFi card even if it costs a few bucks extra.

 

The 2230 isn't playing nice with one of the routers I use, and has a noticeably decreased range compared to my M17. Not to say it doesn't work, but I'd like the added range and 5GHz compatibility that the 6300 has. It's not expensive either (which makes it all the more worse that such an expensive laptop doesn't use one, or one like it, in the first place).

Thanks for the advice. I'll make sure not to get a Lenovo or IBM card.

 

I finally caved in and ordered one. For a while I was fine with my old card, until I started to actually run some speedtests and noticed something curious. My internet connection is an "up to 72mbps" line, and on my phone (iPhone 5s) I'm consistently getting 65mbps. On my laptop, however, I'm consistently getting less than half of that (usually between 15mbps and 30mbps). This is only 3 metres from the router with no obstacles between it.

I wondered for a while what the cause was...then I remembered the stock wireless card only supports 2.4GHz. Checked my router, and as expected, my phone is communicating over 5GHz, whereas my laptop's on 2.4GHz. inSSIDer 3 does report multiple nearby 2.4GHz networks on the same channel, but at 30 dBm lower, I didn't think their signals would be strong enough to interfere this much.

I couldn't think of anything else that could be causing it, so I decided to take a gamble and buy a 6300, which DOES operate on 5GHz. Found one going for just 20 quid shipped (about $32). It appears to be the right one, it has the triangles under the antennae and the same model number as the one you posted an image of, Mr. Fox, although it's a newer revision (A04, not A03). I'd put it off for a while because I couldn't find many of them that I was mostly sure would work (most of them on eBay UK appear to be Lenovo/IBM cards), but happened upon this earlier and for a great price.

I'll report back when I get hold of it.

So, this is something to note for anyone on here living in a block of flats who isn't getting their full bandwidth on their laptops - check what wireless card you have installed, and if it's 2.4GHz only, it might be the cause. I'll find out at the end of the week.

EDIT: 100% certain that the connection frequency is the cause. Can't believe I didn't think of this test earlier, but I disabled 5GHz wi-fi on the router, and sure enough, my phone's now down to ~20mbps.

 

Just got the wireless card today. Only took 10 minutes to switch the cards, driver installation went fine (although Intel don't make it easy to find the driver in the first place), and now it's working perfectly. Getting the full 70mbps from my broadband now.

I'd recommend the upgrade, particularly to anyone who's in an area with a lot of wireless signals going around. inSSIDer picks up at least 15 other nearby 2.4GHz networks, but nothing else on 5GHz at all. And as I know from my old M17, the 6300 has rock solid reliability, unlike the 2230 which was installed in the M18x by default...it's given me various problems over the year and a half I've had it, including randomly dropping the connection for no apparent reason and being incapable of working on any WEP network. (Granted, the latter isn't a problem now that almost everything is WPA encrypted.)

And it only cost me 20 quid (that's $33 to those across the ocean). Very pleased.

 

I know this topic is old. But i want to buy an intel centrino 6300 and the only one i found that ships to my country(Morocco) is this one :
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Centrino-Ultimate-N-6300-wireless-card-A-B-G-N-/250729311677

It doesn't look like the one with the triangles in Mr.Fox picture but it seems like its the same thing (not IBM/Lenovo).
Anyone here can confirm that it's the same?

 

Says universal, should work. To be honest, I've handled a lot of wireless cards from different venders and I've never found one that doesn't work in the Alienware. The problem is with Lenovo/HP/Toshiba, the BIOS has a built in whitelist of cards it can use. It isn't a problem with the card itself, the card can be used anywhere a whitelist isn't present. They say Lenovo or HP branded because those cards NEED to be branded with the vendor ID to work in HP/Lenovo laptops.

That being said, the Ar9380 half height card (AKA Killer 1103) is a garbage card. The full mini version (not half) was a terrific card, but for some reason, this half height card drops connections like crazy under load, no matter what driver I use. The Intel 6300 is really the best card to use, period. I have a AR9280 card now because Intel cards aren't supported in OS X (which is a damn shame. Apple is weird.)

 

i actually came across this thread as i have recently purchased not one but two 6300 wifi cards,
and both had issues, and just plain refused to work, after a lot of time and different driver installations, i realized that they are for lenovos/IBM, so yeah, those are two brands which are a total pain in the arse, their cards just refuse to work in alienwares, or any other brand that i know off.

and i had a similar experence with a lenovo T4xx that my brother inlaw use to have, his wifi card was giving him issues and i had a spare card lying around from my m14x r2 days, his computer would fail to post with that card.

 

That doesn't make sense...I'm using an IBM 6300 no problem in my M18x R2