G1 w/ Lenovo (Atheros 5006EX) wifi card

Hi,

Some information, and a question.

The Atheros 5006EX supposedly has way better range & lower power consumption than the intel3945.

The Lenovo 11a/b/g MiniPCIExpress AR5006EX-based cards can be had for <$45 if you shop around.
I picked one up & put it in my G1. Results as follows:

Vista Ultimate: Works fine w/ whatever ms driver Vista found & installed.
Connects to my AP w/ WPA & MAC filtering.
OSX86 10.4.7: Works perfectly, including WPA after you downgrade a .kext
to 10.4.5
XP Pro: If you can get this card to work in a G1 under XP, you're
a better man than me....

Linux: It's supposed to work, but I've been too busy w/ XP to try
it.

The LED does not work inititially, but I've been experimenting with some registry settings, and have so far gotten it to work "backwards", i.e. the led is lit when it should be off, blinking off intstead of blinking on, if that makes any sense. If I can get it to work under XP, I'll try reversing the polarity of the LED, otherwise it's a pretty simple circuit to hack together to invert the signal.
OTOH, this XP issue is killing me. I multiboot this lappy, Vista, XP, Linux, & OSX, & I need 'em all (to support clients, etc). I have tried every Atheros-based driver I could find, restoring to bare-metal config from backup between each failed install (Code 10). I'm close to throwing in the towel & returning that card & taking a beating on the restocking fee. If you can tell me the secret to getting this card to initialize in XP, I'm gonna owe ya some beers...

Has anyone here gotten the Lenovo card to work under XP in ANY laptop other than a Thinkpad? Is there something odd about either the Asus or Thinkpad Mini PCI Express slot? Is there some third party utility than can access CMOS setup BIOS functions beyond the kiddie set that Asus has seen fit to provide us with(NOT) on this otherwise sweet laptop?

Well, hope this helps somebody, and defiinitely thanks for any light anyone can shed on my problem.

 

I would think it is something to do with the Lenovo origin. I have an Atheros AR5006XS in my Z71V. Works perfectly fine with standard drivers, had to work around to update to the 'XS' model from standard 5006, but there wasn't a problem at all.

I run this under XP Pro.

 

Which driver version are you using? I have a T60 with the 5006EX and have downloaded about 3 different versions because I thought I was having issues on my A network, but it turned out to be the network, and not the card. I believe I have the regular one from Lenovo direct (5.0.100.112) and 7.2.0.15 i think...

 

I don't think this is a hardware issue, per se. Understand that the card works perfectly in identical hardware with OSX & Vista. The problem is either the way that XP accesses the MiniPCI Express port and/or no proper driver. I've tried about 15 of them, and the issue is always the same, Code 10. We're never getting to the point where the card is enabled, so the AP is not a factor (yet).

Now you wanna know what really pisses me off? The number of idiots selling this card on ebay claiming XP compatibility, with links pointing to "generic" atheros drivers which DO NOT HAVE A PRAYER of working because the DEV and SUBSYS in those .inf's is WRONG. Lenovo cards are VEN_168C&DEV_1014. Every other mfg is different.
I hacked the inf's in every driver I tried to force recognition of my card, but still no go. I give up. I feel like this card has to work in XP, and its probably something simple, but I don't have the talent to write a driver.

 

So you've tried the Lenovo drivers already and they dont work?

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?sitestyle=lenovo&lndocid=MIGR-52527

And you've already tried these?
http://www.bestfilez.net/forums/lofiversion/index.php/t29890.html

 

Lenovo was the first one I tried, since, logically it should be the best since their name is on the card. That's when the fun started.

Yeah, I tried all the others on the site you provided (greek?) and then some. The odd thing is that the generic Vista drivers have the proper DEV (1014), yet none of the 2K/XP drivers even recognize the card. I wish there were a way to get the Vista driver to load under XP, but I get a Code 39.

Nothing useful in the Apps log, nothing in the System log. God, I love Linux...

You've got to love this "Code 10"... Why doesn't ms just replace the text "Code 10" with "We really have no clue why you're device won't start. Sorry 'bout that"

What's also weird is that I can start the service from a command prompt, but the device will not enable.

 

Oh okay. Well, I tried to help. Granted we're back at square one. Hope you get it to work =[...

 

Thanks, I appreciate it. I think I'm going to try the Gigabyte card. Might be a little more generic...

 

Yeah I heard about the Gigabyte one. You know if you can live with a PC card poking out of your laptop you can get the D-Link, which also uses an Atheros card. If you really dont mind the really easy way is just to stick with the 3945ABG .... but I dont know hwo the driver support is on Vista/Linux.

 

I just recently purchased an Asus S96J barebone, and bought an Atheros 5006ex from a reseller on ebay. I initially had some issues with the included drivers and client utility, however I was able to find new drivers and an update to the utility and its working fine now. I believe the drivers are located at:

http://drivers.softpedia.com/get/NETWORK-CARD/OTHER-NETWORK-CARDS/Atheros-AR5xxx-Driver-72093-whql.shtml

Because the driver isnt certified you have to manually point to the .ini file, but it should be able to work because the chipset itself is the same.

good luck

 

I think that is for Vista only?

 

doh. ok well I know for a fact that the driver file i downloaded was through softpedia's driver listings and I run winxp MCE and its working, so look through their site. Should be labelled as a driver for 5xxx

I'll look tonite when I get home from work if it still hasnt been found.

 

http://drivers.softpedia.com/get/NETWORK-CARD/OTHER-NETWORK-CARDS/Atheros-AR5xxx-Series-Driver-710116-whql.shtml