Q: ASUS Notebooks and Dual-Band Wireless "N"

- I have both the ASUS F6V-A1 and an ASUS M50Vn (wife's) laptops.
- Both support the new 802.11N wireless standard
- I recently purchased a dual-band wireless "N" router (2.4ghz and 5ghz).

The F6V sees both the 2.4ghz and 5ghz wireless "areas" fine, but the M50Vn only sees the 2.4ghz network. Essentially, only the F6V appears to support "dual band". Both laptops were purchased within the past 6 months.

Q: Is it possible to add dualband support to the M50Vn through a driver update?

Q: Can anyone confirm the M50Vn does "not" support dualband 802.11N?

Any other feedback is appreciated, as its difficult to find information on ASUS support for dual-band wireless (I was surprised / happy to see the F6V supported it!)

 

bumpzilla

 

I thought dual band setups where so you could take advantage of the less crouded 5Ghz band with devices that support it and still use B G and N devices that use 2.4 Ghz such as your iphone.

The question would be does its card support 5Ghz N not if it supports dual band. The card is replacable though, if your trying to keep it in the family im not sure if any of the centrino 2 5xxx series supports 5Ghz or not.

 

Both notebooks have P8700 CPUs, so I'm assuming they use the same chipset, no? Is that the same as Centrino2?

And yes, I guess my question is really: Does the M50Vn support 5Ghz?

 

Find out what card you have, device manager i guess but a quick to be sure way is just take the bottom panel off and look. The M50's is just below the ram (opposite of myne).

Then go look the card up. Im reading up on the 5100 and 5300 and intel claims they both operate in 2.4 and 5Ghz spectrum. I wouldnt know how to switch between these things arent like configuring a router.

Make sure you have the router setup with different SSID's for each frequency if it can i saw that done on engadget so "Whatever 2.4" "Whatever 5".

 

The router is set up properly, as the F6V can see and connect to my 5ghz network (SSID: XXXX_5ghz), it also sees the 2.4ghz network (SSID: XXXX_2ghz). The M50Vn however, only sees the 2.4ghz network.

Both the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz networks showed up in the F6V's wifi list without any configuration changes. I'd expect the same from the M50Vn.

I'll check the M50Vn notebook when I get home, but was hoping someone could clarify if all 802.11N adapters supported the 5Ghz band by default.

 

I did a little google search and found this. Your question seemed to be answered near the end with this comment; "But even though the IEEE 802.11n standard doesn't mandate 5 GHz operation for MIMO devices....."

Hope this helps!

 

Update: I'm reading through this thread, and it looks like others are having similar trouble with the Atheros AR928x wireless adapture using the 802.11n protocol.



ASUS needs to address this, as the notebook specs clearly state support for wireless "n".

 

And it clearly supports N, it doesnt advertise anywhere that it is dual band or operates on the 5Ghz band. The adapters I have seen are actually draft N anyways.

If the device is functioning properly and as advertised i dont see them doing much about it. If its something simple maybe.

 

As noted in the other thread, the Atheros AR928x wifi adapter, installed in many ASUS notebook models, does not operate properly. None of them operate in "n" mode shipped, and this is fairly well documented by the looks of it.

Apparently the updated v7.7.0.199 driver may remedy this (located here), but I'm hesitant to install this as I cannot confirm that it is an official release. However, it has been reported to make the Atheros card function properly in "n" mode as advertised per this ASUS support thread.

 

I read the link and at first though it was a different issue since most people in the beginning of that thread weren't getting N on the 2.4GHz band. Then I kept reading and saw the last few posts which are having your issue.

Another google search yielded me the information that your M50Vn should have the same Intel WiFi Link 5100 wireless card that my G50VT-A2 has in it. I also have the same router (wrt610N) at home that you mentioned in the other thread and haven't had any issues with N on either of the bands. I am using XP Pro so I don't know it that makes any difference. I checked my drivers and I'm using driver version 12.1.2.1 from Intel. I also saw that under the advanced tab in the properties for the card there is a setting for "Wireless Mode". Mine is currently set at default and allows it to use 802.11a, 802.11b or 802.11g. If yours is set differently, not allowing 802.11a, you won't get N on the 5GHz band.

Hope this helps

P.S. There are other settings in the advanced properties tab dealing directly with the N wireless as well. One of these might be an issue as well.

 

Do you mean in Device Manager > Advanced properties? When I go to this, there is no option for a/b/g/n. Using Vista H32.

Also, I agree about the card type, I have an Atheros card in here, but my F6V has the 5100, even though the specs for the M50Vm clearly state it has the 5100. (I mistakenly quoted this notebook as the M50Vn... its an M50Vm).

 

Not sure about the Atheros card but I'll try to ask my friend about it since he works for them. Do you have the exact model number (& manufacturer) of the card that has the Atheros Chipset?

As for the settings, if I go to device manager > Network Adaptors > then pick my wireless card's properties, I'll get a new window with 6 tabs (General, Advanced, Driver, Details, Resources, Power Management). The Advanced tab is the advanced properties tab I was talking about that has several advanced properties that can be changed for the card. There is channels width for 802.11n 2.4GHz, and 802.11n 5.2GHz. There is 802.11n mode and the previously mentioned wireless mode setting. All of those seem to adjust properties for the (5100) wireless card.

I don't know if any of that will help since it seems your card is different. I'll see if I can talk to my friend and get any info.

 

In device manager, the wireless adapter is listed as "Atheros AR928X". When I go to the Advanced tab of the device property pages, there are no options regarding channel width, frequency, or a/b/g/n network types.

So, it seems that ASUS listed a different wireless adapter for this notebook (5100) than the one that is actually in here.

As an aside, I can see the adapter is connected at 130mbps on the 2.4ghz band, so maybe it is "n"? Weird that it doesn't see the 5ghz band.

I appreciate any info you can get, mr_milo.

 

i have the samee card in my n-10 , it cannot connect to the 5ghz band either . I have wrt 600 n router , and n-10 does not see the A-N radio . . OI get up to 162 mbps so in 2,4 it gets N band

 

Again, weird, because the N-10 states its specs as WLAN 802.11 a/b/g/n.

Doesn't 802.11a only transmit via the 5ghz band?

 

it has 2 dif cards , one a,g,n one b,g.n

 

Elgordo, I got a limited amount of information for now but hope to get more later. The first thing I was told to ask you to do is setup your router for 802.11a only and see if the laptop will connect. The reason for this test is to see if you do indeed have an a/b/g/n card or just a b/g/n card since the Atheros AR928X has both types. The only links I was shown are for a company called Unex. They make two Atheros AR928X cards shown here. One of the cards uses the Atheros AR9280 and has a/b/g/n using both bands but the other card uses the Atheros AR9285 and only has b/g/n using the 2.4GHz band.

I'm still seeing if I can get more info but testing it using "A only" might be a good starting point. Next would be opening it up to see if one of the antennas is disconnected or if you can see the chip number on the wireless board.

Another thing I found on my own was this website. It's talking about an Acer but it looks like the wireless card is the same.

Hope this helps and I'll keep you posted if I hear more.

 

Thanks for this great information, mr_milo. It's truly appreciated.

First, there is no way to put the router in 802.11a mode only, as it will continue to transmit on the 2.4ghz band (b/g/n). My only option is to limit the 5ghz band to 802.11a. Doing so does not change anything, as the wifi adapter cannot see that band in the first place.

It looks like there *is* an Atheros card that is b/g/n (not "a" as I previously found), so that could very well be the culprit. I will open up the notebook to confirm when I get a chance.

Thanks for this great information! I do hope others can see this as well, as I imagine you probably just solved this issue for many others.

 

Also, this may have been mentioned before, but is this card easily upgradeable if it is single band 'n'? I'm assuming any "PCIe half-size mini card" will fit?

 

I think the bus & connector are standards so size would be the only issue. Then just find the drivers. You could always get one of the 5100 Intel cards since that's what Asus states is the card in the laptop. I just checked eBay and you can get them for under $20.

I did get a little more info from my friend. He stated that the Atheros even numbered chips are dual band while the odd numbered chips are single band. This matches what I posted above but is a little more general. He also said that any driver for the series would work on either type of card (chipset).

Glad I could help.

 

Great information, thanks!