intel 5100 crap?

i just installed dd-wrt onto my linksys WRT54G V5, dd-wrt is 3rd party firmware for the people who arent aware, and i just looked and i found something rather strange, if you will turn your attention the picture included along with this post.

the 2 lines are me and my dads wireless connection to the router, keep in mind, im in the basement of a 3 floor row home in maryland (not very big, but not tiny either), and the router is literally not even six inches from the laptop, my mac address is the one ending in 9E:88, my dads is the one ending in A8:C6, notice his connection is 100% and mine is 89%, how is this possible being that THE ROUTER IS LESS THAN SIX INCHES AWAY FROM THE LAPTOP!? my dads using some usb powered linksys wireless g adapter for his desktop in his room which is on the 3rd floor. what is the deal here? how does he have 100% signal quality, being over 20 feet away from the router, yet im less than six inches and i have 89%, the only thing i can think of is that the intel 5100 wireless card is crap. is it just me pointing fingers or has it been proven that the 5100 isnt the "cream of the crop". now i know people are gonna say "well youre less than six inches away, use an ethernet cable and dont *****"

well for people who dont know the layout of the 7811, the ethernet jack happens to be on the right hand side of the laptop, and if i plugged an ethernet cable in there it would slam right into my mouse while im playing games and stuff. id would be quite the pain.

 

The wireless card in my 6860fx is wack too.. If I play a game such as Warcraft III on B.net wireless - I get a 5 second lag every 30 sec.. Something I never got with my old Fujitsu-siemens 1437g, bought more than 2 years ago.
I HAVE to play hardwired, in order to play games completely-lagfree.. And it doesnt change anything, if im an inch away from my router, or 2 stories.

I read somewhere about a program called Vista Anti-Lagger, havent tried it out though, and Im not sure it would be of any help.

 

signal quality has to do with a number of things. Antenna placement and antenna orientation are two things that your 5100 card can do nothing about. Or it's possible that the amplifier on the 5100 card is crap. It's also possible that you are too close (you ever put a speaker to close to a microphone?) to get a 100% signal. Others have reported problems with the 5100, but the latest driver usually clears it up. You can get it here for Vista 64 Home Premium or select your OS here.

So, you might try moving away from the router. You might try reorienting your laptop to the router. The 5100 isn't top end, but Intel generally doesn't produce crap, either. For under $40, you could upgrade to the 5300.

 

I've never liked the 5100... in fact I've gotten into various arguments with people on the networking and wireless section of the forum where I said that the older 4965 is better than the new centrino 2 5100 (which we have). Some agreed with me, many didn't. Either way, here's an interesting read:

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/intel/showdoc.aspx?i=3356&p=6

Excerpt (speculative): "The new WiFi Link 5100 supports the same number of spatial streams as the 4965 that's available in current Centrino notebooks, meaning that it can receive two streams of data concurrently, or transmit one stream and receive another at the same time. The third antenna in the 4965 is simply used to boost range, so it is possible that systems using the 5100 will have worse WiFi range than existing Centrino notebooks. Transmit performance can also be greater on systems equipped with the WiFi Link 4965, but the WiFi Link 5100 is $10 cheaper, which means we'll probably see it exclusively in cheaper notebooks."

 

so i should buy a 5300? or should i buy a wireless card from another company?

 

1) did you try signal strength from someplace further than 6 inches away - like the next room? (I've had wireless cards that wouldn't even connect when they were within 12 inches of the router)
2) Is it causing problems? 89% isn't bad. Heck, I downloaded 3DMark06 (580MB) on a 20% signal connection in under an hour.

 

I get that lag in WarCraft III as well, but only if I am connected to my friend's Linksys router. When I am connected to my Netgear WGR614v6, I get no lag 2 stories up. Maybe it's a Intel-Linksys problem?

 

yeah ive tryed sitting on my futon about 9 feet away from the router, no improvement.

and no its not causing problems but i was just curious as to why his is 100% and mine is 89%

 

If you have the money, or can convince your parents that they do, then drop the $35-50 to go toward the 5300. I had issues with that 5100 as well using my linksys router..and would not be able to connect at times, it would hang on connect, have IP issues, all sorts of dumb crap. Since gettin the whitebook, I haven't had a SINGLE issue with connectivity. Or, try flashing back to original firmware? Or, search for newer drivers.. also check your device manager, and the Wifi settings of your driver.. make sure they're correctly configured. OR - use that lil blue ethernet cable

 

im actually thinking about buying the 840 as well, it looks amazing, i can just buy the barebones are put the stuff from my 7811 in that. id really like to use those crossfire 3870s

 

I'm not sure if you were thinking about putting the 5300 in the 7811 in place of the 5100, but you can't. The 7811 only comes with 2 antennae built in, the 5300 needs 3.

Edit: just to clarify - the 5300 will probably work if you put it in the 7811, but it won't work at full potential since you will be using only 2 of its 3 antennae spots.

 

Jak, someone on here posted a link to how to hook it up in the FX series. It was a couple weeks ago. I could be wrong.. but I believe it showed pics of the MOBO an' all. Err..maybe that was Btooth. Hmm. Can't you just take that 3rd antenna and wrap some aluminum foil around it and hook it to some rabbit ears?

 

hmm, well besides the 5300, are there any other good wireless cards in that price range?

 

I guess that's one way to solve the "problem". I have a Cisco card in the laptop right next to me and it's signal strength is half what I have on the 7811, which I am typing on. My Linksys router is about 50 ft and three solid walls away. I am not saying that the 5100 is the best piece of kit in the universe or that you won't have problems, but 89% signal strength is not a problem if that is the ONLY symptom.

 

I think Atheros has a draft-N mini-PCIe card and theirs would be the only other type I'd trust.

 

What about Intel 4965? Wasn't that in some of the previous FX models?

 

I`am using a crap Dlink 524 and i`am thinking about exchange it for a Linksys WRT 310N is there really a problem with this card 5100wifi and Linksys routers? should i get worried? Any recommendations ?

 

You can get a third antenna to attach to the 5300 such as this or this. And here is a picture of one installed in a laptop (not a Gateway).

This post from AndyC218 may help you.

In this forum there have been folks with problems (lags, dropped connections, very slow connections) with the 5100. In most, if not all cases, getting the latest drivers from Intel has solved the problem.

Again, do NOT let signal strength be your sole indication of a problem. Signal strength is often based on actual radio signal strength measured in decibels compared to some ideal or maximum value. Signal to noise ratio may also be taken int account. It depends on the software you are using to measure signal strength and the data the hardware provides. To use an analogy, if you can hear me clearly, whether I am shouting (100% signal strength) or whispering (50% signal strength), then I can talk just as fast and you will still understand.

I did see something about an Intel Wireless manager. If you are using that, then you do need to make sure the windows wireless manager is disabled. Otherwise the two wireless managers argue with each other about who runs the show and you can't keep a connection active for more than a few seconds. I've experienced the same problem with both Windows and the Thinkpad connection manager wrestleed over who owned the wireless connection.

You will find the Intel Wireless manager software here.

 

would be cool, might work, but is there room? @triple post

 

There is definitely room in the 7811, the question is where to stick it.

And yeah, sorry, about the triple post. I was responding to posts that appeared while I was writing my response to another. I've combined them.

And here a picture of the miniPcie compartment in the 7811. There is room.

 

It looks like from that picture you can run either a half size or a full size 5300 (the slot up top is a full size while the one on the bottom looks like a half size one).

 

awesome, good find. i'll probably get a 5300 and try

 

Does anyone managed to spoof the MAC of that crappy Wireless adapter?
I tried every spoofer, even manually via the registry, and when I check "ipconfig /all" - It's still the old MAC...

I'm desperate now... It hopeless...