Lenovo Y50-70 15 with poor wifi range.

Fixing my daughter's Lenovo Y50-70. The one with the 15 inch 4k screen.

New SSD and new install of windows but unfortunately I wasn't the first to try to fix it. Other guy left what I am hoping was only cosmetic damage.

Anyway now that the dead HD is out and ready for its new demanding duty as a paperweight, it seems to work fine. Well fine except there are no bars on the internet access and it isn't spotting any others. The internet works, it just appears to be stretching.

That's odd because my old dell does much better, and it has notoriously poor range on account of trying to get signals past a metal shell. To the point that I bought a different model (not with me here) for use where signals may not be so good. And that other laptop with its better range was...... a Y50-70. A 17 inch touch screen version.

So anybody got a good guess what is going wrong? My thought is that the aerial wire is loose, but I ain't opening the thing up again till I have had a good long think.

 

Sure sounds like loose antenna connectors.

I always double check that and put a piece of tape on top to make sure they wont pop out.

 

Hmm. Always worth getting a second opinion. Located the wifi module in the manual.
Could open it up again n just give the connection a quick fiddle. If nothing obvious I am just going to put it back together and maybe consider a professional repair. Maybe an external usb wifi and be done with it, but that would be a shame.

 

Or, you could just spend 5 minutes to pop a $20 Intel AC8260 or even an AC9260 in there and see what happens.

 

Wish I knew what those thing were..... Ok checked. looks much like mini modem board already in laptop. But is it plausible that one inside is functional but working poorly?

Hmm £13 from Ebay, local free delivery:

Intel WiFi Card Wireless-AC 9260 NGFF NGW Dual Band 802.11ac

Would that do?

Edit: have to say cables look connected & Not convinced both are broken. What would the result be of just one functional? Right now what should be a decent connection keeps dropping out.

 

Anything is possible. For ~$20, you can't really go wrong (return if not needed/didn't help, of course).

What is inside already? Check the Windows Task Manager for details.

See:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833106284

See:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...9260&cm_re=AC_9260-_-17Z-00A8-00075-_-Product


Just make sure you do not buy an Intel AC9560 card. That needs additional chips on the M/B to work properly, which your notebook probably doesn't have.

 

Ebay's deal is cheaper & local. Newegg is £20

Not opening the laptop up again tonight but from "view your network properties it is a:

qualcomm atheros ar956x. Status is operational. link speed 144/72 Mbps

 

See:
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...-adapter/cfa052b4-db43-4b3d-a4f1-e39dabbe158c

Try updating the drivers. Go to Device Manager (right click on Computer and select Manage), select the Atheros Wifi Adaptor and right click and select Update Driver. Make sure you reboot to see if this fixes anything (if it downloads a new driver, of course).

 

Updating drivers was first act. Never fiddle with hardware till you are sure it ain't software.

Ang on.........I think I have found the problem.

Checked out my internet box. It runs at 2.4Ghz or 5ghz. Whichever it recons is better.

The ar956x only works with 2.4Ghz which can get congested. I live in a tower block so kinda likely that.

That £13 Intel AC 9260 board is dual 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz.

So the last question....am I likely to have driver problems if I upgrade to it?

 

No more likely than what you're facing now.

 

Let me think a tad. If I order tonight it will arrive say Tuesday. If I dither the last 3 could get sold and then its pay £20 or £13 from china in, say, a month.
So, I am going to give it an hour to think through then order.

 

Dear god. My head might explode.

The laptop can officially use a:
Intel 7260 2x2AC+BT PCIE M.2 WLAN V2

That looks to be close.
However the bios whitelists non-lenovo parts (bios will not recognise)
However Lenovo has ended white-listing so as long the bios has been updated no problem. The lenovo utility I downloaded says all drivers up to date.
Plus Intel offers drivers.......

So the bottom line is the board will probably work and will probably be a solution.

40 mins till I order so last chance to change my mind people.

 

Arrggg.

In the advert:
Not work for HP/IBM/Thinkpat/Lenovo Laptop

 

So. It is definitely the right form factor. If the bios don't forbid it should work. I'm buying.
Crossing my fingers & praying to any gods out there but buying.

Maybe it's the drink talking. I have had my one can for tonight....
Nah...Its just told me I'm blowing my month's budget for booze.

Ok done.

 

Please use the edit function to update your posts instead of creating new ones.

 

I think you did the right thing (did you go for the AC9260?).

As for the BIOS, don't just trust the Lenovo driver update tool. Go to Lenovo yourself and see if there is a newer BIOS for your system. Highly recommended.

 

I did. Could have gone for the older module with the lenovo approved spec. About £9 and a month away from china.
May still do if this don't work.
Will update this thread when I get & fit the part.
Must say I am surprised and I bet others will be too.
Never thought that a laptop's modem would be in dire need of an upgrade.

 

I regularly update RAM, SSD's and WiFi cards to the latest specs. Usually coinciding with a full/clean Win10x64Pro install too, after verifying that the new parts work without issue, of course.

Better than getting a new platform in some ways. Stable, proven reliable, faster, and more responsive from just using the O/S to connecting to different clients networks when I'm out of the office. Not to mention a whole lot cheaper than a new platform too.

Anything that is not glued/soldered down; replace if and when you can - the best way to extend the usefulness of the notebook and get maximum performance from it too, for the life of the unit.

Just be very gentle with the antenna leads, slow and steady and they'll come off easy for you too. Be just as gentle when putting them on.


And to be sure; there is nothing wrong with the parts I replace; I just do so to get the benefits of the latest/fastest gear and standards.

 

Lol. From my experience the best way to extend the life of a laptop is put it in a well padded laptop bag.

Ah n yes. I promise to be gentle. Now when did I say that before?

 

Sigh........ have to say things did not go well.
Worked out how to see tiny clips to the new card... Wore 3 pairs of glasses at the same time.
Hey, I was on my own.. figured if nobody saw me nobody would realise I'm a complete loon.

Installed & Bios refused. Just goes to say that not everything you read on the net is true. Lenovo is still dedicated to the whitelist.
Mind you that has to be the exception. I'm sure Elvis is still alive.

Grrr. So I found a website that offered to unlock bios. Just had to download some utilities and make checks first.
The 3'rd one locked the laptop. Got it back working but only after removing the battery.

(Edit: Highly likely it was me not understanding instructions - but hey, I'm just some poor sod trying to get the internet to work. Think I was mistaken for somebody who had a clue)

Guy still wants me to run more stuff..... And about that time he mentions he expects a donation for a hours work.

Quit. Running more of this dodgy stuff n then forking out what could not with honesty be less than £50... well not such a deal.

So. Going to have to order a Intel 7260 2x2AC+BT PCIE M.2 WLAN V2 for £7 that should do the job. Or perhaps not...same modem in this laptop. Perhaps I can do a swap?

(Edit2: Just going to buy the part. This laptop does not offer easy access to the modem)

 

Um. Now this is a very silly idea.... but I got time while I wait for a deal.

Is it possible to load and run drivers for a modem while turning it off in the bios?

That is somehow make Windows 10 think the modem is there while the bios thinks it isn't