4965AGN + Linksys WRT300N = NO Wireless-N???

So I have the Intel 4965AGN in my T61p, but I can't connect to my Linksys WRT300N router with speed faster than 54Mbps. I have the lastest driver from Lenovo for 4965AGN with n band enabled, and the firmware for the router is also the latest. And I also use WPA-AES for security, but none of these helped I can't connect at N speed. My Dell notebook with an older Dell 1500 draft-N card can connect to this router at its maximum speed of 270Mbps.
So anyone have idea how to make the 4965AGN connect to WRT300N at N speed? I thought 4965 was the best card out there right now, but I can't connect faster than my old Dell wireless card!

 

you are not alone...looks like you have to use WPA2 (AES or TKIP) and you should be set. see for yourself.

http://support.intel.com/support/wireless/wlan/4965agn/sb/cs-025643.htm

 

Only way to get full speed with the 4965 is with either "Open/None" or "WPA2/TKIP or AES".

 

I've tried WPA and WPA2, neither of them worked

 

Try "WPA2/AES". Does it work correctly with "Open/None"?

 

yeah, start with open. you can at least see if the encryption is the problem.

 

Thanks for all the inputs.
I've tried WPA2/EAS, and no encryption. In both cases, it only connected at 54Mbps certainly not N speed.
So is there anything else I can try? I am starting to think that I might have a defective card :cry:

 

I found this thread with the same issue as yours (connection limited to 54 mbps), the same router model (WRT300N), and the same WiFi card (Intel 4965 ABGN). A solution seems to have been found to successfully connect at the highest speed rate (130 mbps) so I hope this will resolve your issue (it will help me as well to know when I upgrade my router to one that supports 802.11n).

http://forums.linksys.com/linksys/board/message?board.id=Wireless_Routers&thread.id=59675

 

Set your router to accept 'N only' connections and try to connect with both card and router set to wpa2-aes. I have exactly the same setup, and it works fine at 130 Mbps (the Intel cards will not do 270 Mbps unless you have a 5.4 Ghz router, as per draft N standard - the others are doing it by hooking two channels together). If you cannot connect at all with 'N only' selected, then you probably have a defective wireless card, or the extra antenna is loose.

Asuron - I did not have to use the settings suggested in your link, but maybe they will help others.

 

Asuron - the settings from that link doesn't seem to work for me. Actually when I used them, my link speed dropped from 54Mbps to 48Mbps.

bsodder - I can't set it to N only because if I do, it won't connect at all. I used to set it at "N only" so that my Dell can connect at N speed. And the Dell does it wonderfully, at 270Mbps. But now my T61p won't connect at "N only", no matter what other settings I used. It's very frustrating.
I have to set it to "Mixed" so that the T61p can connect at G speed, but at the same time, the Dell can only do 130Mbps at N instead of 270Mbps.

I already opened up the case to see if I got a loose antenna, but all there antennas are connected tightly and didn't seem to be the problem. As for a defective card, I have no idea how to test it, and I certainly hope that it's not the case. I looked at Networking under Task Manager when it was not connected to any network, and it showed that it was capable of 300Mbps, so it seemed to be able to do N.

I really don't know what's going on here. A search from Googles shows that quite a few people are having the same problem. Some even suggested that these two were not compatible to start with, so they coudn't play nicely at N speed. So guess I'll have to find another N router to do some tests

 

bsodder, can I ask what version is your WRT300N and what firmware you have? Mine is WRT300N V1 with firmware v1.03.6

Thanks

 

I am in somewhat similar situation as yours but with a few differences:

(1) I am unable to maintain a stable 802.11 G connection to my router using my 4965AGN. The connection speed constantly varies from 54Mbps (only when I first login to XP after a bootup) through all intermediate speeds all the way down to 5.5Mpbs. All that time the throughput varies as well (mostly dropping).

Note that my problems only began with Windows XP. When I had the factory Vista Business install on my T61, the connection would remain stable at 54Mbps and the speed wouldn't change and throughout was very good.

(2) I've been able to confirm that the issue is due to my built-in 4965AGN because as soon I plugged in an old PCMCIA NetGear wireless G NIC, my connection speed went up to 108Mbps and remained stable & solid. Ditto for throughput.

My situation is complicated by the fact that my wireless AP (accesspoint) is a Linux-based PC running AP software (MadWifi + hostapd). I will be tackling that end this weekend on the appropriate mailing lists.

But I thought I'd mention this just so you know that you aren't the only one having problems (albeit different from me) with your 4965AGN.

Regards,

 

ssitu - Try this other thread:

http://forums.linksys.com/linksys/b...thread.id=33874&view=by_date_ascending&page=5

In the middle of the page, there's an explanation of what the compatability issue may be. You can read the thread from the beginning or go on from here and read how a number of them have been successful in getting 130 mbps speeds.


Also, here is an excerpt of someone with your router on a later page from the same thread:

http://forums.linksys.com/linksys/b...thread.id=33874&view=by_date_ascending&page=8

"Don't know if this will help, but I initially had problems connecting my 4965AGN to my WRT300N. However, after making the following changes I was able to get a solid connection at 130Mbps:

1. Get and install latest drivers for 4965AGN.
2. Use WPA-Personal with AES encription (w/o encryption I could only connect on G band),
3. Set Network Mode to Mixed,
4. Radio Band to Wide,
5. Wide Channel to 3,
6. Standard Channel to 5.

This may not apply for your WRT350N, but it would be worth trying."

Hope it works this time ..... it's good to know for future reference if you'll be able to resolve this issue!

bsodder - since you're connecting at the higher speed, do you have a later version of the router's firmware than ssitu's or just the "Accept only 'N' setting"?

 

Aaahh! Therein may lie the difference - I have Ver. 1.1 with firmware 1.51.2.

Maybe they fixed some of these issues in Ver. 1.1.

 

asuron and bsodder - I really appreciate your help!

Looks like it's a dead end for me. My version of the Linksys WRT300N router is in fact not compatible with 4965AGN in N mode. I've exhausted all the combination of setting, but nothing worked. So guess I have to settle with 54Mbps for now, until there is a reasonably priced router that can do 5Ghz. It's actually not slower than 270Mbps for internet since my cable connection is about 8Mbps.