Atheros 802.11n WLAN Card

Has anyone tried one of these yet?

Atheros AR5008 Wireless Mini PCI Card 802.11n 300Mbps

Atheros AR5008 (AR5416) 802.11b/g/n 300Mbps Wireless MINI PCI Adapter

Standards: IEEE 802.11n draft, 802.11g, 802.11b
Chipset: Atheros AR5008-3NG AR5416
MIMO Technology
Mini PCI Type IIIB
Windows 2000/XP/Vista

The card is full size.
Size: 59mm x 51mm

Please check your laptop whether the space can be installed under this wireless card.

This module is compatible with ALL laptops that have a mini PCI internal slot. except IBM, HP machines.

 

"This listing () has been removed, or this item is not available."
There it was......................gone.

 

Works for me! (After correcting a missing " from the URL, that is. )

 

Dat more better!!!

 

I just got the version in the link below. It fits in a CF 50 and a CF 29. I have not done much real world testing on the AR5008 yet though.
I have compared my AR5006xs Super AG (xtended range) to my Engenious EMP-8602 +S card. The AR5006xs can take advantage of the latest drivers and the EMP-8602 +S needs the old driver. Version 7.7 is the latest I think. Engenious is based on version 4.0.
I did a simple, point the cantenna (real Cantenna brand) at the local housing development comparison. I did aim it at the same spot. I was using my CF 50 as my CF 29 is still in upgrade mode. Otherwise known as pieces on my desktop.
The AR5006xs got much stronger signals than the EMP-8602 +S did.
I did a long rang test.(about 5/8 mile) The EMP-8602 +S seemed better at that range. But the long range comparison was done on 2 different nights where the local comparison was done 5 minutes apart.
The AR5008 incorporates all the features of the AR5006xs, plus N capability, so I expect at least the same performance from it.
Keep in mind that if you get one of these with 3 antenna connections, you will need to use connection 0 and connection 2 if you only have 2 antennas.
0 is transmit and 1 and 2 are receive. If you don't connect something to the transmit, you will lose the magic smoke.

Atheros AR5008 AR5416 Mini PCI card 300M ABGN 802.11n - eBay (item 250642306844 end time Sep-28-10 00:25:16 PDT)

 

look in my signature

 

Did anyone try it on CF-30? Is there anything like that for CF-30?

 

CF 30 uses a mini pci-e doesn't it?

APPLE AR5BXB72 AR5008 802.11N Wireless WiFi Mini PCI-E - eBay (item 180513042385 end time Sep-24-10 01:45:29 PDT)

 

I don't know, I jusy got in 2 days ago. I didn't realy get a chance to open it.

 

My cf-30's standard Intel wi-fi card is perfect as it's rock solid stable, as is the 3945abg that I use in my cf-19
They are only G speed though
The main reason for wi-fi upgrades on the toughbooks was to improve on the early Intel cards 2100b ( which was terrible) and 2200bg

For N type ,there is lots to choose from with the Intel 3965 with N the most popular ( jb007 rules has a guide for pin modding )
Index of ./CF-30 Upgrade to 802.11N Intel 4965 Fix/

Alex

 

would there be any advantage to a second antenna on a cf-29 to recieve, perhaps an honest to goodness mod here? for the new n capable atheros card?.........Driller

 

I thought about installing one under the strip above keyboard where the bluetooth antenna goes. That was out for me because I scored an OEM Bluetooth setup.
Instead, I bought a set of the flag antennas and folded one enough so it would fit inside the dummy cover on the WWAN sled area. I have made my machine WWAN ready, but I am not using WWAN yet. When I do I will move the antenna to the area above the sled.
I believe Toughbook has had success just sticking one to the metal right above the WWAN sled. I think his are for Bluetooth, but I can't remember for sure. Another idea I have heard was to stick one or 2 behind the Toughbook logo on the lid. Someone else has tried trimming one so it would fit in the corner plastic on the lid. Others have said that antenna perf drops dramatically when you start cutting these antennas.

 

I just received one of these cards today and am having a few problems (not my week ).
As mentioned above the card has 3 antenna connectors but they aren't numbered. It came with a third antenna which i have placed under the left palm rest where it stands a chance of seeing something but I want to make sure I use the oem antennas, one grey, one black, optimally so does any one have the magic answer? The only images I have found via google show left as main, and right as aux.
The supplied drivers don't seem to work but I have downloaded some other versions so we will see what happens when I open the case again and take out this intel card

 

With Wireless N there is no "Main" or "Aux" connection; it needs all 3 as a matched set (preferably in a symmetrical triangular pattern) to provide a multichannel connection. Without that, it will in most cases revert to standard Wireless-G operation.

mnem
Radio waves right here, get 'em while they're hot!

 

My opinion of N band (based on a sample of: my house) is if you are close enough to the router for it to be faster than G, you might as well reach over and plug in.

 

Are you using a Wireless N adapter on your PC as well as a wireless N Router?

mnem
*Blink*

 

I have a PS3 (G band) and family size bundle of laptops, netbooks, and iPods with built in N or G. When running off the the Linksys WRT54G speeds are significantly faster than the Linksys WRT610N at distances greater than 15', particularly if the signal needs to penetrate anything thicker than a shadow.

 

We had a discussion on the need for N upgrades on Rob's JB007Rules forum
Rob was one of the first here to mod a N card in his cf-30 mk-1

I stated that my internet connection is so slow the a B card would not effect my throughput , other than giving a flaky signal in the case of the intel2100B

We ran speedtest.net and testmy.net tests
Rob has a very good connection and he can use the speed from a N card
Some of us that live in rural areas and I bet some others here are still not limiting themselves staying with the BG wi-fi cards

Even if you half the max throughput here to be conservative you need a 27 Mbps or faster connection on the G to have an improvement

WiFi: 802.11b 11.000 Mbps
WiFi: 802.11g 54.000 Mbps
WiFi: 802.11n 300-450 Mbps


My speed was 2.5 Mbps from testmy.net

 

Thanks for enlightening me. I needed to replace my old intel card and even if this atheros only acheives G then hopefully with the increase in power I should see an improvment.
Fwiw I connected the oem black to top left, oem grey to centre and the 3rd (new) to top right.

 

@ dentsmithy

You should notice an improvement

Quick fact

2 tin cans and a length of string are more reliable than your stock 2100B card

 

used to have a cartoon from the New Yorker showing 2 stockbrokers with string and tincans shouting "sell telecoms".

Thanks for everyones input - I learned some more.

 

No problem
Btw you will notice the bios screen will be missing Intel Centrino , and it will read Pentium M , and thats normal with the hardware change and nothing to worry about

 

interesting, I did notice and it also opened up on password login which I don't normally use. This only happened once - no password required on 2nd startup.
There are aliens inside I swear.

 

so is this card working like it should once you add the 3rd antenna? and the range is better than the 6800

 

Well it is working fine and my perception is that it is quicker and a little cooler, (that intel got hot) but things usually are when you pay good money out. I am on a G router at the moment so can't do a full assement.

As Tomcat mentioned the bios screen has changed, see above and i have just realised that my start menu is behaving differently
I'm not sure what you mean by the 6800?
I had the intel 2100B which was working fine but reception was a little weak compared to my better halfs CF 18 (even after launching it with a howitzer).
We are traveling around Africa, when we can, and often need to find a little free wifi when we get to towns so I wanted all I could get and 300mw was a huge improvment( the engenous 600mw card is hard to find in the UK).
I have the third antenna in the space above the battery but i want to know a little more about positioning symetrically to balance the signal.
All getting very technical for a blacksmith
Also I read somewhere that the output may be capped by the operating system?

 

its the other atheros card. i dont remeber the model so I winged it.

I do like N speeds

 

I suppose you meant the EnGenius EMP-8602 Plus-S WLAN card.

 

Well I've used this Atheros card for a few months now and I must say I'm a bit dissapointed.
Mostly using it on a G router it seems a bit unstable dropping and restarting frequently. Also I often get the 'Limited or no conectivity'.
I live near a public access point which is run by BTFon and can't connect to it anymore, which is frustrating because I get a strong signal and 130Mbs on an 'n' connection.
Out and about any access points - motorway service stations etc. - are very difficult to conect to with 'Limited or no conectivity' whyle the cf 18 connects without problem.
A little googling seems to confirm this is a known problem with this card.

So the other day I turned on my CF28 with an intel 2915abg card with the external antenna and found that it worked flawlessly and with a much stronger signal, though this could be due to the 9db ariel.

I don't want to go back to the old stock 'tincan and string' Intel and the engenous is a bit hard to get here in the UK so does anyone have any other sugestions please.

I had a look at the Intel 5100 which has good reviews but is only Draft N with 2 ariel connectors - would like to exploit the local 'N' signal fully if possible.

 

Does the 5100 come in mini pci? Mine is Mini PCIE.
Which N version of the Atheros do you have?

 

Not sure if the 5100 comes in mini pci.

I have the AR5008 abgn 300mw card with 3 antennas.

 

I think the 2915 is the best of the Intel PCI cards. It's hard to search as Google returns PCIe interchangeably with PCI. I find the 2915 a perfectly usable card if you let Windows run it. Intel Pro Set management software is just so wrong I don't know where to begin.
CAP

 

Agree with Cap on the intel 2915 pci card

For pci-e N look at the newest Intel
Intel® Centrino® Ultimate-N 6300 – Overview

 

Completely agree, 2915 works absolutely fine in the 28 with the windows , but Intel pro set is a nightmare - slows up the whole machine to a halt



A very kind forum member has offered to send me an Engenius so I will try that out - hopefully an improvment.

I would still like to understand why this atheros 5008 isn't working properly though or am I just expecting too much?

 

Driver updates could be the issue as they lag behind Intel in that respect

 

Yes, I tried the latest ones - the oem disc that came with it didn't have a driver that would make it work at all, so had to find updates but no help, there is something odd going on.

Btw the Atheros management package is just about as bad as the Intel.

 

well i just put an engenous EMP-8602 plus-S in and the reception has almost doubled - now getting very good to excelent all the time, no drop outs and a full 56Mbps constantly.
Just pluged it in and it worked with the atheros drivers already installed.
I updated the drivers to the recomended ones though I can't see much difference and windows is managing things ( I assume it is running on full power)

So early results would say that the 8602 is significantly better than the atheros card though to be fair I didn't give the 'n' capability a decent chance but for my needs (picking up weak signals) this seems like a good result.

So thankyou shawn!!!!!!!