X500 - faster WiFi - own project

Why Toshiba did choose for the Realtek 8191SE WiFi card in the Qosmio X500 is one thing i would never be able to understand. I never, ever did own a notebook with this kind of poor WiFi performance. The Realtek 8191SE is a low-budget WiFi card that can run on 150Mbit (as they say on paper) but you have even better performance if you turn it down to 54G in practice. My equipment "router : Cisco 1841" and "access-point : 3Com Airconnect 9550" is not exactly what you can call “el cheapo” but the performance with the Realtek 8191SE in the Qosmio X500 is worthless, you need much patience and a lot of coffee when you copy files around you're network.

Last week I did order a new WiFi card, the "Intel® Centrino® Advanced-N 6200" and today I replaced it with the Realtek card.

See screenshots

Problem solved, cost € 26.00 / $ 35.00

Next project, replace the Bluetooth stack with a bluesoleil. Get that one faster to with a much further range

Gido.

 

WHOA! Good Job!

This is something I might be doing on my Qosmio when I get it.

 

To be blunt, I'd say the reason Toshiba used the el cheapo card is to keep prices down. Lets face it, the reason alot of people call Toshiba a somewhat budget product is because of the components inside. IMHO, it is great value for what you get, a laptop with a top tier GPU, that can play any game (at the moment), and a good CPU (the i7 740). Costs have to held down some how.


But, great job on your part.

 

In the past i did have a Toshiba X200. Great machine, fine processor, fine WiFi card and excellent Bluetooth reception. Even the fingerprint reader was added in de Bios. You could start the machine with the touch of a finger.

Toshiba can do it !.

I rather pay 100 or 200 even 300 dollar more if all the hardware was top quality like in the X200. Now I have to spit out the technical manual and replace parts that are not function as they should be.

 

Good job on getting that done, and yes I too had the X200/x205 with sli. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe those models were Toshiba's first full fledge gaming laptops to grab a share in the PC gaming scene. It was top all quality all around, from the dual 8600m gts, to the integrated harmon kardon speakers and subwoofer, the only laptop to equal that sound system is the X305, but the gaming Qosmios that were to succeed the X200/205 Satellite dropped in quality. I have the Qosmio X305 Q701 and X505 Q892, just because I so loved my Satellite X205 sli1, which got stolen, but the Qosmios just seem to start losing quality with each generation. The X305 feels more flimsy and cheaper build quality, but kept the great audio. Now the X505 downgraded the audio substantially and still doesn't have that quality feeling that the 1st generation Toshiba gaming notebook had.

Anyway sorry for getting of topic but please post a guide how you did this. Infact make a guide on opening up the X505 and or tweaking/ overclocking it. I'm sure there's a lot of X500/x505 owners who would love to have such a thread. I would follow it and check up on it frequently. Thanks.

 

LOL maybe Toshiba is like a drug dealer, first they give out the good stuff, then when your hooked they dump the crap on you.

 

lol, I don't think they could keep up that kinda quality as seen in the x205, since their intention was to keep costs low to get the mass public into buying gaming pc notebooks. I remember when they released the X205 they announced their intention of making PC gaming accessible to the average person instead of hardcore enthusiasts who buy expensive Alienware, Sager, etc. laptops.

All my Toshiba gaming notebooks were roughly $1000 and could push the most modern games at their release. My X205 sli1 was $1100, X305 q701 was $799, and my X505 q892 I got on Black Friday deals for $979. But yeah at least they know how to obtain a good price to performance ratio and still have people consider buying a gaming notebook instead of a console.

 

I paid 3856 dollar for the X200 back in 2007. This machine really did it all, the X500 is half the price but performance on some components is also half as good. Bluetooth in the X500 for instance is not capable to connect to my Marantz SR-6004 AV receiver which is only 8 feet away. But will fix that one when the ordered components arrive, lets see if we push the envelope and go as far as 1650 even 3280 feet !

 

I didn't like the fact they advertised the X500 with a Atheros Gigabit lan and Realtek wireless. I thought they must be mixed up because I never heard of Realtek wireless. I am not overly impressed with overall performance of the X500-067, but I got a very good deal on mine so I am not complaining.

 

Not all is bad. The harddisk performance with an SSD drive the OCZ Vertex 2 EX is excellent. The fingerprint reader with *Upek ( not the AuthenTec ) software works excellent, the build-in webcam gives a very clear picture and the keyboard is one of the best you can find.

The Bluetooth and WiFi are the one that really need some serious tuning and USB 3.0 would not be bad.

Many people complain about the sound in the X500 but this is because they installed all the crap they can find on the Toshiba drivers site. Just install Windows and only the drivers it needs, leave all the crap behind and the sound is just fine. For video performance use drivers from laptopvideo2go with modded inf files. Audio drivers can be found in these files to.

*disable powermanagement on the AuthenTec Inc. AES2550 hardware

 

How do you do this? And will it help me to game on battery power? I still didn't get an answer to losing performance when gaming unplugged (called Toshiba and even posted about problem in their forums yet it seems no one knows why the framerates drop when you game unplugged).

I'm thinking it has to do with the ECO feature or some kinda power saving feature that lowers performance when using just the battery.

I have the Q892 with the intel i5 CPU, and I also wanted to know if the i7 models had this problem. Thanks.

 

Your problem is not related to “ disable powermanagement on the AuthenTec Inc. AES2550 hardware”. This one i blame on all preinstalled crap like “ Toshiba ECO utility”.

My advice, reinstall the notebook without the recovery cd, a fresh install is what I mean with only the drivers Windows needs and leave all the other crap out.

 

Can somebody confirm this? I don't have a retail copy of Windows 7 to reinstall, just the back up disc I burned when I bought the x505.

How bout someone just uninstall Toshiba ECO utility and see if that does the trick and enables videogaming with high framerates unplugged. I know we can download the ECO utility from toshiba website, but I'm kinda scared to uninstall it and test to see if it does anything.

 

I’m not into games so I can’t test it for you. I’m also not here to learn how to crack Windows but you can do the follow ( it’s 100% legal ).

If you have Windows 7 Home Premium 64Bits try to borrow the same OEM version on DVD from a friend. You're recovery DVD is not OEM SLP but COA SLP: This is the Product key that you see on the sticker on the side (or bottom) of your computer. Make a fresh install with this DVD. Do NOT enter your COA SLP serial number when installing Windows OEM, choose (will enter key later). After Windows is installed and all drivers are installed enter the COA SLP serial number. Now you can’t activate Windows so call Microsoft the number will be on the screen.

choose 1
again 1

And follow instructions.

Now you have a fresh install without the crap.

 

Gido, nice find, never even thought about it. Already swapped mine as well. Putting the antenna connections back on made me realize that my 40+ yr old eyes just aren't what they used to be. Noticed while I was in there that there is a WUSB and a TV card slot. Hmmmmm......

 

Gido you seem to know your stuff, so I repped you in order that others might consider requesting your assistance on computer issues. Glad your part of the community here.

Oh and I'll try that Windows 7 "crack" when I have time. Thanks again.

 

On the left side below the keyboard is also WUSB connection, this one is fully functional and you can put a card in it. The TV card is a different story, it could work with DVB-T but there is no option to put a common interface in it for the crypted channels. There is only one channel not crypted over here so my interested is not so big in that one.

It’s also possible to convert a OEM SLP to OEM COA in that case you don’t have to call Microsoft. You need a running COA Windows, some tools and some scripting, but calling Microsoft and follow the instruction from the voice robot is easier for the most of us if you are intend to install you’re notebook over and over again (some may have these wishes) it’s better to make your own.

The first part of my Bluetooth project has arrived, hope that the second and last part arrives before this weekend….. I realise that some will say “ what the hell do we need (powerful) Bluetooth for”. For those : just wait and see

 

"On the left side below the keyboard is also WUSB connection, this one is fully functional and you can put a card in it. " I didn't see the antenna cable for the WUSB on my X505, but then again, I didn't go digging either. May be out of luck on my model.

 

Don’t worry about the antenna. There are WUSB mini pci adapters that don’t need any antenna (they are build-in). Of course the range with antenna will be further but you can make your own. There is room enough in the X500 for a professional home made antenna. The only thing you need :.

1) Cheap 1 or 2db WiFi antenna
2) Solid copper wire
3) Drinking straw
4) Wood screw

 

ok now we going ghetto style lol

 

After a bit of reading up on WUSB, seems that the range and functionality is more of a pipe dream than a realistic, working solution anyway.... Keep us appraised of your BT changes, tho I'm getting quite a bit of range out of mine. My keyboard and mouse and phone work far enough away that I can't even see the screen.

 

No ghetto style, you can do a miracle with some tools

Click here

 

When my project succeeds (and I’m sure of that because I did it once before). Your keyboard, mouse and phone still works even when you can’t see your house

 

Just ordered this to prolong the lifespan of my qosmio (used to buy a new laptop every year and a bit)

Any update on the tv tuner card, what interface is it and would it work with atsc?

 

The tuner card is the Yuan MC872 DVB-T MC770A It's a DVB-T card but all channels over here are crypted with Conax coding. So im not interested in this card because I can't even test it.

Still waiting on some parts ( bluetooth project ).

 

Is there a NTSC card that would fit inside? I was looking at pci express but this would free up the slot for usb 3

 

Yes, the Avermedia A312 fits right in and is a Mini Pci-E TV FM NTSC Atsc Tuner Card

 

The avermedia would fit internally? ( not on the pci express but inside the laptop after the keyboard )

 

Since installing the wifi card my flash streams stutter all the time
Im using white wire as no 1 and black wire as no 2. Is that right?

 

Ive just put in the old realtek and there are no problems with streaming flash content, looks like ill have to send the intel back

 

Are you running the latest drivers? I had to go right to Intel to get them. THey are dated in 2011 so there really new.

 

Have you got a link?

The only ones I see are dated in 2010

 

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/SearchResult.aspx?lang=eng&ProductFamily=Wireless+Networking&ProductLine=Intel%C2%AE+WiFi+Products&ProductProduct=Intel%C2%AE+Centrino%C2%AE+Ultimate-N+6300+and+Intel%C2%AE+Centrino%C2%AE+Advanced-N+6200+products

 

To the original poster Gido I say thank you and I totally agree. I didn't know much about laptops when I bought my first Toshiba X505-Q898 in December, but I did know it had the latest proc i7, a SSD, etc. I didn't find out what having the Realtek 8191SE meant until I got my Airport Extreme Base station router capable of both 2.8 and 5 transmission. Then I figured out why 5GHz wasnt working/available. I stated my displeasure to Toshiba in my review, but they didnt post it. Surely it would have only cost them an extra $25 or so I'm guessing to upgrade the wireless card to begin with.

I'm glad to find someone who agrees with my opinion. Now that I see you have changed your card, and found the thread about taking apart Toshiba laptops, I believe I'll order the Intel 6250 that I had been looking at. Then to get it working again before the wife uses it next month on trip.