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Vostro 1550 Wi-Fi upgrade to 5GHz
I have Vostro 1550 and installed Windows10 recently.
Since then I can connest Wi-Fi only sometime.
Then I`m thinking about changing from 2.4GHz to 5GHz Wi-Fi.
Do I need to replace Wi-Fi card ?
In my PC I found the driver ...802.11n..
Does anybody know how to configure if the existing card can cover also 5GHz ?
ejn63
10 Elder
10 Elder
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23.1K Posts
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May 27th, 2022 06:00
Chances are the card is 2.4 GHz only, given the age of the system. And while you can upgrade the card (you'll need the old half-minicard PCIe type, not the current M.2/NGFF format), before buying check the condition of the antenna wires inside the system. If they're loose from the card or there are breaks in the insulation (carefully check in particular the area where they pass through the hinge), that can cause intermittent connections.
If the antenna wires are damaged, you're better off with an external USB wifi adapter. If they're intact, you can choose from whatever upgrade card you'd like.
TakaHHHH
12 Posts
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May 28th, 2022 12:00
Thank you very much.
Your advice helped me a lot.
Now it's quite sure that my card is old (54g) and not for 5GHz, and my antenna wires seems not damaged as sometimes it works good and I found that my router load is almost full for 2.4GHz.
I concluded myself to try new wifi card.
For this your information (falf-minicard PCIe etc.) helps me a lot.
Thank you very much.
And I'll post here my result later.
P.S.
I love this Vostro so much because I've never had any PC before which works more than 10 years keeping high performance like this.
Fhpe77
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18 Posts
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May 30th, 2022 06:00
I bought one of these a year or so ago for my Latitude E6530:
https://store.rokland.com/collections/pci-mini-pci-e-cards/products/alfa-awpcie-ax200u-module-wifi-6-bluetooth-5-1
Which has IPEX (UFL) antenna connectors. They also sell this one:
https://store.rokland.com/collections/pci-mini-pci-e-cards/products/alfa-awpcie-ax200u-wifi-6-intel-ax200-module-wifi-6-bluetooth-5-1
Which has IPEX4 (MHF4) antenna connectors. You will have to verify which type of antennas you have. Look up the specs for each antenna type for the outside diameter of the connector. Measure the connector on your existing WIFI card. A dial caliper works well for this measurement. My 2012 vintage E6530 has the IPEX (UFL) antenna connectors which are larger than the IPEX (UFL) connectors. These work well and have an Intel AX200 chip so they work perfectly in both Windows and Linux.
Fhpe77
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18 Posts
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May 30th, 2022 07:00
Just saw my typo. Should have said:
IPEX (UFL) antenna connectors which are larger than the IPEX (MHF4) connectors.
TakaHHHH
12 Posts
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May 30th, 2022 10:00
Thank you very much for your posting.
Actually after getting the first posting I`ve ordered a new card already, and received today evening.
I`ve just changed the cards and found it works draatically fast and no connection problem any more.
What I have now is as follows. I selected this because the existing driver can cover this as well. I`m really satisfied with this.
- Intel dualband, MQUPIN, Intel 7260.HMW for Intel AC half Mini-PCI 802.11b/a/g/n/ac.
Fhpe77
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18 Posts
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May 30th, 2022 10:00
The 7260.HMW is a great card as well. In fact that is what the AX200 card replaced in my Latitude. I decided to go AX200 for WIFI6 support. My Latitude originally shipped with an Intel 5300 N card. Both of the replacements are significantly faster than the original card. Good to hear you got it working and it is performing well.