Skip to main content
Start a Conversation

Unsolved

This post is more than 5 years old

vhodges

1 Message

3963

January 28th, 2007 21:00

Atheros support please.

Does Dell plan on allowing indiviuals to replace the 1390 mPCIE cards in the E1505/6400 series of notebooks with something a bit more reliable. I have used the Atheros chipsets on several notebooks without fail and the only thing preventing power users from doing so with the Dell notebooks is Dell. I have tried the 1390 with a Cisco AP,Linksys AP, Belkin AP, Netopia AP, and an Apple AP. All of them with the latest firmware and the 1390 gives intermittent connectivity to all of them. I have 3 other notebooks that have no connectivity problems and guess what chipset the wireless adapters have..... you guessed it ATHEROS.

Dell, how about giving your customers what they require to use the equipment we buy from you more productively. I have read on this board and many others about the problems customers are experiencing with this particular adapter. If donating some cards to your developers would help in getting the bios update done then e-mail me. I would be willing to loan my stash to get this working.

docinthebox

8 Posts

January 29th, 2007 00:00

Same here.  I was looking for an Atheros based mini PCI-express wireless card for my Dell Inspiron E1405 laptop to replace the 1390.  I found this one made by Gigabyte using the Atheros AR5006EGS chipset:
 
 
I agree that the Atheros chipset is better than Broadcom, with much better range (XR technology - Extended Range), Super G capability (108Mbps, but you need an Atheros based router too), and better Linux compatibility (Madwifi drivers).
 
Here are the technical specs of the chipset:
 
 
Here's the latest Atheros driver for this card:
 
 
This card has worked really well on my E1405 so far.  The Atheros driver from IBM was very recent and up to date and performance is great.
 
Edit:  Besides the driver at IBM's website, you also need to install the Atheros client utility (5.0.0.107) available here.  This package also includes the 5.0.0.107 driver.  But don't use this driver because it's unstable (at least on my Dell Inspiron E1405).  Update the driver with the one at IBM.

Message Edited by docinthebox on 01-29-200708:07 AM

Was this post helpful?

View All

No Events found!

Top