Replace WiFi card(?)

El Tarangu

Hello,

I have an older laptop (Lenovo ThinkPad e520), and generally, it still works great.

In the last week or two though, the Wifi has been extremely slow. I've updated/uninstalled & reinstalled the network adapters, reset the TCP/IP stack, gone through all of the suggestions on this page, but it's still really slow. The problem is definitely with the computer - the WiFi speed is normal on my phone, and the speed is normal with the ethernet cable plugged.

A new WiFi card doesn't seem to be too expensive, and this will be by next step, but is there anything obvious I've overlooked? The only new programme I've installed recently is Discord (which is heavy), but the problem persists when this is not running. And I've heard of wifi card's being replaced because the WiFi is not working at all, but as the wireless is still working to some extent, I'm worried it could be something else...

Any advice would be much appreciated - thanks!

smuggler.ie

So what connection speed your card actually read? And what 802.11 mode is showing(task manager)? What speed you measure(file transfer on LAN)?

El Tarangu

Hi - thanks for the response.

I'm not sure what speed the card can read - this is the model:
ThinkPad 1x1 11b/g/n Wireless LAN PCI Express Half Mini Card Adapter

I've attached a screen grab of the wifi process in task manager (is what you meant?)

For the LAN, it keeps showing 0kbps since I unplugged/replugged the ethernet cable, but I've attached a screengrab from the speedtest - it's 48mbps

Thanks for your help,

El T.

smuggler.ie

As per you screenshots,

your card is connecting over 802.11g


WiFi connection speed show up to 48Mbps, max on 802.11g=54Mbps (not to be mixed with Ethernet download speed "lan.png")


Providing you phone or other devices, connected to same WiFi, give you proper speed suggest WiFi router function OK, double check laptop WiFi card configuration.
Go "Configure..." >> "Advanced" tab - see if 802.11n is enabled.
However, as your download speed measure 0.8 Mbps, even under current configuration, i think your WiFi card on laptop is either gone or antenna's not attached to it. These antenna wires are wired through one of hinge assembly and it could be broke due to wear or cut by hinge itself (image below for illustration only).
Have you recently had disassembled your laptop? Have you dropped laptop?

smuggler.ie

Again, if no antenna's connected(or wires cut) laptop should not get signal at all.....your upload is ~3Mbps......
Sounds like card is busted.

upinsmoke

U can get a mini WiFi USB adapter for like 8 euro on amazon. You wouldn't even notice it plugged into usb it's that small

https://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-LINK-TL-WN725N-Mbps-Wireless-N-Adapter/dp/B008IFXQFU/ref=mp_s_a_1_6?keywords=usb+wireless&qid=1552265452&s=gateway&sr=8-6

tuxy

Very small antenna on the compact usb ones though. May be ok but you would be better off getting one with a larger antenna if you are a good distance from the router.

coylemj

upinsmoke wrote: »

U can get a mini WiFi USB adapter for like 8 euro on amazon. You wouldn't even notice it plugged into usb it's that small

+1 OP, you'd be mad to go attempting to replace or repair the internal wi-fi kit, just buy a USB dongle.

I have a 9 year old Lenovo and the internal wi-fi started giving me trouble after about 5 years so I bought a €20 dongle in Tesco. When that packed up, I bought the TP-Link AC600 which I'm using right now, there is a newer version (Amazon link below) which is much smaller, both of them support both 2.4 and 5 Ghz connectivity.

The adapter which poster upinsmoke provided a link to only supports 2.4 Ghz, I'd go for a dual speed version.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Archer-T2U-Nano-Wireless-10-9-10-13/dp/B07LGSDBTF/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1552308950&sr=8-14&keywords=usb+wireless&refinements=p_89%3ATP-LINK

tuxy wrote: »

Very small antenna on the compact usb ones though. May be ok but you would be better off getting one with a larger antenna if you are a good distance from the router.

Good point. If coverage is an issue, you might consider this version of the TP-Link AC600 which has an external antenna but be sure to click on the second-last photo on the left on the Amazon page so you can see what it looks like in a laptop, could be a bit unwieldy looking for some....

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Archer-T2U-Nano-Wireless-10-9-10-13/dp/B00P115WMY/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1552308950&sr=8-14&keywords=usb%2Bwireless&refinements=p_89%3ATP-LINK&th=1

El Tarangu

Great advice all, thanks

smuggler.ie wrote: »

Have you recently had disassembled your laptop? Have you dropped laptop?

Indeed I have taken it apart a couple of times (not recently, though). Took a look at the connection there and no obvious issue with the connectors, so a cable might be damaged further up.

coylemj wrote: »

+1 OP, you'd be mad to go attempting to replace or repair the internal wi-fi kit, just buy a USB dongle.

Agreed.

Looks like I will be putting in an order for a WiFi dongle so - thanks tuxy and upinsmoke as well for the suggestions, and thanks to everyone who replied

coylemj

El Tarangu wrote: »

Indeed I have taken it apart a couple of times (not recently, though). Took a look at the connection there and no obvious issue with the connectors, so a cable might be damaged further up.

In my case (2010 Lenovo SL510), it wasn't a direct fault with the onboard wi-fi kit, it was the physical switch on the side of the machine which allows you to disable all radio communication - Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. With the switch set to on, the laptop was acting as if I was periodically flicking it on and off so the wi-fi connection to my router was up and down like a yo-yo. I eventually had to just switch it off permanently and go with a USB wi-fi dongle.

El Tarangu

The plot thickens - have just logged on to a different WiFi network (not an especially strong one), and have gotten a fairly good signal

So, I guess there is some setting with my router that is the problem...

smuggler.ie

smuggler.ie wrote: »

... Providing you phone or other devices, connected to same WiFi, give you proper speed ...

Can you confirm this? Disable "mobile data" on the phone for testing.


What make/model is your WiFi router/AP. Who is your ISP ?

El Tarangu

smuggler.ie wrote: »

Can you confirm this? Disable "mobile data" on the phone for testing.


What make/model is your WiFi router/AP. Who is your ISP ?

Just got home and did another test there:

Laptop (home WiFi):


Mobile (home WiFi, mobile data disabled):


The modem is a ch7465lg

I live in Belgium (my ISP is Telenet). Tbh all the info they have online is in Dutch (not even in French); so I hugely appreciate all the help you've given me so far, but I don't want you then trying to decipher Dutch manuals on my account

tuxy

Well going on speed something is wrong with the laptops wifi, perhaps the internal antenna is damaged.
Signal strength measured in dBm is a more useful way of confirming this

I use wifi analyzer from the windows store



On android I use an app that's also called wifi analyzer(by Abdelrahman M. Sid)

Here's a reading from the same location on a galaxy s7


dBm is read as a negative value with the closer it is to zero indicating a stronger connection.
Here you can see my laptop has a stronger connection because of its larger antenna (-54 dBm vs -65 dBm)

Using these apps you can see the change in signal strength as you move closer or further from the router and from my experian -75 dBm or worse starts to get very unstable. If the card in the laptop has a loose connection you may even see the singal strength changing without moving location.

El Tarangu

Thanks for all of the replies - in the end, I got a wee USB dongle, and its working perfectly