Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6205 - not picking up 5ghz networks?

[idata]

Hi

i bought a new lenovo L520 which comes with Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6205 however it is only picking up 2.4ghz networks.

i checked the advanced tab and it is set to 802.11a/b/g/n

i updated to the latest driver according to the intel update tool which is 14.3.1.1

i still can't pick up any 5ghz networks.

here in work with have various 5ghz AP backhauls and 2.4ghz networks and i use a program like inSSider to scan networks and it only picks up the 2.4ghz

any ideas?

[idata]

Hello Techmob,

Most of these wireless adapters are capable of recognizing and connecting to 5Ghz networks. The limitation you may have is the laptop manufacturer customization, they may use an 802.11a capable hardware but disable it, or they may be using a model with the feature disabled. This part you may want to check with your laptop manufacturer if it is supported on your laptop then you could try a different connection tool, you should be able to scan for networks with the 'built in' Windows* connection utility or the one from Intel. See the product brief of the adapter at the link below:

http://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/product-briefs/centrino-advanced-n-6205-brief.pdf http://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/product-briefs/centrino-advanced-n-6205-brief.pdf

Also the latest drivers for Windows* 7 and Windows* XP is version 15.1.0, you may download the drivers from the link below:

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/SearchResult.aspx?lang=eng&ProductFamily=Wireless+Networking&ProductLine=Intel%C2%AE+Centrino%C2%AE+Wi-Fi+Products&ProductProduct=Intel%C2%AE+Centrino%C2%AE+Advanced-N+6205 http://downloadcenter.intel.com/SearchResult.aspx?lang=eng&ProductFamily=Wireless+Networking&ProductLine=Intel%C2%AE+Centrino%C2%AE+Wi-Fi+Products&ProductProduct=Intel%C2%AE+Centrino%C2%AE+Advanced-N+6205

if you wish to test the connection utility from Intel, then download the drivers+software package for the Operating System you have (does not apply to Windows* vista) and do a custom install, make sure all the options are enabled.

[idata]

thanks for that. i have updated to version 15 of the driver but that still does not give me access to 5ghz networks, in fact i can only see 2.4ghz

one of the reasons i bought this laptop was because of the wireless card was supporting 2.4 and 5ghz.

i have had a look on google and there does not seem to be anyone else out there with this problem with a mix of lenovo and this card. however there was one person who had a thinkpad lenovo with this wireless card and they found that it was not set to a,b,g in the advanced menu and once changed that fixed it

mine however is set to that on the wireless mode, i have tried each one and i do not see 5ghz

looks like i am going to have to phone lenovo support unless anyone else has any idea?

thanks

[idata]

how can i find out which version i have got?

Intel

® Centrino® Advanced-N 6205 62205ANHMW

62205BGHMW

62205AGHRU

62205ANHMW (supports 802.11a/b/g/n)

62205BGHMW (supports 802.11b/g)

62205AGHRU (supports 802.11a/b/g)

[idata]

i spoke to lenovo who were very unhelpful

first of all they said i need to speak to intel, i said i have already done that and they confirmed it should do 5ghz networks and that i should contact lenovo regarding it

lenovo didnt even know if the intel 6205 supported 5ghz networks and when i read out the product brief to them, he spoke to his technical team leader who then said it might be a limitation of the motherboard and i need to have latest drivers and bios

i said i would be suprised if it was the bios unless you have something in their to disable it, can you confirm

they couldn't give me any technical details and advised i update the bios

personally i cannot see how the bios would stop an independent wifi card from finding 5ghz networks

when i asked when are the next steps once i have confirmed bios update, driver updates. they said then it would be a limitation of the motherboard

i said and where does that leave me?

as i chose this laptop with the addon of the more expensive 6205 wireless card to have the 5ghz network and at no point did lenovo say that this feature would not be available which is a misrepresenation

the helpline even reffered to the wireless networks as 5gb and 3.2gb, which annoyed me. at least have an understanding of what you are talking about.....

anyone else think this is BS?

anyone else with a lenovo and an intel capable card that does 5ghz networks, experience this problem?

thanks

[idata]

Hello Techmob,

Sorry to hear the trouble you are having with Lenovo, to find out which adapter model you have you would usually contact the laptop manufacturer as they installed it, but it would also be printed on the network adapter itself. The problem with this is that you could void the warranty depending on Lenovo's* policies.

I was looking around a bit in regards to this issue, I found the Specifications of this laptop:

http://www.lenovo.com/shop/americas/content/pdf/system_data/l520_tech_specs.pdf http://www.lenovo.com/shop/americas/content/pdf/system_data/l520_tech_specs.pdf

The only two wireless cards it mentions are the ThinkPad 11b/g/n, 1x1 and the Intel® Centrino® Wireless-N 1000, 1x2, which are both just 2.4GHz-capable cards, (b/g/n refers to 802.11b, 802.11g, and 802.11n standards, in this case all are 2.4, for to have 5Ghz support you would need 802.11a)

From this information we can suspect that the laptop was not designed for 5Ghz support, since for 802.11a they would have needed to validate the laptop for 5Ghz, including the Antenna.

[MNath]

Hi,

I've had a similar problem with my Lenovo W520. I've resolved it by:

• Installing the latest driver from the Intel website
• Using the Intel WiFi Connection Utility (instead of the default Windows 7 networking utility) to connect to my 5Ghz Wireless N network.

Hope this helps you,

Muneer Natha

[WLind]

I opened the "Control Panel" - "System" - "Device Manager".

Then under "Network Adapters" i opened the properties for the "Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6205".

In the register card "Advanced" i set the setting "preferred band" to "3. prefer 5,2-GHz band".

It then immediately re-initialized the network connection and connected to the 5,2 GHz WLAN.

For my card (Austria / Europe) I had to set my router to "N Only". The setting "A/N Mixed" did NOT work.

Security is AES - higher data rates only work with AES and not with TKIP.

Now the data throuput is optimal and since the 5,2 GHz band is completely free in my area I don't have to share it with other users.

[Kevin_M_Intel]

Well, it is good to hear that!