AX201 Problematic drivers - "Preferred Band" function does not work

[G_Martins]

The "Preferred Band" function does not work when I prioritize the 2.4 Ghz network.

This problem is present in all 2022, 2023 and 2024 drivers.

When I select in the advanced options to connect only to the 2.4 Ghz network, it continues to connect to the 5 Ghz network.

This function only works on the Lenovo OEM driver (22.0.1.1) downloaded from the website: Link

The driver (22.8 0.0.9) OEM Lenovo is later updated by Windows Update: Link

All Lenovo OEM drivers work perfectly with the "Preferred Band" function, the drivers available on the Intel website never worked despite being updated!

My hardware is a Lenovo Legion 5-15IMH05H Notebook, Brazilian version.

I request a solution to this problem as the manufacturer's drivers are old and I would like to use the updated version compatible with the Windows Build.

[Alberto_R_Intel]

G_Martins, Thank you for posting in the Intel® Communities Support.

We will be more than glad to assist you with this matter. 

In order for us to provide the most accurate assistance on this scenario, we just wanted to confirm a few details about your system:

Is this a new computer?

The wireless card, did you purchase it separately or did it come installed on the computer?

Does the problem happen at home or in the work environment?

Please attach the SSU report so we can verify further details about the components in your platform, check all the options in the report including the one that says "3rd party software logs":

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000057926/memory-and-storage.html

Any questions, please let me know.

Regards,

Albert R.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[G_Martins]

1 - I informed you of the model of the notebook purchased, so if you did a little work you would check that the Wireless Card came with the device.

2 - Irrelevant question whether it happens at work or at home, the fault lies in the poorly made driver.

3 - This problem does not exist with Lenovo's OEM drivers, the error is in the drivers made by Intel!

4 - The AX201 wireless/Bluetooth card is manufactured by Intel so it should work perfectly with Intel drivers, but the "Preferred Band" function does not work.

Note: At the moment I am using the Lenovo OEM Driver, it is old but the "Preferred Band" function works, I removed the drivers downloaded from the Intel website due to this bug in the driver.

[Alberto_R_Intel]

G_Martins, Thank you very much for your reply.

For this scenario, it is worth to mention that we always recommend to install the wireless driver provided by the manufacturer of the computer, since that driver was heavily customized by them to work with your specific platform. Based on that, regardless if the computer is using an Intel® wireless card, the Intel® wireless drivers are generic for mobile devices, they do not contain the customizations done by OEM and in some cases, they will not work as expected. Some users also replaced the wireless card on their own with the same model, which makes it impossible for us to know if this is a wireless integration or not unless they confirm it.

It is very important to know if it happens at home or work since the users that have problems at work will be limited in attempting some troubleshooting steps that might be needed, that are not allowed by the organization, or that will be handled by the respective IT department.

Still, we will do further research on this matter to try to find a possible solution for this scenario. As soon as I get any updates, I will post all the details on this thread.

Regards,

Albert R.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[G_Martins]

It is Intel that has the obligation to resolve this problem that is present in its current drivers! Lenovo does not have to solve absolutely anything, as the drivers made available by it work and there are no bugs, they are just old drivers that were valid to work on Windows 10 20H2. The Intel drivers available on their website are validated to work on Windows 10 22H2, which is my current operating system.

[Alberto_R_Intel]

G_Martins, I just received an update on this matter.

After reviewing the case, we determined and would like to let you know that this issue is related to the Operating System. Based on that and the fact that we have not received any other reports of problems like this, as the next thing to do, we recommend to get in contact directly with Lenovo Support for further assistance on this matter:

https://support.lenovo.com/us/en

Regards,

Albert R.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[G_Martins]

I think you didn't understand!

Firstly, I have a degree in computer science and hardware engineering.

As previously stated, there are no problems with the drivers provided by Lenovo, they are only old drivers from 2021, as shown in the images below.

The Wireless/Bluetooth card was manufactured by Intel itself, so the drivers should work correctly with all the features of this card. As already repeatedly reported, the problem is with the Intel driver provided on the Intel website, so Intel must fix its driver for the "Preferred Band" function to work correctly and it is not Lenovo that has to resolve it, but Intel.

I'll repeat once again, Lenovo just bought a Wireless/Bluetooth card manufactured by Intel (since this information is engraved on the card) and placed it in this notebook, providing the driver that was manufactured by Intel! If I download the driver from the Intel website it should work correctly, but its drivers are broken, the "Preferred Band" function does not work on these updated drivers, drivers with logic errors or incompetence when programming and testing the driver, since These same errors are present in previous drivers made available by Intel.

You can ask an engineer to contact me, since I'm an engineer it would be easier to resolve it.

[G_Martins]

The problem is present in current drivers even with a clean installation of Windows 11 or Windows 10 without using Lenovo's custom system. I will NEVER buy anything from Intel again, only from AMD.