Wireless
Participate in insightful discussions regarding issues related to Intel® Wireless Adapters and technologies
7368 Discussions

CNVio VS CNVio2 documentation.

BHarr8
Valued Contributor I
34,953 Views

We are seeing multiple complaints of people upgrading from 9560 (CNVio) to the AX201 (CNVio2) and having issues, often completely unbootable systems. The confusion comes from Intel's own documents regarding compatibility. If you follow the support links for both the 9560 and AX201, both pages lead to the same support doc listing both products:

 

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000026155/network-and-io/wireless-networking.html

 

The supposition so far (because we can't actually look it up) is that CNVio2 and CNVio are not actually compatible and that CNVio2 only works on gen 10 laptop CPUs. I will be testing this myself but it would be great if Intel themselves could clarify the issue.

34 Replies
sega1263
Beginner
21,797 Views

That is rediculas  because Intel did this kind of trick with modules,lot of laptops stuck up in past ,but laptops is just 1year old.

OEM has no reply,Intel has no reply as well, what can be done to upgrade WIFi 5 to 6 with devices build on AC9560 module.

Now what all of Us in the world who has ac9560 need to do to upgrade it WiFi6????

 

 

 

0 Kudos
BHarr8
Valued Contributor I
21,304 Views

It really sucks that they pulled this.

I have 3 Asus Vivobook Pro laptops that I maintain and all of them were upgraded to AX200 without issue. These are 8th gen Intel laptops.

My 9th gen MSI P75 Creator cannot be upgraded to AX201 due to the incompatibility between CNVio and CNVio2.  Intel's choice to use a proprietary and generation locked interface is forcing anyone on CNVio to literally buy an entire new device if they want AX wireless.

0 Kudos
n_scott_pearson
Super User
21,282 Views

Technologies have to move forward and future interface requirements can be always be foreseen. I am unsure that the issue is that is preventing the AX200 module from being used in these CNVIO-supporting slots, but, until someone from Intel tells me otherwise (no, I don't want to hear your options), I am going to believe that this is the fault of the BIOS on these motherboards. If this is the case, this doesn't mean that Intel is completely innocent; they should be providing the guidance for BIOS implementation, after all.

...S

0 Kudos
BHarr8
Valued Contributor I
21,272 Views

Tell me about PCIe gen 1, 2, 3, and 4 Scott and while you are at it tell me about SATA I, II and III.

When you care about consumers, generation after generation maintains compatibility.

This was a choice made to ensure the purchase a new CPU in the form of a new device.

I mean, I get it. I am spending $15 on AX200 cards which BTW, are Intel hardware and are compatible with pretty much anything with a 2230 M.2 port.

0 Kudos
Eltu
Novice
5,775 Views

Hello @BHarr8 

I think the issue you have is related to hardware whitelist in HP & Lenovo's BIOSes. Unfortunately this has nothing to do with Intel and in order to use different hardware this whitelist needs to be altered (which of course is not supported by OEM). 

Best regards,
Kuba

 
0 Kudos
BHarr8
Valued Contributor I
5,761 Views

@Eltu 

We have already confirmed this to be OEM agnostic. It does not mater what CNVio laptop you put a CNVio2 card into the result is the same. The power button does not respond to being pressed. This by definition cannot be a BIOS whilist/blacklist issue as the system never posts thus never even checks hardware. This is an electrical incompatibility that trips some kind of power on fail-safe.

0 Kudos
BHarr8
Valued Contributor I
5,759 Views
0 Kudos
BHarr8
Valued Contributor I
3,777 Views

Since Intel never bothered to clarify this issue and there is now an AX211 module you can buy, do not buy this if you have an Intel system with a mobile generation 9 or earlier CNVio port, it will not boot and this part will not work.

The only system where the AX211 module is a viable upgrade is one that already has an AX201 module installed.

I assume the AX411 modules will also eventually become available for sale and the same will hold true for these. Unless your system already as an AX201 or AX211 installed, you will not be able to upgrade to an AX411 module.

0 Kudos
Sumar
Beginner
3,772 Views

Thanks for the information, interesting topic here, but unfortunately I had even more questions.

 

I have an ASUS VivoBook S15 S533EA and it has Intel AC9462 (CNVio) installed from the factory

The i5-1135G7 11th Generation Tiger Lake processor should theoretically support CNVio2 -?
I installed AX201, the system started, but I get a very low limited download speed of exactly 20 Mbps, for tests I used several different routers, mobile phones for distribution, but the result is the same. Interestingly, the speed of Uploads  is not limited, it is possible.

Unfortunately I don't have a lot of extra money to do practice tests buying other modules
The wiki  states that CNVio2 - CNVio are not compatible in both directions. But this is written by people and not by Intel officials.
That's why I really want to hear the solution.

Thank you for listening.

 

 

 

 

 

0 Kudos
BHarr8
Valued Contributor I
3,765 Views

I just looked your laptop up and saw something I have never seen before:

Wi-Fi 5(802.11ac) (Dual band) 1*1 + Bluetooth 4.1
Wi-Fi 6(802.11ax) (Dual band) 2*2 + Bluetooth 5.0

Seems there are actually 2 options for this but since its an 11th gen Intel CPU, that should be a CNVio2 slot.

Did you grab the latest drivers?

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/19351/windows-10-and-windows-11-wi-fi-drivers-for-intel-wireless-adapters.html

I have a few devices that use AX201 and the speed is really fast. Reinstalling the OS is probably a bit extreme but would eliminate a lot of variables. I would also make sure that you are on the latest BIOS and see if there are any BIOS settings related to WI-FI.

I maintain 3 different ASUS VivoBook Pro systems but all of them are on 8th gen Intel CPUs and all use PCIe WI-FI so I can't check anything here on my end that would be useful to you. I did upgrade all of them to AX210 WI-FI cards though without issue.

It is also possible that since your laptop came with a previous generation WI-FI card that the bandwidth to the actual port is reduced since Asus never intended to upgrade to WI-FI 6 (just speculation).

In general, I would suggest that anyone looking to buy a new laptop stay far away from anything proprietary (CNVio/CNVio2). The AX200 and AX210 are M.2 2230 PCIe devices and will work in anything that has a M.2 2230 PCIe port designed for wireless devices.

0 Kudos
Sumar
Beginner
3,761 Views

Thank you Bharr8 for staying on this topic. It's good.

Issues such as the use of drivers of different versions and manipulation of additional parameters for me is banal and simple.
I have about 20 years of experience with PC assemblies and laptop upgrades.

Of course I tried the latest versions from the Intel site, I tried branded from Asus, tried a clean installed OS (booted from USB)
BIOS is also the latest.
The results are not changeable, 20 Mbps stable

 

p.s.

On this model of laptop Asus also installs AX201, I saw it in reviews on the Internet, so I was very positive that everything will be OK. It is very strange when the manufacturer with a modern version of the processor installed the obsolete AC9462. I will put AC9560.

0 Kudos
VICTORHUGOBRAZIL
897 Views

I also have this doubt. Intel does not make it clear on its website whether there is incompatibility between cnvi and cnvi 2 wi-fi cards

0 Kudos
n_scott_pearson
Super User
886 Views
I answered this on your other query.
...S
0 Kudos
BHarr8
Valued Contributor I
865 Views

Related to this subject, good old PCIe based wireless slots are still going strong.

I tested Intel's new WIFI 7 card in my NUC8I7HVK and it works without issue.

The only change is that WIFI 7 cards mandate full M key wireless slots, which the NUC8I7HVK has. M + B slots are not compatible with WIFI 7 cards.

0 Kudos
Reply