Intel 7260 AC Wifi adapter not recognized / disabled in Sony Vaio laptop

[KDukl]

I own a Sony Vaio laptop, here are the basic specs:

Sony VAIO SVE141290X

OS : Microsoft Windows 8.1 Professional with Media Center (x64) Build 9600

Motherboard : Sony Vaio Intel HM76 (Panther Point)

CPU : Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3632QM CPU @ 2.20GHz

RAM : 16GB RAM (2 x 8GB G.Skill Ripjaws PC3 12800)

HDD : 750GB Western Digital Hard Drive

The laptop originally came with Windows 8, and the stock Qualcomm Atheros Wireless N card. I did a clean install of Windows 8 Pro, and then recently upgraded to Windows 8.1. I have the Vaio Control Center, Vaio care, and the necessary drivers only. The wireless was working so far, needed faster card. So I decided to upgrade to the Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260.

After installing the new Intel card in the laptop, I downloaded and installed the Intel Wifi and bluetooth software and drivers directly from the Intel website :

Intel Wifi drivers (https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=23707&lang=eng&OSVersion=Windows%208.1%2C%2064-bit*&DownloadType=Software%20Applications Download Center)

Intel Bluetooth drivers (https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=23449&lang=eng&OSVersion=Windows%208.1%2C%2064-bit*&DownloadType=Software%20Applications Download Center)

However, the 7260 AC wifi card is not recognized at all. The airplane mode can turn wifi off, but with airplane mode off, the Wifi adapter still shows up as disabled / grayed out. The Intel ProSet wireless utility also complains that the Wifi hardware switch is turned off, and needs to be turned back on first. (My laptop model does NOT have an external switch or key combination for Wifi enable/disable)

Did some research on google, and noticed people having success by taping pin # 20 and pin # 51 of the card. Unfortunately I could not find the pin layout diagram or a youtube video, nor do I have any experience doing this. Can someone guide me through this process? A picture or video could be useful, but I couldn't find any :-(

Can someone help?

Thanks in advance...

Regards,

[tvete]

Look at your BIOS and reset everything to defaults even if you've never modified it and see if it helps.

[KDukl]

Unfortunately that did NOT work. I reset everything to defaults in the bios, rebooted the machine, and was able to log in to windows. The Wifi adapter shows up as disable (a red x mark over the wifi icon in the lower right bar).

The Bios itself seems pretty locked, and lets me tweak very few options - virtualization on/off, secure boot on/off, uefi vs legacy, and boot order...

At this point I'm thinking taping the 2 pins (# 20 and # 51) may be the only options...

Please advise.

[Jose_H_Intel1]

I am somehow familiar with few older Sony VAIO models and I know they have hardware and software switch. Now, as you indicated it is possible this model does not have a hardware switch but I just found what seems to be a software switch.

http://esupport.sony.com/US/p/swu-download.pl?mdl=SVE141290X&upd_id=7822&os_group_id=24 http://esupport.sony.com/US/p/swu-download.pl?mdl=SVE141290X&upd_id=7822&os_group_id=24

However, as usual in these circumstances, this may not be the only cause for the issue.

[KDukl]

Hello,

Thanks I tried that. The Sony Wireless State Device installs fine without errors. After reboot, same thing, Wifi adapter disabled.

I am not sure how to even bring up the installed "Sony Wireless State Device" program. VAIO Control center does not seem to have this option..

Running out of ideas ..

[KDukl]

Issue resolved.

Taped pin # 20 and pin # 51 on the Intel 7260 AC Wifi card, and reinstalled in system. The wireless and bluetooth functionality is now recognized.

Used the diagram below to locate corresponding pins on the Wifi card. Hope this helps someone..

[KFitz]

Hey guys thanks soooo, sooo much for this post! I decided to upgrade my wife's laptop card from an Atheros in a Vaio SVE, but it just didn't work. I tried troubleshooting for hours and hours and I just kept getting the 'Red X' over the wifi bars. I thought it was a software problem so I did a full recovery back to Windows 7 from Windows 10 but it was still inoperable. I keep searching and right when I was about to give up and try putting the old card back in then I found this post. YOU GUYS SAVED THE DAY! Thanks so much!! I had to register on this site just to let you know that.

[JTong]

I registered just to say thanks. I have a Samsung NP700Z7C and when I installed this, the wifi worked great but bluetooth totally disappeared. Googled about 5 minutes and found this. 15 minutes later and everything works as it should. Thanks again.

And by the way, to the Intel people, your password requirement is ridiculous. Number, upper case AND lower case letter, AND a symbol? For a forum? Just saying..

[LMorg1]

This thread is a life saver!! My Sony Vaio now works with a 5ghz Intel WiFi Card!! I should point out that pin 20 is NOT on the same side that the antennas attach, but rather the BACK of the card. Pin 51 is on the side with the antennas. Once I taped the card correctly, the INTEL 7260 AC cards works perfectly in spite of Sony's misguided attempts to force me to buy a new computer if I now need 5ghz WiFI.

Many thanks to Intel for allowing this thread to stay up, even with the "at your own risk" warning. I have installed the Intel 7260 AC in older and less powerful computers than this Sony Vaio, so I knew there was no reason for it not to work except for misguided attempt by Sony to control modifications to a computer long out of warranty.

lpmorgan1

[Jose_H_Intel1]

While I cannot stop anybody from trying to integrate the wireless adapter as described above I only want to make clear that if you proceed, it is at your own risk, and this is not approved by Intel since only the system manufacturer is entitled for such operation.

http://www.intel.com/support/wireless/sb/CS-006192.htm Wireless Networking; Installation error when installing or swapping Intel wireless adapters

http://www.intel.com/support/wireless/wlan/sb/CS-011644.htm Intel� Wi-Fi Products; Regulatory information regarding hardware installation or upgrade

[ATimo4]

Do you think this would work for me too? I've tried everything I don't have wireless switch or fn key the wireless led comes on as soon as the power led does I'm using intel centrino n 2230 bought the AC 7260 device manager found it but only the wifi part no bluetooth it seems the wireless light indicator is for bluetooth/wifi with the 2230 card device manager sees bluetooth and wifi.

I have win7 64bit on sony vaio sve14a15fg with intel HM76 panther point

[ATimo4]

I can confirm this pin taping worked for me also, as wifi installed but I got no connection till after taping pin# 20 it got a connection and everything works AC/N bluetooth and pairing but my wireless led net to the power hdd battery lights doesn't come on most probably BIOS blocked but will be contacting sony for an upgrade list/ BIOS unblock as they are not in the PC industry anymore and I love my sony vaio I would prefer to keep it and just upgrade cpu/wifi etc then to buy a totally different brand laptop. A shame intel doesn't support these types of upgrades and companies block upgrades due to then no one would need to purchase a whole different laptop but I'm sure business would be much better for everyone.

long term damage no idea shouldn't be any because we aren't hot wiring anything just covering "enable pins" preventing contact.

[BSmit25]

So I'm having a very similar problem with my Vaio pro 13. The laptop shipped with a 7260N, which suffered from dropped connections and poor throughput, so I put in a 7260AC which worked flawlessly right out of the box in my linux installation. However, I'm trying to go back to windows wifi refuses to work yet bluetooth is just fine. My card is the NGFF version, so assuming the pin outs are the same as the mini pcie posted above, taping pins 20 and/or 51 did not resolve my issue. I'm ready to pull my hair out. Any ideas?

[aaron89]

Many thanks!!! I have an AX200 160 mhz mini-pcie card (mpe-ax3000h bought in aliexpress) and I managed to get it to work on Linux after a lot of effort, basically forcing it to load the correct firmware from /lib/firmware, but on Windows I couldn't get it to work, no matter how many drivers I tried, even with a clean install it didn't work, until I read the "trick" to cover pin 20 xD immediately started working in Windows without doing anything else. The card is in an Acer Aspire E1-522 laptop with software wifi on/off button (with Fn button).

The funny thing is that in the end it managed to make it work in Linux, it must be that somehow that specific firmware ignores the status of the software switch.