Intel® Centrino® Wireless-N 2230 upgrade to ?

[helpnotlost]

Hallo all,

I would like/need to upgrade Intel® Centrino® Wireless-N 2230 model: 2230BNHMW,  IC Model2230BNNHU, driver version 15.18.0.1. as a download from Intel driver support,to a much later model?

Computer Dell Inspiron 17r 7720, i have contacted Dell but as you know Michael is not often in his office and the rest of his staff have a life long mission to win all prizes for not answering e/mails.

I await your kind help.

[n_scott_pearson]

Yea, if you are waiting for Michael to return your call, it will be a long wait.

The Wireless-N 2230 is a 300Mbps solution. It uses the M.1 (PCIe mini card) connector. The only Intel M.1 card that hasn't been discontinued is the Wireless-N 7265. This is newer, but not much of an upgrade in performance.

An alternative - if your laptop design leaves enough room to fit it in - is an M.2 to M.1 conversion card. One of the best ones that I have found is here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B083YW3RM3. This card not only provides the M.2 to M.1 connector conversion but also the conversion of the antenna connectors from mhf4 to ipex 1 (the connector used on the Wireless-N 2230). Once you have converted to M.2, you can upgrade to the latest Intel AX200 card, with WiFi 6, Wireless-AX and Bluetooth 5.1 support.

Again, to be able to use the adapter card, you need to have enough room in your laptop. That's the primary bugaboo in this conversion.

Hope this helps,

...S

[helpnotlost]

n_scott_pearson,

Thank you for your reply, as for your suggestion details & as per-link to Amazon, I have to report a negative response after an on-site inspection of the size of available aperture. I also have fitted a separate Pcle card used for wired internet connection that is by a different maker & due to location of Laptop being too far from router hence my quest for a Wlan card.

I have noticed as you said very little if any advantage speed wise between the between the N2230 and the N7260

But I have noticed a Intel 7260 (without the N) has a speed of some 800 +, I conjecture that version may not work with my laptop?

Again thank you very much.

[n_scott_pearson]

As I said (perhaps too subtly), I was answering in terms of the non-discontinued adapters. If you want to consider discontinued adapters, then yes, you can look at the Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260.HMW adapter, which indeed offers a 867Mbps bandwidth. The reason I talked in terms of non-discontinued adapters initially was because the drivers for the discontinued adapters are no longer being maintained and any compatibility issues that you run into (as Windows 10 is upgraded over time) may not have a resolution. That said, I still have a couple of 7260.HMW adapters in older NUC models and they continue to work just fine.

...S

[bobthewelder]

Good day to all.

I need a little help. I have a Toshiba P870, I have a Windows 10 Pro operating system on it. I upgraded my Wi-Fi 

card from a Intel N2230 to a Intel AC7260. I was told by the merchant to cover pin 51. And now, my Bluetooth

is functioning perfectly. Now, I decided to update my operating system to Windows 11 Pro, I was able to 

get Bluetooth activated, but when I try to connect some devices, they fail to connect. I attached a picture of the

Wi-Fi card opening, and I see there is another slot perpendicular to the left side of my Wi-Fi card. I have seen

some mention of an adaptor M2 to M1 conversion card, and it is also mentioned about upgrading to the latest 

Intel AX200 card, and I was wondering if I could do this with my Toshiba P870 laptop. 

Best Regards and thank you,

Robert

[AlHill]

@bobthewelder 

So the Intel support engineers can have more information about your system, Please download and run the Intel System Support Utility (https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/25293/Intel-System-Support-Utility-for-Windows- ) for Windows. Select all data categories and then have it generate a report. Next, have the tool Save the report to a text file (don't try to use the Submit capability; it doesn't work). Finally, using the Drag and drop here or browse files to attach dialog below the edit box for the body of your response post, upload and attach this file to the response post.

Doc (not an Intel employee or contractor)
[If you find any Intel driver you might need, download and save it now.]

[bobthewelder]

i generated the report. hope someone can help, again this a 10 year old laptop. Did lots of searching but can't find much.

thank you

[n_scott_pearson]

Most of the older (discontinued) Wireless cards also have older drivers that could have compatibility issues with Windows 11. In the case of the AC-7260, the addition of support for Windows 10 and for compatibility with WiFi 6 routers was barely added in time for the discontinuation of the adapter. I am thus not surprised that you see some issues on Windows 11. But, it should work.

• You need to make sure that you install the final Windows 10 driver packages (i.e., version 21.10.1) that I provided in my OneDrive share.
• You need to prevent Windows Update from subsequently installing any newer packages (which will screw up your previous installation).
• You need to install the driver package AFTER installing Windows 11. If you upgrade to Windows 11 (or have allowed Windows Update to run), you will need to do a clean reinstall of these drivers.

Here is my process for doing the clean reinstall:

1. If you haven't already, download to your PC - but do not install just yet - the 21.10.1 Bluetooth and Wireless driver packages.
2. Most important! Disable Internet access. Unplug Ethernet cable and/or disable wireless. Keep disabled until told to re-enable. Note this Wireless disable *must* be of type that will persist (stay disabled) across reboots.
3. From the Apps & Features applet, check for instances of Intel PROSet/Wireless Software and Intel Wireless Bluetooth. If none, skip to Step 6.
4. Uninstall each instance of Intel PROSet/Wireless Software and/or Intel Wireless Bluetooth that is present. When prompted, choose "Discard Settings".
5. Manually reboot your computer, keeping Internet access disabled throughout.
6. From the Device Manager applet, check the Network Adapters section for an entry for Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 and check the Bluetooth section for an entry for Intel Wireless Bluetooth that has an intel driver associated with it. If neither is the case, go forward to Step 12.
7. Right click on the entry for Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 and uninstall it, choosing (checkmark) Delete the driver software for this device.
8. Repeat step 7 until the option to Delete the driver software for this device is greyed out.
9. Right click on the entry for Intel Wireless Bluetooth and open its properties. If it has an Intel driver associated with it, then uninstall it, choosing to (checkmark) Delete the driver software for this device.
10. Repeat step 9 until the option to Delete the driver software for this device is not offered (greyed out).
11. Go back to Step 5.
12. Install the downloaded Bluetooth driver package (my rule: always install Bluetooth first).
13. Install the downloaded Wireless driver package.
14. Manually shutdown and reboot your computer.
15. Reenable Internet access. Restore Ethernet cable and/or reenable wireless.
16. Test.

Note that it sometimes takes multiple uninstall (and reboot) cycles to clean out the old installations, so don't give up on the process. If you get to, say, 10 cycles, stop there and attempt the installation of the latest drivers.

Ok, next, let's talk about upgrading to support WiFi 6 and WiFi 6E. As you've noted, Intel only builds AX200 and AX210 cards in the Next Generation Wireless (NGW, a.k.a. M.2) formfactor; they do not build these cards in the older PCIe Half-Mini Wireless (HMW, a.k.a. M.1) formfactor. All is not lost; there are 3rd-party companies that take the Intel silicon and mount it onto the older formfactor cards. These cards utilize the exact same drivers as the NGW cards from Intel, downloaded (yourself) from the Intel Download Center, so there's nothing sketchy here. These cards are slightly more expensive than the Intel NGW cards, however: ~US$30 (due to smaller sales volumes, I think). Here are examples:

• MPE-AX3000H (AX200): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B091FJXQHH
• MPE-AXE3000H (AX210): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09F3CLKLH

These HMW cards are examples only; the ones that I actually purchased and tested are from a company named Fenvi, who doesn't seem to offer card-level products through Amazon (I purchased mine through NewEgg).

You also asked specifically about using a M.1-to-M.2 adapter. I have one of these - and it works great with an AX200NGW adapter installed. The problem is that almost all laptops do not provide enough space in their chassis to house this (much larger) adapter. From the picture you included, I can see that this is the case for your laptop as well; it just isn't going to fit.

Last but not least, WiFi 7. So far, I have not seen anyone build a BE200HMW card. I don't know if this is even feasible. If the silicon is making use of both of the PCIe lanes in the M.2 connector, then this is a showstopper as there is only one PCIe lane in the M.1/HMW connector.

Hope this helps,

...S

[bobthewelder]

Quick question before i keep doing this un install 10 times, i was told by the merchant on amazon to get bluetooth working, i need to remove pin 51 on my intel ac 7260 wifi card. Sure enough bluetooth did start working after removing pin 51 on my wifi card then I could see bluetooth active. would pin 51 not being there anymore have an affect on windows 11.

Robert 

[n_scott_pearson]

This was true for many laptop implementations. I don't know if it applies to these AX class adapters as I don't have any systems that have this issue (I have certainly not had to do anything).

As for Windows 11, no, it shouldn't affect anything. It's a hardware issue, not a software/O/S issue.

...S

[bobthewelder]

Good day Scott,

I tried and tried and tried un-installing and installing but no success, Bluetooth just keeps saying "try again". Give up with this. You said something about  "intel ax 200,201,210 wifi card with bluetooth ,somewhere along those lines , could you suggest something i could use to replace my "intel ac7260" with something new that would  work with new drivers that i could use. 

thank you in advance.

best regards 

Robert

[n_scott_pearson]

I answered this already. I would be getting a MPE-AXE3000H (which has AX210 silicon).

Remember that you need to uninstall the Wireless and Bluetooth drivers (per my procedure) before touching the hardware. When you get to Step 12, shutdown the laptop, replace the AC-7260 with the MPE-AXE3000H and boot back up. You can then proceed with the installation of the latest Bluetooth and Wireless drivers.

Hope this helps,

...S

[bobthewelder]

Good Day Mr. Scott

i went ahead and ordered the mpe-3000h wifi card. Uninstalled all the drivers went to device manager and unistalled the wifi driver and anything in programs. Went to the Fenvi site downloaded the driver for the wifi and bluetooth drivers and then installed the bluetooth and then wifi. wifi works but the bluetooth doesn't show up on device manager. not sure if i did something wrong. Any tips would be much appreciated.

robert