Intel Wifi 7 BE201 driver download?

[Woffe]

Hi,
i have a Intel BE201 Wifi 7 Card for my Dell Precision 7680. But i did not find a driver for this card. The lates Intel driver supports only the BE200 and BE202 cards. Where do i find the driver for the new BE201 card?

kind regards, Woffe

[schumaku]

Yes, similar here. Upgraded the AX201 (M.2: CNVio2) to a BX201 (M.2: CNVio37, arrived after many months of waiting) so it looks like these are not compatible, similar to the M.2: CNVio vs. CNVio2. CPU is a 11th Gen Core i5-1135G7, Windows 11 23H2. Indeed the BE201 with an Intel vendor ID 8086 DEV A0F0 isn't recognized, and not listed in the Intel Wi-Fi and BT driver kit 23.60.1.2 for BE202, BE200, AX411, AX211, AX210, AX203, AX201, AX200, AX101, 9560, 9462, 9461, 9260.

[JeanetteC_Intel]

Hello schumaku,

I understand you are facing a similar situation, however, I highly suggest that you create a new thread for your case. This will allow us to focus on your specific problem and provide you with better assistance.  

Sincerely,

Jeanette C.

Intel® Customer Support Technician

[JeanetteC_Intel]

Hello Woffe,

Thank you for posting in Intel Communities.

To get a better understanding of the issue and be able to provide an effective recommendation, please provide the missing key information here:

1) Please confirm if this is the actual system device that you have. Dell Precision 7680: https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-my/precision-16-7680-laptop/precision_7680_ss/wireless-module?guid=guid-9268df17-896f-4186-ad5c-ce736e3aab6d&lang=en-us

2) Is the Intel® Wi-Fi 7 BE201 pre-installed on your system or is it an upgrade component?

3) Have you tried checking the customized drivers from your system manufacturer driver page (if the component is pre-installed)?

I hope to hear from you, so I can help check further.

Best regards,

Jeanette C.

Intel® Customer Support Technician

[Woffe]

Hi,
yes the Precision 7680 is the correct unit. i comes pre installed with a AX211 card. I will upgrade the card to a BE201, but the actual Intel Wifi driver does not support the BE201 card. So there is no driver available.

[3Fees]

Wifi 7 is still very new. Intel Wifi 7 BE201 takes a M2: cnvio37 slot and requires a Wifi 7  BE router to connect at 320Mhz. If your motherboard does not have the correct slot which is Intel proprietary it wont work, irrespective of the driver installed.

Cheers

3Fees

[Woffe]

Hi,
thanks for the answer. Yes the slot is correct, the card will shown in the windows 11device manager, but I have no driver for this card....

[schumaku]

According to all publically avilable documentation, both the AX201NGW and the AX211NGW are CNvio2 Companion RF modules. As per several reports, these are not even exchangeble. We have ordered an AX211NGW and will see if these work on the various OEM notebooks (HP, Dell) originally delivered with AX201NGW we have at hand for testing.  

@3Fees there is no CNvio37. This is  blunt typo, I've hit the sme trap. As on some spec sheets doc types even Inhell referred these as 37, while the PDF always clerly shows CNvio3 with a referene to note [7] reference. Yes, we all know that CNvio and CNvio2 are different beasts. And it's likely CNvio3 (yet nother magic cost-saving Inhell c**p) is in no way interoperable, probably because it's using a faster PCIe-like channel allowing data transfer speeds beyond of ~2Gb/s 

The Intel community and official Inhell Support (!!!) does not stop referring to the OEM - we all know it takes months if will happen at all - until the drivers are made availble. Our request for drivers for the BE201 (readily availble in the free market from bulk packs) is still ignored. Instead we get lectures that these systems were not supplied by the OEM with BE201. Yalla, yalla - what  disappointment from what is supposed to be some kind of a "professional" suport organistion. 

This does not want to be a complaint about the personal communication (it was a snap to figure out the support team is operating from Bangalore) they don't even read. Here my complete reply to the support reply:

===

Complete useless reply. We don't need a lecture on what HP originally installed, and definitely not the very outdated junk drivers -all- your OEMs are distributing.

We have updated the AX201 to a BE201 on our own risk. Take this as a fact that the BE201 (specifically both the vPro and the non-vPro version are detected, but no driver is available, neither in the latest Windows® 10 and Windows 11* Wi-Fi package drivers 23.60.1 for the Intel® Wi-Fi 7/Wi-Fi 6E/Wi-Fi 6 and Intel® 9000 series Wireless Adapters. nor in the recommended package for IT administrators, which includes drivers-only distribution packages for Wi-Fi version 23.60.1.

The related notes clearly do -not- list the very new BE201 -> https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/18231/intel-proset-wireless-software-and-wi-fi-drivers-for-it-administrators.html just mention the new BE200 and BE202.

When can we expect either a -complete- kit including the BE201 drivers, or a standalone BE201 driver kit for Windows 11 including and the required resource files now please?

Sure, including this is the (very neat) Intel Driver and Support Assistant would be welcome, too.

Back to you for Inhell's homework!

Regards,
-Kurt

===

Back to the Inhell Skunk Works department (this is a compliment, I'm an aviation person).

[3Fees]

I found this about Intel BE201. Indeed Intel BE201 is CNVio3 M2 board connector and without this M2 connector the card will not function.  The driver will issue when there is motherboards with this connector be they laptops or otherwise, so far I have not seen any. You should be asking MSI, Asus, Dell, etc. when are they going to have motherboards for laptops, pc's etc that have the Intel CNVio3 M2 connector.

SPECIFICATIONS

Product Description	Intel Wi-Fi 7 BE201 - 1st Generation - network adapter - M.2 2230 (CNVio3)
Device Type	Network adapter
Form Factor	Plug-in card
Interface (Bus) Type	M.2 2230 (CNVio3)
Dimensions (WxDxH)	0.242 cm x 3 cm x 2.2 cm
Weight	3.06 g
Data Link Protocol	Wi-Fi 5, Wi-Fi 6E, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth
Data Transfer Rate	5 Gbps
Frequency Band	2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 6 GHz, 320 MHz
Compliant Standards	IEEE 802.11, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11d, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11i, IEEE 802.11h, IEEE 802.11e, IEEE 802.11n, IEEE 802.11k, IEEE 802.11ac, IEEE 802.11w, IEEE 802.11r, IEEE 802.11u, IEEE 802.11v, IEEE 802.11ax, Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6, Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6E, IEEE 802.11az, IEEE 802.11be, Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 7, Bluetooth 5.4
System Requirements	Linux, Windows 10, Windows 11

Cheers

3Fees

[schumaku]

Intel customers which have bought the BE201 certainly had the Intel® Wi-Fi 7 BE201 Specs availble for several months now, before ordering.  Not sure what added value a copy should have here. 

We are looking for Windwos 11 drivers as per the subject, sorry please. 

[JeanetteC_Intel]

Hello Woffe,

I apologize for the late response. I understand that this is an upgrade component for your Dell Precision 7680.

An Intel® Wireless Adapter installed in a system that is being sold on the market doesn't necessarily mean that the same wireless adapter can be used or installed in any other systems for the above-mentioned reason. If you have already performed the integration, it is also important to understand that it may not work due to hardware or software compatibility issues or dependencies.

I highly recommend contacting your system manufacturer, vendor, or place of purchase about availability and support for Intel Wireless Adapter upgrades. Laptop manufacturers must meet regulatory requirements to determine if you can install the Intel Wireless Adapter in your system.

Reference article:

Regulatory Information Regarding Wireless Hardware Installation or Upgrade

Why Doesn't My Laptop Recognize My New Intel® Wireless Adapter?

However, since you are requesting a driver to get your Intel® Wi-Fi 7 BE201 to work, I will be checking this with our engineers and will get back to you as soon as I get an update.

Best regards,

Jeanette C.

Intel® Customer Support Technician

[HCI]

I have the same issue with and obviously so will everyone else.

It says it's compatible with Windows 10 and 11 but no Windows drivers for BE201 exists at the moment, at least not publicly available on Intels site. I also tried 5 different driver updaters but no one has it.

I really don't understand how Intel can sell these chips without drivers.

And I especially don't understand why you write about if it's a system upgrade or not or what M2 interface.

Regardless of this the Windows drivers still does not exist (or publicly available).

When will drivers for Windows be available?

[n_scott_pearson]

I will go out on a limb and say that a driver will be available when there are actually chipset/SoC devices - and motherboards - that provide support for CNVio3. As it stands right now, there's no driver support because there's no devices and no motherboards.

I also have to say, with the fiasco surrounding the CNVio to CNVio2 changeover, why would anyone purchase a CNVio3 part without first verifying compatibility? Why would anyone just blindly assume that a BE201 can replace an AX201/AX211?

...S

[JeanetteC_Intel]

Hello Woffe,

Greetings.

Please be advised that the Intel® Wi-Fi 7 BE201 drivers have not yet been released to the public and do not have any estimated date.

Since you already performed self-integration to replace the wireless card with an Intel Wi-Fi 7 BE201 on your Dell Precision 7680 system, there may be a compatibility issue after self-integrating; the compatibility and limitation depend on the computer manufacturer's design, especially because the BE201 is a CNVi module and only compatible with certain systems.

I highly recommend checking with the computer manufacturer to ensure this system is upgradable and compatible with the Intel Wi-Fi 7 module.  

Best regards,

Jeanette C.

Intel® Customer Support Technician

[iaTa]

Yes they have, on Aug 20th.

Drivers v23.70.2.3 for the BE201 are available here: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/19351/intel-wireless-wi-fi-drivers-for-windows-10-and-windows-11.html

It'll be interesting to hear whether CNVio3 cards are backwards compatible with CNVio2 slots.

[n_scott_pearson]

No, my logic says that CNVio/CNVio2 cards ~might~ be usable in CNVio3 slots, but the MACs in the older chipsets are not going to have the capabilities needed to support the CNVio3-dependent PHYs.

Make sense?

...S

[JeanetteC_Intel]

Hello Woffe,

Since I have referred you to your system manufacturer support team and you have not raised any other concerns, I will proceed in closing this thread. Should you need assistance in the future, please submit a new question as this thread will no longer be monitored.

Sincerely,

JeanetteC.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[will6]

Nice. Another propietary connector and the only info available has a typo. CNVIO37. LOL

Anyone can confirm if be201 works on a slot using ax201?

[3Fees]

Its CNVIO3 - the 7 refers to notes. Look here: Intel Product Brief clears this up.

BE201

No it wont work. Intel AX201 uses CNVIO2 Slot 160mhz, CNVIO3 Slot 320mhz plus the fact Intel WiFi 7 uses a different Intel chipset than Intel WIFI 6 or Intel Wifi 6E which uses only CNVIO2 slot. The AX201 will work in the CNVIO3 slot though, backward compatible.

Cheers

3Fees

[will6]

Sure, but on product description the typo is there.

Oh too bad then. Im trying to figure it out if cnvio2 slot on my board supports m2 pcie ngff cards, but even the board manufacturer doesnt know. 

I´ll try to buy a board without so many propietary standards next time.