Friday, August 5, 2011

ASUS U43JC: Upgrade to Intel Advanced-N 6205 or 6200 Wireless Card

I just recently upgraded the my ASUS U43JC's wireless card to Intel Advanced N 6205. The benefit, comparing to stock Intel Wireless 1000 card, is

  1. Support dual band: 62xx support both 2.4Ghz and 5Hz frequency band.
  2. Better wireless performance:
    • 1000 is 1x2 300mbps receive, 150mbps transmit
    • 6200 is 2x2 300mbps receive, 300mbps transmit


Instructions

  1. Buy a compatible wireless card : The ASUS U43JC has only two antennas, so your best bet is Intel 62xx series. 6300 would need 3 antennas, hence it will be waste -- unless you want to mod your U43JC to add a 3rd antenna.  You have several options on 62xx,
    1. 6200 and 6205: Reading the product brief, I did not see any differences in terms of feature sets. So, I end up buying Intel Advanced-N 6205 (62205AN.HMWWB) from ebay for $18 + $4 shipping, as it's the cheaper than 6200. 
    2. 6230: has integrated Bluetooth. If you want  Bluetooth option, you can try this. Though I have NOT tested it.
    3. 6250: has WiMax. Don't know if this will work. Plus, I don't need WiMax servies anyway.
  2. Download software and driverGoogle "intel wireless 6205 driver download" should lead the Intel Driver download site. My U43JC is running Windows 7, 64 bits, so I downloaded "ICS_s64.exe".
  3. Remove Screws : Remove battery, and disconnect power adapter first. Then, start to removes all screws. The screws are in various sizes,  so make sure you keep track where the screws are removed. I lined them up on the table, just like the orientation on the notebook. 
    1. Remove all the visible screws in the back.
    2. Remove DVD burner,  the screws behind the DVD burner  
    3. Take out hard drive bay cover, and hard driver. Then, remove the screws behind the hard drive.
    4. Take out memory bay cover, and remove the screws near the memory
    5. Remove the screws behind the two rubber feet near the hinge.
  4. Lift up the keyboard
    1. Starting from the corner, I use a plastic card to pry open the keyboard slowly. You only need little force to lift up the entire keyboard. If it gets stuck, it is more likely the screws are not completely removed.
  5. Replace the wireless card
    1. You don't have to remove any ribbon cables. Remove the 2 screws around the  wireless card and antenna cables. Then, replace with new card.
  6. Install Driver and Testing
    1. Temporarily put back the hard drive, connects to the power adapter. Your U43JC will boot up, then install the new software driver. After the software driver installation completed, do some testing to make sure the new card is good. In my master bedroom, I used to get poor reception. With the new card, I can get around 24Mbps speed.
  7. Put the screws back.
    1. At this point, you are all set. Just put everything back, Hard Disk, DVD burner, and .. etc.

4 comments:

  1. This guide is exactly what I needed. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Exactly what I needed as well, thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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