Are these WiFi cards "legit"?

[Format _C:]

I have an older laptop that only has the half minicard type PCI-e slot and I came across This I do know Intel does not make the AX210 or AX200 in the HMW form factor so I'm thinking it is probably one of the integrated solder down modules under the metal RF shield? I do know adapter boards do exist but there is not enough room for that type of solution, so does anyone know if this is really an AX210 chipset? I bought one already and I should have it in a few days but I'm just curious to know more about how they managed to get the NGW only card into the HMW type of card

Thanks

 

[pendragon1]

yeah seems odd to me too. guess youll see in a few days. hopefully your laptop doesnt have a stupid internal whitelist....

 

[Format _C:]

internal whitelist

What's that mean? The laptop in question is a Dell Precision M4800
I'll post back once I install it but the reviews (not that Amazon reviews mean much with the paid reviews and what not) seemed OK and someone said it was recognized as an Intel AX210 so I think it probably is the soldered down version of the card under the RF shield

 

[GiGaBiTe]

What's that mean?

Many models of laptops for decades have whitelists where only "sanctioned" wifi cards will work on the machine in question. If you install a non-whitelisted wifi card, it won't work at all because the BIOS will lock it out. These whitelists are often not published, so it's impossible to know what wifi cards will and will not work, unless the model of laptop is popular enough to have community support to figure out which cards will and won't work. Otherwise, you have to go on the short list of drivers listed for the laptop on the OEM site and hope those work.

Laptop vendors insist that the whitelist is for "FCC Compliance", but it's been confirmed BS ad nauseum.

To get a non-whitelisted card working on a laptop, you have to do BIOS mods to change the whitelist and add the specific card you want to use, which isn't always possible.

 

[Format _C:]

Many models of laptops for decades have whitelists where only "sanctioned" wifi cards will work on the machine in question. If you install a non-whitelisted wifi card, it won't work at all because the BIOS will lock it out. These whitelists are often not published, so it's impossible to know what wifi cards will and will not work, unless the model of laptop is popular enough to have community support to figure out which cards will and won't work. Otherwise, you have to go on the short list of drivers listed for the laptop on the OEM site and hope those work.

Laptop vendors insist that the whitelist is for "FCC Compliance", but it's been confirmed BS ad nauseum.

To get a non-whitelisted card working on a laptop, you have to do BIOS mods to change the whitelist and add the specific card you want to use, which isn't always possible.

Ah great I hope Dell does not do this! Because the stock Intel 7260 sucks!

 

[pendragon1]

Ah great I hope Dell does not do this! Because the stock Intel 7260 sucks!

i have run into it most on lenovos and hps but some dells do it too. fingers crossed....

 

[Format _C:]

I'm not removing the RF shield but I found This by searching so I think that is what is probably is and it installed fine and was seen as an Intel WiFi card
The Dell had no problem with it the only quirk is the Bluetooth LED no longer lights up hell even the BIOS says Intel Wireless and Bluetooth device as installed!
So I'm pretty sure this is 99% legit LoL!

 

[DanNeely]

Many models of laptops for decades have whitelists where only "sanctioned" wifi cards will work on the machine in question. If you install a non-whitelisted wifi card, it won't work at all because the BIOS will lock it out. These whitelists are often not published, so it's impossible to know what wifi cards will and will not work, unless the model of laptop is popular enough to have community support to figure out which cards will and won't work. Otherwise, you have to go on the short list of drivers listed for the laptop on the OEM site and hope those work.

Laptop vendors insist that the whitelist is for "FCC Compliance", but it's been confirmed BS ad nauseum.

To get a non-whitelisted card working on a laptop, you have to do BIOS mods to change the whitelist and add the specific card you want to use, which isn't always possible.

It is an FCC thing, just not the Federal Communications Commision. It's the Fat Cat Compensation program, that works by pressuring you to buy overpriced parts from the OEM instead of cheaper aftermarket ones. This FCC is also guilty of the trend for soldiered ram in laptops and most other crimes against repairability.

 

[kittmaster]

If you decide on the AX210, be sure you are using Win11 because the 6GHz band as of this writing is only visible using the latest drivers using Win11. FYI, both 5Ghz and 2.4GHz work correctly in both Win10 and 11. There is a known driver that works in Win10, but it is old and on my Lenovo Y700 sometimes it starts, sometimes it doesn't, allowing me to use the 6Ghz band with my AXE11000. When it doesn't start I have to DM, disable it, then re-enable it....and then it works.....but sometimes can take up to 3 minutes to see the 6GHz band. The link speed with the old driver is 2.4Gbps with the laptop approximately 12 feet from the router. Clearly the 6GHz band can be run in Win10, but these AHoles at MS and Intel have locked it out for purely profit reasons....(this is my stated opinion on this matter) since clearly it is shown that it can work in Win10, they just choose not to enable it. YMMV, good luck on your choice.

 

[DanNeely]

If you decide on the AX210, be sure you are using Win11 because the 6GHz band as of this writing is only visible using the latest drivers using Win11. FYI, both 5Ghz and 2.4GHz work correctly in both Win10 and 11. There is a known driver that works in Win10, but it is old and on my Lenovo Y700 sometimes it starts, sometimes it doesn't, allowing me to use the 6Ghz band with my AXE11000. When it doesn't start I have to DM, disable it, then re-enable it....and then it works.....but sometimes can take up to 3 minutes to see the 6GHz band. The link speed with the old driver is 2.4Gbps with the laptop approximately 12 feet from the router. Clearly the 6GHz band can be run in Win10, but these AHoles at MS and Intel have locked it out for purely profit reasons....(this is my stated opinion on this matter) since clearly it is shown that it can work in Win10, they just choose not to enable it. YMMV, good luck on your choice.

What you're describing is a very buggy driver. A deliberate lockout would be no driver at all.

 

[kittmaster]

What you're describing is a very buggy driver. A deliberate lockout would be no driver at all.

The driver that Win10 works with 6GHz is as you describe....buggy...on Win10 startup...sometimes it starts, sometimes it don't.

The other aspect is, it is locked out for Win10.... BTDT, got the T-Shirt... the latest and greatest will not let it see the 6GHz on Win10.

You don't need to believe me, feel free to read it for yourself (minus the sometimes doesn't start right issue)

https://dongknows.com/wi-fi-6e-6ghz-intel-ax210-driver/

 

[DanNeely]

While MS has tossed precedent and clarity aside in favor of making stuff up as they go along; if W10 had followed the practices they'd done for previous ones, being >5 years old and having a successor out would have put W10 solidly in the security fixes but no new features period of it's life cycle.

Testing isn't free, fixing problems isn't free, whatever's causing the problems with the buggy driver you're able to kludge into installing pushed it into won't fix on an end of life platform.

PS that article was far too long for me to read to try and figure out if:

1 the driver you can kludge into working in w10 is equally buggy under w11
2 why you can't do the same with a newer driver that presumably works on w11 (although my guess here would be fixing the problem required changes to the OS)
3 Does the driver belong to MS or Intel?

PPS with less than 3 years of security support left, you really should be worrying about upgrading older systems to w11 (or Linux ) or retiring them not trying to kludge new hardware in.

 

[Format _C:]

If you decide on the AX210, be sure you are using Win11 because the 6GHz band as of this writing is only visible using the latest drivers using Win11. FYI, both 5Ghz and 2.4GHz work correctly in both Win10 and 11. There is a known driver that works in Win10, but it is old and on my Lenovo Y700 sometimes it starts, sometimes it doesn't, allowing me to use the 6Ghz band with my AXE11000. When it doesn't start I have to DM, disable it, then re-enable it....and then it works.....but sometimes can take up to 3 minutes to see the 6GHz band. The link speed with the old driver is 2.4Gbps with the laptop approximately 12 feet from the router. Clearly the 6GHz band can be run in Win10, but these AHoles at MS and Intel have locked it out for purely profit reasons....(this is my stated opinion on this matter) since clearly it is shown that it can work in Win10, they just choose not to enable it. YMMV, good luck on your choice.

I don't have any WiFi AX or 6E routers yet and no plans for that unless DD-WRT (or other third party firmware) can get WiFi AX working properly

While MS has tossed precedent and clarity aside in favor of making stuff up as they go along; if W10 had followed the practices they'd done for previous ones, being >5 years old and having a successor out would have put W10 solidly in the security fixes but no new features period of it's life cycle.

Testing isn't free, fixing problems isn't free, whatever's causing the problems with the buggy driver you're able to kludge into installing pushed it into won't fix on an end of life platform.

PS that article was far too long for me to read to try and figure out if:

1 the driver you can kludge into working in w10 is equally buggy under w11
2 why you can't do the same with a newer driver that presumably works on w11 (although my guess here would be fixing the problem required changes to the OS)
3 Does the driver belong to MS or Intel?

PPS with less than 3 years of security support left, you really should be worrying about upgrading older systems to w11 (or Linux ) or retiring them not trying to kludge new hardware in.

I'm not a fan of newer laptops (I still need and want an optical drive) that much but most of my desktops support Windows 11 I do hope Microsoft backs off on the TPM and CPU requirements though but I'm not going to count on that happening though