15 August 2010

"Souped Up"

image from clickz.com

Did I use that expression right? It's what I normally see in tech-centric Filipino forums to describe a machine that's been improved, upgraded. I thought I'd hop in the band-wagon and sing the campfire song as well.

When I came home this Friday, fresh from Google's exposing me to the world's "derision for disappointed hopes" as it disabled my AdSense account, and with all the Jane Austen melodrama ringing in my head, upon putting down my backpack on the dining table and seeing the oh so familiar yellow bubble pack envelope, I ended up still not quite involved "in the misery of the acutest kind".

At long last! The Atheros AR9280 b/g/n half-height WiFi card I ordered from e-bay last July 16th finally came through the post.

Not only did I have a new 2GB stick of fresh DDR3 1066 MHz PC-8500 (don't I just relish that long geeky appellation? Wihihihi) but I also have a new AirPort Extreme card! I mean the Atheros should be recognized by Mac OS X Snow Leo as a true blue Apple AirPort Extreme wireless module....it just should....

But I prevailed and arrested myself from having tantrums and managed to, here goes that expression I sometimes disdain, "soup up" my darling-little-brat-of-an-almost-baby-boyfriend (dear me, is that a sign of unhealthy romantic preferences? Haha).
Half-height PCI slot cause I didn't wanna have to re-route the U.fl antenna

Kinda dig the Kingston logo actually ^_^

And Snowy indeed thought the Atheros an AirPort Extreme card :D
3GB DDR3 - yummy :D
And I knew better than to destroy my new Atheros card and refrained from attacking that infamous PIN20. 

Oh and by the way, I can no longer use the wireless switch to turn bluetooth on/off. It did work before with when the Broadcom 4312hmg. A bummer; it's the same PCI slot - half-height...


18 comments:

Iperzampem0 said...

That's good!
But I don't well understand your phrase "And I knew better than to destroy my new Atheros card and refrained from attacking that infamous PIN20" (i'm italian and my english is not perfect indeed).
Did you mean that it's not necessary to cover PIN20, because the new Atheros wifi card is recognized instantly, right!? :)
Maybe I'll buy an Atheros 9280 like you and then I'll put Snow Leopard! And, fortunately, my Mini already has 3 GB of DDR3 Memory installed by HP. :P

LeMaurien19 said...

Yep, the Atheros works as it is. No more changes.

Iperzampem0 said...

Very good news!! :)
I've found this (http://cgi.ebay.it/JY-Atheros-9280-HalfSize-MiniPCI-Expres-Karte-4-Samsung-/320526724928?pt=DE_Computer_Peripherie_Netzwerk) on ebay... It's from Germany. It's the same card right?

LeMaurien19 said...

I don't know. I got mine from Hong Kong. Just check the picture, specially the card model name and number:
Atheros AR9280 also known as Atheros AR5BHB92, half-height.

Anonymous said...

Any idea if the AR9280 works in the HP Mini 110? Or, do you have a suggestion for a wireless card that would work. Thanks

LeMaurien19 said...

@Anonyme
To better make your question clear, I suppose you meant to ask whether the HP Mini 110's BIOS does not block AR9280 WiFi card in its PCI slot.

Well, the answer is I'm not sure. I'm not familiar with what specific cards are allowed by HP on the 110.

However, if I remember correctly, the BCM94312HMG that the HP Mini 1000 uses has been reported to work fine. You can try to scour the MyHPMini forums to verify this bit of info.

LeMaurien19 said...

Oh here's that post on MyHPMini forums confirming that the HP Mini 1000's WiFi card, which is Broadcom b/g card (BCM94312HMG, Snow Leopard compatible) as mentioned above, works in the 110.

Anonymous said...

@LeMaurien19
Thank you for finding that for me, and yes that was what I meant.

M said...

I recently purchased and installed the Atheros AR9280 on my HP Mini 311. It reads the card as an Airport Extreme, but whenever I connect to a network it works for abouy five minutes and then shuts down for no apparent reason. It can't even find any other wifi networks until I restart. Why does this happen and is there a fix?

LeMaurien19 said...

@LinuxMaster
I'm not entirely sure why; if we have the same AR9280 card (see the actual pics of my own card in the post for the exact model no.), then it should work fine.

Here's what you can do:
- When you're connected to your wireless network, at the minute you notice the connection issue, hold the Option key (should correspond to the Win key on the Mini 311; left side of the spacebar) and click on the AirPort icon on the menubar. This should show details on quality of the signal.

- If you notice drops - good connection should display "54/64" something in there - then try changing the channel of your wireless router.

- Before changing the channel, check first in Sys Profile what channels are supported by your card. Mine was originally set to 4 which I changed to 7.

- If you're still encountering problems, though this is somewhat irrelevant in my own opinion, boot with -v -f flags to rebuild your system caches. It might be, though I myself am not entirely convinced, that it's just a matter of a simple kexts issue.

Comment again with your results so as to let others know as well should this be an efficient solution. :)

M said...

Unfortunatly, I am unable to change my wireless router's channel number because I am using my college's internet to connect. I also tried the command key icon, and all it allowed me to do was move around the wifi icon.

Would you recommend the Dell 1510 Wireless card as a just-in-case replacement?

LeMaurien19 said...

Not the command key -
here's the lay-out of the Mini 311's keyboard
Left to right:

Ctrl
Fn
Win Key
Alt
Spacebar
Alt
Menu key
Ctrl

You're supposed to hold the Win key to check - as I've mentionned earlier - because that corresponds to the Option key inside Mac OS X.

M said...

I meant to say option key.... sorry about that.... Still only lets me drag the wifi icon around.

I purchased a Dell 1510 card that will arrive in the mail in a couple of days, I'll just see how that card works.

LeMaurien19 said...

Use the Win key, press on hold that key while you click once on the airport icon.

the key i'm talking about is the 2nd key to the left of the sidebar - sorry if I may seem nasty about this, but I just cannot accept that it drags the icon for you because it (the win key, 2nd key to the left of the sidebar) has always worked for me - that is, to show wireless connection details when pressed and held as I clicked on the airport icon on the menubar.

M said...

Alright well I pressed the alt key, and that ended up showing the transmit rate, and I understand why you would be upset. I sound like a total noob.

It shows the transmit rate as 54, and I currently am trying to use the wireless right now. I just added another gig of ram to the mini, and so far everything is working. Any ideas?
I really appreciate the help.

LeMaurien19 said...

@LinuxMaster
It's not you - it's me; I couldn't make it clear.

54 is a good figure, try to observe from time to time if it drops to a lower value when you're connected.

Or try installing the AirPort base client update. I'll try to get back with you on the link if you haven't installed it yet.

I've been using my AR9280 card with my Mini on public networks - coffeeshops and the connection is decent.

M said...

The connection is excellent when it works, but for some reason the connections just automatically disconnect. I have a Dell 1510 wireless card in the mail that should arrive Monday. I'll let you know if the same thing happens with this wireless card as well.

Unknown said...

@LeMaurien19
I notice in ebay, there are 2 type of Atheros AR5BHB92. Can you tell me which number you have on your Atheros written at the back of the card below left corner? Is it 495848-001 or 495848-002 ?