Weak wireless reception on new Thinkpad X201

[IgoByte]

I just purchased a new Thinkpad X201 notebook and am getting surprisingly poor wireless reception on it. I tested two notebooks side-by-side (this and an X201 tablet) and the signal strength on this one was between 15 and 30% while it was between 45 and 60% on the tablet. Additionally, the Lenovo wireless app was extremely buggy and wouldn't connect to my wireless network at all.

Has anyone else had similar experiences with these?

 

[Emulex]

power manager probably turning down when you unplug. this was a flaw with XP on all lenovo - never fixed . had to upgrade to win7. never noticed this on other chips.

get a whitelisted bios and change out the modem that's one way.

 

[JackMDS]

Many Wireless cards' drivers also install the vendor's Wireless utility.

Make sure that if there is a vendor's Wireless Utility is Not Running together with the Windows native Wireless utility (WLAN Service) .

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Forcing Win 7 to install the most updated, Drivers sometimes help too.

When trying to update the drivers by just pressing on the Update feature in the devices’ entry in the Device Manger the computer checks the drivers on Microsoft Update server.

However, the Drivers on the Update server are not always the most updated drivers. The manufacturer might have newer drivers that were not yet submitted to the Update server.

Try to install the latest drivers of the card from the support page of the manufacturer.

Download the drivers and unpack them to a folder of your choice.

In the Device manger, right click on the adapter.

Click on Update Drivers, and choose the Browse my computer for drivers,

Choose let me pick from a list , Click on Have a Disk and point to the folder with the Drivers.

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In general we tend to ignore, the fact that Wireless largely depends on Signal Propagation.

If an Antenna in a Laptop is Not designed optimally for Wireless receiving/transmitting. If there is some loose contact in the connection between the Wireless card and the Antenna, or the Laptop tend to get hot and it reduces the Wireless card power output, it does not matter what you do you will Not get good Wireless.

Sometime it is better to get a spare good Wireless USB dongle, and use it in cases of mission critical.

As for Wireless Signal strength read this, http://www.ezlan.net/wbars.html

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In many laptops the Wireless card is set to reduce power in order to save on battery.

First boot to the BIOS and check the Wireless card features (if any).

Then Uncheck the Network Card's Power Saving (I.e., do not let the card save power).

There might be some variations on where the Power saving setting is.
Here are few examples, YMMV, look around in your systems.

Example, http://www.ezlan.net/example/powersave.jpg

Example, http://www.ezlan.net/Win7/power_sav_wireless..jpg

Example, http://www.ezlan.net/Win7/power_save_win7.jpg

Example, http://www.ezlan.net/Win7/adv_power-sav.jpg

 

[IgoByte]

Thanks, guys. I'll look into this.

Jack, since you're clearly well-versed, is it wise to use a non-broadcasting network and which encryption would you suggest?

 

[RadiclDreamer]

Thanks, guys. I'll look into this.

Jack, since you're clearly well-versed, is it wise to use a non-broadcasting network and which encryption would you suggest?

Non-broadcast SSID can be seen with many scanner applications easily. And for encryption, use whatever the strongest all your devices can support. WPA2 if possible.

 

[IgoByte]

Non-broadcast SSID can be seen with many scanner applications easily. And for encryption, use whatever the strongest all your devices can support. WPA2 if possible.

Thanks.

 

[Emulex]

remember the thinkvantage power manager will change your power output everytime you plug/unplug the power which works on win7 but not XP. sometimes. sometimes it doesn't. go into the driver and check you'll see sometimes on a/c power you'll be at MIN POWER DRAW versus MAX PERFORMANCE.

it has driven me crazy and affects many of their product line.

 

[JackMDS]

SSID Off in End-Users home environment, or any environment that uses Entry Level Wireless Routers (AP) has No advantage what so ever.

On the other hand it unstabilizes most of Wireless connections.

 

[IgoByte]

SSID Off in End-Users home environment, or any environment that uses Entry Level Wireless Routers (AP) has No advantage what so ever.

On the other hand it unstabilizes most of Wireless connections.

Thank you.

 

[IgoByte]

Tried everything and the signal's still extremely weak. I think I'm going to return it to them. :*(