Intel 5300 keeps crashing in ZG5 - AOA150

I have a ZG5 AOA150. I replaced the factory installed wifi card with an Intel 5300 and the 3rd antenna. I use Windows XP. I originally loaded the latest Intel drivers and at first everything worked great but then the connection would be lost and same for the card recognition. I then uninstalled and reinstalled letting the card find the driver. It would install an Intel driver dated year 2008. This worked for short times using the windows software. After more connection problems coupled with the card not finding any signal (that being my own wireless router or the many neighbours' signals in the area), I went back to reinstalling the latest Intel drivers (dated 2010). This worked for a day and then the connection drops again together with no connection enabled. I also installed with the latest driver the Intel Proset/Wireless software. This software I noticed allowed for the Acer to boot up quicker than when it wasn't installed previously.

Also with the above problems, I used the onboard repair feature. This would work a few times, than there would be no access to the Intel 5300. I would have to reinstall the driver to make it work.

During this time I called Intel (and actually spoke to someone). They advised that it may be the Acer Bios does not allow for the Intel 5300. He advised I contact Acer. Contacting Acer is impossible even though they answered my emails with no solution. I see that the Bios on board is Version 3310 released in 2008. The newest Bios available on the Acer site is Version 3310, dated 2009/08/05. I tried upgrading to the newer dated Bios but it still shows the version with the year 2008.

My question is whether anyone has the same problem and if yes how they fixed it?
Secondly if it cannot be fixed, what is your recommendation for a wifi card with N, MIMO and dual gigabit capabilty that works in the Acer netbook?

 

I installed a 5300 + third antenna in my ZG5.

It did not work with the original Linpus OS, but Linpus was always useless.
I just installed Ubuntu Netbook Remix & it worked fine, without any messing about with drivers. Ubuntu is a vastly superior OS.

You could try booting up with Ubuntu on a memory stick, as that also worked fine for me. If that doesn't work for you it might suggest a hardware issue?