My new Acer 10.1" ZG8 AO531h [$267 refurbished from TigerDirect BTW] has sucky WiFi performance under XP-PRO compared to a Lenovo N500 which uses a Broadcom BCM94312MCG PCIe card. The Lenovo and that Broadcom card is superbly sensitive - maybe with help from better antennas, I don't know. The stock ZG8 uses an Atheros AR5007EG.
So, for $13 on eBay I got another Broadcom BCM94312MCGl card,
found the drivers online, installed the card in the ZG8 [ easy to do b/c there is a bottom door for access to the WiFi and 3G modems],
and Device Manager was happy but the new card did not see any access points. I tried the one from the Lenovo, same story - acting like the radio is off [ it wasn't according to Dev Mgr]. Tried Ubuntu 9.10 and the drivers it found online, exactly the same
joyless results.
I'm back to the factory Atheros NIC and the ZB8 is working again, although around 20db weaker than the Lenovo, just like it used to.
Comments, advice, questions are all welcome.
Cheers, WL in NJ, USA
So, for $13 on eBay I got another Broadcom BCM94312MCGl card,
found the drivers online, installed the card in the ZG8 [ easy to do b/c there is a bottom door for access to the WiFi and 3G modems],
and Device Manager was happy but the new card did not see any access points. I tried the one from the Lenovo, same story - acting like the radio is off [ it wasn't according to Dev Mgr]. Tried Ubuntu 9.10 and the drivers it found online, exactly the same
joyless results.
I'm back to the factory Atheros NIC and the ZB8 is working again, although around 20db weaker than the Lenovo, just like it used to.
Comments, advice, questions are all welcome.
Cheers, WL in NJ, USA
