Upgrading ASUS UX32VD Wireless Card - Antenna Connector Problem, Help!

Ekbduffy,
From all I read, using just 2 of the 3 antennas (or putting the 3rd antenna under the aluminium outer cover where you expect it to be put) will prevent one from reaching AC1300 speeds.
I've now exhausted with my research. Am ordering an AW-CB160H card and will report feedback when it arrives (30-60 days from now on) and put into my laptop.

 

Жень, i'm planning to buy this https://img.alicdn.com/bao/uploaded/i1/2125307133/TB2qejbiVXXXXaOXXXXXXXXXXXX_!!2125307133.jpg one, so i will have 3 antennas to try put somewhere in notebook case )

 

Just got my UX32VD running AW-CB160H. All things are ok. Working fine. But i've placed third antenna under the bottom cover. And 5GHz signal is bad. Anyway - problems of connection has gone. I'm happy

 

Ekbduffy, I've put the antenna under the hinge, where the stock antennas are. No need to remove the screen. I'll post pictures over the weekend. It gives me 1300 Mbs connection speed but file transfer via Windows home network is 20-40+ MBs only.

Can you give me a link to the drivers which you installed (and what did you do to install them) - assuming you are under Windows. Whatever drivers I try, if Bluetooth works then WiFi network adapter driver won't install -- I think it sees BCM20702A0 in "other devices". If I reboot or even logoff, then Bluetooth disappears but I can install network card drivers and work with WiFi. But never with bluetooth and WiFi simultaneously. Thought it's a conflict with Intel PROSet/Wireless apps, deleted both, still the same effect.

 

I've set this one http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mi...3171.zip?_ga=1.229710495.283187895.1472041496
This drivers are from premium ASUS Motherboard which have this card included in package, as i remember.

Need pictures of antenna placement!

 

Ekbduffy, here is the download link to my pics (link).

You'll need to take out the motherboard to put the wire to the third antenna underneath it (following the route of the wires to the stock antennas, you won't get mistaken). The hinge is kept in place by pins/clips on it -- be careful with removing it, it's of thin plastic and can easily be damaged.

On one of the pictures you'll see that the stock antennas are represented by plastic bodies screwed to the body and which seem to be large -- from the first look, you actually don't have space to put the 3rd antenna in the middle for the fear of interference. Again, on one of the pictures you'll see what the actual working (=useful) area of the stock antennas (once unscrewed from the body) is not that large. So, you can safely put the 3rd antenna exactly in the middle between the two plastic bodies of the stock antennas.

There are also a few full teardown videos available on Youtube (link).

 

To all:

Latest Windows driver for AzureWave AW-CB160H (Broadcom BCM94360HMB)

The latest driver I've found for this card is version 6.35.223.11 from Lenovo. I've uploaded it for you here (link) under the file name "Lenovo_Net_6.35.223.11_None_92938.7z".

I've found it with the help of the software called "Driver Talent" which I've in turn found through this link (link) during my above-mentioned painful 2-weeks research. So, Driver Talent should be able to find the latest driver for you at any time in the future.

Now my card is capable to establish a connection at 1300 mbs speed (depending on distance/obstacles from/to the router). Though, the actual speed of copying files within the home network organised between Windows 7 machines rarely gives me more than 20 MBs. Perhaps worth playing with the adapter settings. I've found some description of such (link) but haven't tried it yet (just now got the card finally working!).

To all ASUS users:

If you have problems with installing drivers for AzureWave AW-CB160H (Broadcom BCM94360HMB) on your ASUS machine/motherboard

ASUS is known for poor compatibility of their software with non-stock hardware. I own the ASUS ultrabook UX31A and spent 2 weeks trying to make drivers for the subject wireless card work. The symptoms I've been experiencing are described in post #54 above (direct link).

In my case, the issue was resolved with the deletion of the following ASUS stock software: Intel PROSet/Wireless; Intel PROSet/Wireless Bluetooth; Wireless Console.

After I deleted the latter software, I got the card fully working (Bluetooth + WiFi simultaneously).

If deleting the mentioned software doesn't help. Go to asus.com > support, find your laptop/ASUS motherboard model and download and install the latest versions of the drivers/software. Note that you may still need to thereafter play around deleting some ASUS software related to wireless. There are no uniform solutions like "if you delete X, you'd get Y working" in case of ASUS. I remember a few years ago I had something not working (touchpad? can't remember what exactly) and was only able to make it work after I've installed the latest sound card drives (the sound card was completely -intuitively- unrelated to the issue I had at the time).

 

I posted this on a related thread just earlier (http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...-non-apple-laptop.777878/page-2#post-10390974)

Hi. I came across this review (http://www.hardware-boom.com/review-motherboard-asus-rampage-v-extreme-extremism-radicals/) of the Asus Rampage V Extreme Motherboard which state's this:

"Wireless card is made on the basis of the module Broadcom BCM94360HMB (badged AzureWave AW-CB160H) for Mini PCIe slot in a metal housing with connectors for external antennas. Three spatial streams supported IEEE 802.11ac aggregate bandwidth with 1300 Mbit / s, as well as Bluetooth 4.0."

That is the same card. So I headed over to Asus driver support page and I found this Beta driver for Win10 64bit: http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mi...23_5.zip?_ga=1.23577978.1524222716.1478402451

You can check the full driver page here: http://www.asus.com/uk/Motherboards/RAMPAGE_V_EXTREMEU31/HelpDesk_Download/

Let me know if this works! I also ordered one from AliExpress, waiting on it to arrive.

EDIT:

Actually, taking a look at Asus Rampage V Edition 10, I can see it is also using the AW-CB160H, and on the Asus support page they have a newer driver, Wi-Fi Driver V7.35.317.3 for Windows 10 64bit.

Direct Link: http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mi...173.zip?_ga=1.261096397.1524222716.1478402451
Support Page: http://www.asus.com/uk/Motherboards/ROG-RAMPAGE-V-EDITION-10/HelpDesk_Download/

Hardware Info: https://nl.hardware.info/reviews/68...rt-jubileum-asus-rampage-v-edition-10-vervolg

 

Update: http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...-non-apple-laptop.777878/page-2#post-10390989

 

Holy hell, I just rediscovered my own thread 3 years later after trying to find another WiFi card upgrade for my UX32VD. Time flies, and I never expected this thread to get so much attention!

If anyone's interested, my original method of installing the AC7260 still works 3 years later, and I don't think I've had any significant wifi problems since then. I definitely recall the Windows 7 drivers at first were really spotty, but now with my laptop running on Windows 8.1 connectivity has been good. The plug's outsides are still stripped and it's still held on with electrical tape, so I guess jerry rigging it was a success. I've reinstalled Windows a couple of times when I switched SSD's, so currently the driver version is 16.5.3.6.

If you still have questions feel free to ask!