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December 3rd, 2015 11:00
Compatibility of warranty replacement wireless adapter
I have the Dell Inspiron 15 500 I5558. I bought it in August this year. Since day 1 I've had problems with the wireless adapter. I've updated drivers, I've done troubleshooting with Dell, etc. The card that came with laptop is Intel AC 3160 and if you just Google Intel AC 3160, you will get several hits of users having trouble with it. My tech support was unpleasant and very long. I knew a lot more than the tech did.
He finally decided the card was bad. I said please don't send me another 3160 - there is a problem with that card. He agreed and he said he checked and the AC 7265 would be compatible with my laptop. I've seen pictures of my adapter and pictures of the AC 7265. They are both PCIe cards, but the AC 3160 has just one antenna and is half-height. The 7265 has 2 antennas and is NOT half-height. I've seen on the Dell website the NEW Dell 15 5000 comes with either the AC 3165 (I think) or the AC7265.
I know it will need to have an antenna added if they use the 7265, but will it work? Will it fit?
I realize the 3160 is half height, but that doesn't mean that there isn't space for a taller card.
DELL-Todd S
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1.8K Posts
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December 4th, 2015 09:00
Hi,
It gets confusing as you know what sometimes but Intel usually has multiple form factors of each of their wireless cards they put out. (it's really a change on the chips that change). It confuses me all the time.
I can tell you that looking at the internal product overview data for the Insp 5558 that the Intel AC7265 is one of the cards that is listed as an available option at point of sale, so you shouldn't have any problems.
I hope this helps.
Todd
ckbeme
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December 7th, 2015 08:00
Hi Todd,
Thanks for the quick reply. I did get the 7265 wireless adapter installed and my laptop had 2 antennas (even though the card that came with laptop only had one) I was really glad to see that because I was looking forward to an increase in speed - due to getting rid of a faulty card and because the 7265 is 2 antenna.
However, I've gotten very little, if any increase in speed. I've reset my router and modem, checked Intel drivers - all is well there.
But I was looking at the wireless adapter properties in control panel. I never understood what any of those settings meant, but the wireless properties most surely would need to change due to the AC 7265 card being installed.
When you right click on wireless adapter, select properties, then highlight anything in that list - then click on Configure, Advanced.... How the heck is one to know the values that belong in there? I know this is really a Windows question, but Windows 10 questions are just not getting answered by Microsoft - on support site or forums.
Do you have any idea?
Thanks.
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