Making internal Atheros wiFi adapter external.

[PatrickBatman]

Hello,

I recently bought a mini PCI-e mPCI express Wireless to USB adapter Wireless card (w/SIM) hoping to plug my Atheros AR9285 802.11b/g/n wifi adapter into it so I could make it more portable to get a better signal. Nothing happened prolly because there's no drivers for it.

I know nothing about wireless adapters so Im sure im missing something. I just basically want to turn my internal wifi into external USB and need a help. All i bought was this Mini PCI-e mPCI Express Wireless to USB Adapter Wireless Card With SIM Card Slot - Newegg.com (Someone ive known online for awhile suggested it but i may not even need this)

After doing a little research it seems this works with WWAN which i think is like 3g/4g cell phone stuff. But to reiterate all i want to do is turn my internal Atheros wifi adapter into external be it USB or whatever.

 

[paul1149]

Why wouldn't you simply buy a USB network adapter?

 

[manish9009]

send a screenshot of device Manager.. does the device show in device manager ?/

 

[strollin]

Why wouldn't you simply buy a USB network adapter?

Yes. This is the simplest solution. A USB wifi dongle isn't very expensive, here's a bunch to choose from: Networking, Wireless Networking, Wireless Adapters, USB 2.0 - Newegg.com

 

[PatrickBatman]

I knew thats the first thing people would say ('cause it's the most obvious). I already have a USB network adapter. Reason: tons more options usb network adapter doesnt have these options.

send a screenshot of device Manager.. does the device show in device manager ?/

Windows doesn't detect it at all (w/ or w/o atheros plugged into it) I didnt install drivers because it didn't come with any plus i thought it just needed the Atheros drivers which of course are already installed. Windows detects all other USb i throw at it and has for 4 years now, so its the device I don't know how to use it and can't find any documentation for it online really.

However the atheros uses antennas of course but i dont see anywhere where this usb adapter will use antennas (im not saying it doesnt, just not good with this product). Regardless if i can use this thing or not, I want to know what its for/how its used so i know if to send it back, plus for future reference.

 

[strollin]

I knew thats the first thing people would say ('cause it's the most obvious). I already have a USB network adapter. Reason: tons more options usb network adapter doesnt have these options.

send a screenshot of device Manager.. does the device show in device manager ?/

Windows doesn't detect it at all (w/ or w/o atheros plugged into it) I didnt install drivers because it didn't come with any plus i thought it just needed the Atheros drivers which of course are already installed. Windows detects all other USb i throw at it and has for 4 years now, so its the device I don't know how to use it and can't find any documentation for it online really.

However the atheros uses antennas of course but i dont see anywhere where this usb adapter will use antennas (im not saying it doesnt, just not good with this product). Regardless if i can use this thing or not, I want to know what its for/how its used so i know if to send it back, plus for future reference.

What are some of these "tons more options usb network adapter doesnt have"? I've used both internal and external wifi adapters for years and have found no difference in the options available to them. As far as I know, the only real differences are that the external uses 1 of your USB ports and requires plugging/unplugging when packing up the laptop into a laptop carrying bag. You are completely negating those differences by making the Atheros adapter external.

If you plug the Atheros wifi adapter into the USB adapter, the antennas would still connect to the Atheros card. The antenna leads for the Atheros adapter are probably built-in to the lid of the laptop so you will need to provide other antennas.

 

[PatrickBatman]

Settings that can be changed with internal adapter and not usb (my usb anyway. If there's a wireless usb that can change these let me know.)
802.11b preamble
AdHoc 11n
Network Address
Recieve Buffers
Scan Valid Interval
Transmit Buffers
et etc

Are some to name a few. If you can't answer my original question without asking extraneous questions that won't help answering the original question then don't respond. If you would like to know more about the differences in options use a search engine (I am not one).

Sorry if I come sounding like a jerk. But i see this happen all the time. Someone can't answer the question (or just wont) and instead asks questions like, "why do you need to do this? or why don't you just use this?" Hire a PI if you want to know more about why i do things. I said I have a usb adapter and it wont work for my needs. I was then asked why I answered that as well. More options. Now you're wanting to know what options. And here I was thinking I was the one that was asking a question. I've had none answered and have answered 3 or 4 now.

So again how to make an internal Atheros wifi card to be used externally via usb (or anything else that works) for maneuverability/signal strength and convenience. OR a usb network adapter that has all or most of the options I mentioned above.

 

[Layback Bear]

Members ask questions to better understand what you are trying to do and your reasoning for such a task.
That might allow another member to give better guidance to reach your goal.
Out of over a quarter of a million members someone just might have a better method to get you what you are trying to do.
I can see that our free help is not required in my opinion to help you.

We can't help you with out your help.

Have a nice day.

 

[strollin]

Since you can't tolerate anyone asking additional questions then I suggest you use a search engine to find your answer. It won't ask any questions of you.

A forum is for interaction, if you aren't interested in interaction then a forum is not the right place for you.

 

[PatrickBatman]

I know. I've been answering questions, most of which were non-sequitur. Question like what kind of adapter is this, the model #, does it have this on it, etc are reasonable questions that are sequitur. Questions about me as a person like why am I doing this have no baring.

This is a pretty straight forward can you do this question and how. Anyway I found my answer on my own no thanks to this place, as usual. Don't get me wrong, there are some smart people on here, that's why I asked for help here but they didn't respond this time around, because they were smart enough to know not to respond if they didn't have the answer rather than wasting time.

And still the focus is on me and not my question/problem. This is why I general don't use forums in the first place unless I'm mod/admin them myself. So much time wasted.

Thanks anyway

Oh sorry I hate when people do this (solving my own problem but not leaving the solution I used), hence the edit and I don't want to be that guy. A dual band long range antenna, repeater, extender seems to be the best option. DUAL BAND is important so there isn't as much signal lose as a single band.