Ralink RT3290 not "seeing" 5GHz networks (802.11n)

[angry_mark]

I just bought a HP Pavilion 17 Notebook PC (product number F9M00UAR#ABA) with win 8.1 x 64 installed and the wireless card will not "see" any 802.11n networks.  The installed driver is 5.0.37.0 with a date of 11/25/2013. 

I've seen issues with upgrades to 8.1 affecting the adapter, but nothing about it not functioning properly out of the box on a new WIN 8.1 machine.  Can anyone offer suggestions on how to force it to see 802.11n?

Thanks,

Mark

[redlofredlof]

try installing the latest driver from the Vendor website

http://www.mediatek.com/en/downloads/pciert2790rt309xrt35x2rt539xrt3290mt7630/

Please perform a backup and system restore point before proceeding with this driver update.

[angry_mark]

Thanks for the quick reply!  I updated the driver (now 5.0.46.0).

Unfortunately, I'm still not able to "see" the 802.11n network.  My other laptops and devices are on the 802.11n rock solid, but this laptop adapter won't even find it in the available network list.

[redlofredlof]

How about your router, have to tried to check your router config?

You can enable 2.4Ghz in the router to have the PC connect to it.

However, this is router specific.

[angry_mark]

I have both 802.11 b/g and 802.11n running on my newtork.  The laptop will connect to the 2.4ghz SSID, but still will not detect any 802.11n networks (again, my 802.11n network IS up and running, and I am not blocking this laptop from connecting).

Mark

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi:

The RT3290 WLAN card is only a single band (2.4 GHz) card.  It cannot find the 5.0 GHz band.

Anytime you see a suffix of bgn on a wireless card description, that means it is a single band (2.4 GHz) only card.

Wireless N cards whose suffixes end in abgn or agn are dual band (2.4 GHz/5.0 GHz) cards.

[angry_mark]

Thanks!  I'll go slam my head against a different wall now!

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

I didn't want to see you expend any more effort on that.

[AdamV1]

I know this is a bit old but is there a way to upgrade this without using a usb network adapter?

[Paul_Tikkanen]

That depends on how new your notebook is.

If it was made within the last year or so, you can install any wireless card you want, provided you have an Intel chipset/processor based notebook, and it has two wireless antenna connections.

If your notebook is an AMD chipset/processor based notebook with two wireless antenna connections, then you can install any model wireless card you want except ones made by Intel.

If your notebook is older than say, mid-2013, then it will probably not be possible to replace the wireless card except by the ones listed in the service manual for your particular notebook model.