Talk:Atheros AR9271

AR9271-AL1A / AR9271L-AL3A chip versions

 * The first part of the name is the chip model (AR9271 or AR9271L). In the case of this specific chip name (AR9271L), 'The L stands for "Low-Cost".', per Sujith on ath9k-devel
 * The second part of the name is the package type, Lead-Free, major and minor mask revision. For example AL3A is the 3rd major chip revision. Major revisions are for bug fixes or new features requiring complete new masks (as opposed to minor revision which could be just a partial metal mask change). In the second part of the name, 'L' denotes Lead-Free package.

MIMO / Diversity nomenclature
Per the AR9271 datasheet (.. it may not be the best idea to link directly to that), a secondary antenna for Rx will use antenna diversity - there is only a single independent receiver. Current wiki convention is to ignore diversity configurations (even if implemented on-chip)
 * --M86 (talk) 03:23, 3 February 2014 (EST)

Windows Drivers
Please note: Windows drivers for AR9271 and AR7010 or AR7015 + AR9280 or AR9287 (in combinations) ARE the SAME. Furthermore Atheros doesn't include USB related drivers to the widely spread PCI-Ex related driver packages. So there is a big problem to find latest drivers for these chipsets. As usual Atheros doesn't maintain end user driver on his website (now qualcomm) As usual Atheros f...s off all requests to the device mfrs As usual Device mfrs have no clue and wish to update anything once they sold their BS As usual USB connected high bandwidth devices lead to the high CPU load As usual this lead to driver/HW hangs, BSODs and other nice things As usual Atheros driver versions varies from 2.x to 10.x, so non familiar user's head goes off on what to DL.

For a long time v2.0.0.62 stored on WikiDevi server (and most mfrs servers) was latest available to the people It include drivers: WinXP v7.0.0.102, WinVista 8.0.0.84 and Win7 2.0.0.62

Good news for all the us, I've found 2 newer versions of original (non-custom) driver and ACU versions on the ECS website. v7.0.0.102 lead to hang TP-Link TL-WN822n Ver2 (AR7010+AR9287) in my systems, not so frequently but once a day or once a week, depending on the net/CPU load I've just installed latest v7.0.0.105 for XP and it works fine for a few hours. I will look will it reduce hangs or not.

Below is full package description and links for new versions:

Atheros AR9271 Wireless Network Adapter Version	v10.0.0.20 Release Date	2012/10/15 File Size	82.2MB Download from ECS mirrors - http://download.ecs.com.tw/dlfileecs/driver/mb/wlan/wlan_4.3I_Atheros.zip - http://download.ecsusa.com/dlfileecs/driver/mb/wlan/wlan_4.3I_Atheros.zip - http://download.ecs.com.cn/dlfileecs/driver/mb/wlan/wlan_4.3I_Atheros.zip

Please Look inside and don't be confused by folder names!

Folder Win7XP - WinXP x86/x64 v7.7.0.104 (10/12/2011) - Vista x86/x64 v8.0.0.87 (11/17/2011) - Win7 x86/x64 v2.0.0.64  (10/06/2011) - Atheros Client Utility v8.0.0.181 (Oct 2010)

Folder Win8 - WinXP x86/x64 v7.7.0.105 (12/27/2011) - Vista x86/x64 v8.0.0.87 (11/17/2011) - Win7 x86/x64 v2.0.0.64  (10/06/2011) - Win8 x86/x64 v10.0.0.20 (10/15/2012) - Atheros Client Utility v8.0.0.269 (Nov 2012)

Includes Original (non-custom) Atheros Client Utility Please also note, that ACU setup has own copy of driver files inside the cabs, so if you prefer to install by setup folders with separate drivers are no necessary to carry on with On other hand, people who needn't heavy 40Mb ACU may get only drivers and use Windows built in WLAN util.

Please once more note that Windows drivers for AR9170 USB controller are different and not suitable for AR9271 (AR701x) and vice versa.

To admin! Please backup drivers to your site and link for particular adapters if possible, so ppl will get good service.

Good luck! - TheDrive