Hi got a weird issue, 3 different mini routers from cwwk and topton, 2 are brand new.
Zero detection of the Wallys MT7915 mini pcie card on any of the 3 mini routers, windows 10/11 won't see any missing or installed devices, openwrtx86 with MT7915 firmware and driver also installed and rebooted.
I know the wallys card is fine, since I can plug it into an old Asrock desktop PC and openwrtx86 finds it straight away and wireless works and so does windows 10/11 (missing pci device).
I did try to enable every pci device and bios option to "on" or "enabled" but no luck, also updated the cwwk both units with latest bios and still no detection of the card.
Does anyone else have any idea on what the issue maybe?
There is always a possibility that PCI lines are not present on the mPCIe connector.
If they are there, there is a possibility that &pcie is not enabled in the DTS. It will be useful to know which router model you are testing with.
There is no need to install drivers, you just need to run lspci.
I guess the mPCIe slots you have are limited to USB only.
You can check if there are any traces coming to pins 23,25,31,33 but keep in mind that the same pins are used for USB3. I would expect to see that these pins are not further connected on the PCB.
Sadly not sure where to begin with checking traces etc
There are a few guys with similar 4 port i226 routers (N5105/N100) (cwwk and topton) and they don't have any issue with this same wally card so it is a bit confusing.
I have got an M2 slot to mini pcie adaptor coming tomorrow, this one here
Not sure if it will work but can return it easily.
While I haven't the specs of your specific wlan card, keep in mind that these typically exceed the maximum power requirements specified for mini-PCIe/ M.2 (often 10 watts on 3.3V).
The SIM card slot in your photo does hint that the mini-PCIe port might be USB-only.
So I don't think I could just look for a mainboard or router without the sim slot, I have tried to email/pm a few wally tech card owners to find out what exact model they have but none have got back to me, from their previous post they appear to have got 4 intel nic routers. All 3 of mine are 6 intel nic routers.
Hi.
These PCI slots with SIM slot are USB only as @AndrewZ said.
I saw that kind of implementation on several mikrotik board: I use these 2: stx_lte6 and, RB912R-2nD. And gl.inet use USB bus too.
Booth of them use USB bus for 3G/Lte modem.
Get any 3g/4g module and test it on your devices.
thx, I still am unsure if 4 port cwwk or topton type routers will also use usb sim slots, since there are a few topton 4 nic owners that have working wireless cards in their mini pci-e slots.
Its perhaps something no one has compared, but in the future if I do get an 4 port nic router I will give it a test and try.
My work around was to get an: Heayzoki Mini PCIE to M.2 (NGFF) Key M Adapter, Adapter Card Mini PCIE to NGFF(M.2) Key M Network Converter for Win10/8/7/2000/ for Linux
this one here
Was very hard to search on aliexpress, amazon and ebay, since you end up with several different slots or the smaller E wireless keys, so triple check its the right connections for your nvme port and that it supports mini pci-e wireless cards.
I cut the end tab off where the gold circle part is with pre cut lines, with some scissors and now its screwed in and sits flush.
Not ideal to lose an nvme slot but the sata port is there and so is usb for storage.
Wireless is now working, if I do ever get an 4 nic router I will test it if it has an compatible working slot for mini pci wireless cards or if its just for usb 3g/4g modems.
What does it mean "mini-PCIe port might be USB-only"
I have a cwwk mini computer x86 i7-1165G7 TigerLake and I am having the same issue: MIni-PCIe wireless card is not listed on lspci but it is strange because the i7 definitely has enough PCI lines for the port. Perhaps it is something different?
The Mini-PCIe slot is designed to carry PCIe and USB signal lines, ideally those are both connected, but you will often find boards that carry only one or the other. Especially if the slot is intended for LTE/ 4g/ 5g modems, it often lacks the PCIe lanes and carries only USB signals (cheaper to design, less traces on the PCB); if the board in question has a SIM card slot, chances are that this is the case.
Even if that isn't the case, the board might not provide enough current on the 3.3V rail of the Mini-PCIe slot, as 802.11ac and even more 802.11ax WLAN cards are drawing over 3A on 3.3V (which is beyond specs and also poses a cooling problem).
Any alternative to make the mini-PCIe wireless card like MT796N AW7916-NPD AX300 to work on that mSATA port? or it is actually dead if it is already connected since it is different signals? it is quite hot to the touch.
Perhaps using the M.2 port that also this motherboard has. Thanks.
