I recently tried a Intel Wi-Fi 7 BE200 on an external usb4/thunderbolt enclosure: “ASMT 2462 NVME” by ugreen.
It normally takes nvme M.2 cards.
I put an M-key to E-key adapter in it, and plugged in a few different wifi cards:
Intel AX210 - Works fine. Passes wifi traffic and appears in lspci. Hot plug/unplug works.
A Mediatek wifi card - Works fine. Passes wifi traffic and appears in lspci. Hot unplug fails. Requires a reboot.
Intel BE200 - Does not crash the FW16, but just does not appear in the lspci list.
So, I think the Intel BE200 card is just not to PCIe spec or something like that.
Note: for clarity, hot plug/unplug is the plug/unplug of the usb4 cable. Not the wifi card from the e-key slot.
Just wanted to post here since I’ve had a number of people pointing me to this issue while I’m testing a BE200NGW on a Pi 5 — it seems like it shows up fine on the Raspberry Pi 5 (which isn’t even x86…), and out of the box I see it with lspci. The iwlwifi driver works, and I can load Intel’s firmware and get up to 2 Gbps through my WiFi 7 AP. Bluetooth also works on the Pi, provided you use something to pass through USB to the M.2 socket.
As far as it looks it’s mostly just not on a bunch of amd platforms. As far as I can tell it is below os level as it doesn’t even post and when plugged in later via thunderbolt it hard crashes the system with 0 logs. Maybe it’ll magically start working after some agesa update XD.
TL:DR The Framework Laptop 16 Mediatek RZ616 WiFi card is just as janky/buggy as any midrange OEM WiFi card (even Intel). While it may be fast and low latency, if you want the same speed without any bugs/jankiness, I would probably recommend swapping in an Intel AX210 WiFi card.
I hate the MediaTek RZ616 chip and I haven’t even finished setting up the laptop. I’ve been demoing the laptop and 2 out of 2 times that I’ve closed the lid and let the laptop go to S0 sleep (Windows Modern Standby) it hibernates overnight (yay, that’s what I wanted to happen and I’m glad it seems to be following this) but then when it resumes from hibernation the next day the WiFi card takes like a whole minute for it to stop saying connected without internet. (Whether or not I let it be or I turn off WiFi and turn it back on.)
The issue that occurs has nothing to do with S0 sleep (as regularly resuming from S0, opening the lid, results in perfect operation.
The issue seems to be resuming from hibernation (and I would presume it would have the same issue with resuming from S3 sleep (if I were to enable it).
I especially believe this is an issue with this crappy WiFi cars because I’ve had this issue with 2 random ACXXXX model Intel WiFi cards that came preinstalled in 2 different desktop motherboards with included WiFi. After I replaced the WiFi card in the desktop that I still needed WiFi for (the other one I have hooked up to Ethernet and WiFi just for quick share and stuff) with an Intel AX210 I NEVER had any issue with resuming or anything.
Also, I will try to report back if I do order another AX210 for this Framework Laptop 16. (I may also try the BE200 in multiple AMD systems for the fun of it.)
ChatGPT says the following in regards to this issue:
Just to clarify for anyone considering Wi-Fi 7 upgrades on the Framework 16 (AMD):
Why the Intel BE200 does not work:
The Intel BE200 uses CNVio2, which is Intel’s proprietary interface. It only works with select Intel CPUs and chipsets.
The Framework 16 (AMD) has an M.2 Key E slot that supports standard PCIe + USB, but not CNVio2.
So even though the BE200 physically fits, it doesn’t work electrically – it’s a hardware-level incompatibility, regardless of drivers.
What actually works: Intel BE202
The Intel BE202 uses standard PCIe + USB, so it’s fully compatible with the Framework 16 (AMD).
Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be)
Triple-band: 2.4 / 5 / 6 GHz
Bluetooth 5.4 (via onboard USB)
Driver: iwlwifi – included in the Linux kernel (stable from 6.7+)
Firmware: Included in the linux-firmware package
Quick comparison:
BE200 (Not compatible):
Interface: CNVio2 (Intel-only)
Works in Framework 16: No
Linux support: iwlwifi
BE202 (Compatible):
Interface: PCIe + USB (standard)
Works in Framework 16: Yes
Linux support: iwlwifi
If you’re running Linux and want full Wi-Fi 7 support now, the Intel BE202 is the safest and most compatible choice for the Framework 16 (AMD).
No seems like chatgpt has it the wrong way around, 0 at the end is pcie and everything else is cnvio and stuff. The be200 works in some other amd devices and even on a raspberry pi.
Plugging a cnvio2 card into a non intel platform also causes it to just do nothing and not hard crash the cpu. Something that the be200 does on the pcie level reeeeally offends the amd cpu somehow.
Pretty sure I taped off a lot more than that when I first tried to get it working and it crashed as long as pcie and power was untaped. Also don’t think thunderbolt tunnels those, especially not through a m.2 e-key to pcie 1x adabter card (the adapter card has the usb and i2s pins exposed separately to plug in with cables if required.)
Why the Intel BE200 does not work:
So even though the BE200 physically fits, it doesn’t work electrically – it’s a hardware-level incompatibility, regardless of drivers.
What actually works: Intel BE202