For the wireless card - you can still turn off the radio from the software.. (just not using the hardware switch..)

-mark

This doesn't appear to be the case for my WAN card. At least not from within linux the way I used to disable the radio.

Hrm, I can actually get it to powerdown with an AT command, but then it resets itself, will look further into this.

Edit: giving the modem AT+CFUN=0 puts it in low power mode and turns off the radio. This seems good enough for me, as it disconnects it from the network and turns the led off. Much better for battery life.

I managed to get past the crashes I had w/ the gigabyte client utility. Had to remove the thinkpad wireless drivers, and access connections - then re-install the gigabyte drivers/utility.. works great now.
-mark

Short101 do you think there is a way to find a lenovo firmware and flash it on your card ?

It already exist for another card (MC5725 or something like this at vodafone). It would be as hard as it was to do what zender did I think ... :p

Switchcorp, I have checked for firmware for this card, there hasn't been an update since the card was released, so there is no firmware that I can find on the net for it. I think my problem is actually hardware related than software, but turning the radio off with an AT command is good enough of a workaround I think. Considering the cost of the card is about a third of an IBM fru (and not locked), I am more than happy to live with the thing as it is.

Yep for sure ... now people can buy Lenovo branded but unlocked wwan for X61(T) at 260 € ... it's an impressive price just to have a led and a power switch

Some news from my side :

I've flashed my bios today under Windows because i couldn't boot with a cd !

The bios works like a charm ... but now i need a new antenna (i've one but if i don't put it behind the screen my network is very low ... too much low ).

I have figured out how to enable/disable it quickly ... you just have to create a shortcut of your network connection on your desktop ... right click on it and choose disable ... and a simple click on it to re enable it !

No problem at all after suspending/hibernating BUT it's a USB device ... and it's being re detected after each hibernation .. it's a bit boring

Another point is that it's sucking out all my battery power. I consume around 20W/h

Zender you're a great man

Yes, WWAN cards are mostly USB devices. Regarding the battery drain, please check you're not affected by this problem.

I got a 3rd antenna for my setup from here -
http://www.oxfordtec.com/us/Wireless-An ... index.html

seems to work fine..
(my card is from here too..)
-mark

I've already another antenna andI put it on the pcmcia cage but the network reception is very poor ! Now i've taken back the third wifi N antenna from my atheros to put it on my wwan and I have nearly the maximum network (with my wwan in the modem USB i had full network).

I think that i'll buy the spare parts to change the lcd housing of my X61T to the housing with wwan antenna because I want my third antenna back for the wifi :p

Maybe will i try with my spare antenna fixed in the lcd housing ...

What does influence the reception ? antenna or db signal of the wwan card ?


For the power consumption i'm under vista ... but i'll see during the next days what happens

For everyone I've sent a BIOS modification to: please keep an eye for anything that might have changed about the behaviour of your machine.

I've been reported by short101 that when using the modified BIOS, his hardddrive seemed to "click" every ~7 seconds. Not sure if just reading/writing or more like parking heads. He's using linux and also said that he couldn't tell whether it also occurs in Windows, as they keep accessing the drive all the time.
Actually I don't see any possible reason for such behaviour, because the rest of the BIOS is untouched, but still, please try to observe your machines.

Thank you.

Tell him to activate laptop-mode so he can control the spindown time.

I've a fresh install of Vista so it's indexing all my files ... but i'll leave it on and look later

My computer was up all the morning and when i came back the hdd was idle !

It seems that i don't have the problem ...

Hi folks

Modified BIOS has been tested successfully on four T60, one X61t and one R32. It's been five days since first T60 was flashed, nine since R32, and everything works as expected. I consider the problem solved. These machines allow any WWAN/WLAN card to be inserted and won't complain with 1802 or 1804 error.

I've invested a lot of time in it and have to take care of my other tasks too now, so maybe next week, I'll create a tool to modify the BIOS image and share it with others. Ideally, you'll have just to take .FL1 file from the BIOS update, run it through the program and put the modified file back to the CD, perhaps using MagicISO (as I've done).

I have working BIOS images for T60, X61t and also R32, you can ask for these in the meantime (PM). X60 needs a change in module size, so that will come later after I do some more testing.

I would like to thank everyone who has helped, specifically bonnem, for allowing me to do a proof-of-concept changes to the BIOS on his T30, Jumme for being the first tester with machine in daily use, maimbourg for bearing with my inability to calculate checksum and short101 for a nice talk and information about generic MC8775.

Mission accomplished.

Zender is our hero.

Based on what I saw in the BIOS binary, I am optimistic that 1805 error will also go away - for people who are interested in built-in wireless USB.

Hey guys,

I just received a refubished T61 but for whatever reason it didnt inlude a wireless card ( even after the sales rep said it did when i called to place the order). Anyway I ordered an Intel 4965 from another vendor and of course when i installed the card I got Thinkpad error 1802....Do any of your fixes include the T61? Much help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Zender...Wow, awesome!! I have a T60p, and would naturally be interested in your BIOS hack.

Zender....Yes absolutely awesome!!! I also have a T60p and would like to add the Intel 4965 abgn wireless card.

Thank you!

Zender,
Hats off to you! Finally I have configured my T60P to work with the 4965 card with the pin 20 "fix" applied to it. I added a smallish third antenna to the card and it seems to be flying along at 230Mbps in conjunction with my WRT 600N. My only concern is for the future when Lenovo issues its next BIOS upgrade. I guess your statement " Ideally, you'll have just to take .FL1 file from the BIOS update, run it through the program and put the modified file back to the CD, perhaps using MagicISO (as I've done). " addresses this;
Jay

Was this a Leneovo OEM 4965 AGN, and if so does Fn+F5 etc work with it, or was it a generic Intel 4965 AGN?

Cheers,

Bill B.

Nope not OEM- got it from amazon. And fn F 5 works fine.

Jay

ok, I was about to try the blocking pin 20 for expresscard from a previous post. But I decided to put it into the second slot (to the right) and it boot without any errors. It installed and sees the card as 4965AGN (Is from DELL) but cant seem to find any wifi??? I didnt have to block any pins on the second slot. First slot didnt worked blocking pin 20.

Hi Atrix,
I didn't notice any vacant slots on my T60P. Connection 20 is the second one on the underside after the notch; you can refer to the following pdf file, page 12. http://rm-f.net/~orange/devel/specifica ... cem_10.pdf
This connection is for disabling the card via a signal to that pin with a lack of the signal being the "enable state"

Even after I had installed the card, and it was recognized under device manager etc, I had to configure it in access connections/windows wireless configuration- it took a few amateur attempts on my part to get everything working. Once the pin has been taped off, the wireless card power led should show up at boot up and also respond to the software turn on/turn off command via access connections.

Jay

opps got a little offtrack I actually have a X61. hehe sry....

I followed zender post from: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=44451&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=1802&start=60

Update: I successfully got my 4965AGN working on my x61 with the Blocking Pin20. Only thing I noticed is that the WIFI light remains off. WOO WOO..... I am using the second slot since X61 has two. The First one is still in debate???

thanks

Atrix, did I understand you correctly that you were able to get Dell's 4965AGN working in your X61 without applying the BIOS fix but simply taping over pin 20 on the mini-pcie connector?

I have a T60 widescreen and an Intel branded 4965AGN card. The great Zender has provided a BIOS for my model which I have already installed (first I had to downgrade my 1.12 bios by installing an older version from IBM) and worked fine. I'm running Vista Ultimate SP1 RTM and installed the latest intel driver and all is fine. But the wireless radio is off on the card and I cannot get it to enable. My laptop has 3 antennas from factory so I am assuming I already have all the antennas I need. I guess I need to block pin 20, you have the same card correct? How did you do it, the pins are very small and it looks rather difficult to just block 1 pin. By any chance are you also able to provide a pic? Thanks for your help.

Thanks in advance for your help.

-Manny

I won't know if the unsupported card works until later tonight but I can confirm for everyone that Zender's bios properly flashes a t61p with no adverse effects seen here.