Thinkpads Forum

Is it possible to flash an official IBM Firmware on a Atheros based miniPCI wifi card?

The card is working right now, in my T40, but the wifi led and the Fn+F5 combination isn't working.

Is it possible to flash the firmware from an IBM WiFi card (also Atheros) on my Atheros based card, so i can restore the 1802 patch (enable it, like default on IBM ThinkPad) and my let WiFi led and Fn+F5 function again.


Or maybe something which can modify the PCI ID or something?

Thank you

It is much easier to modify the INI file for the drivers to falsely recognise the card as a proper IBM one. However, you must also make sure it is wired exactly the same as a real IBM one if you want the LED and Fn+F5 to work properly.

I tried this with a non-IBM Atheros card that had the correct PCI ID. The IBM drivers installed properly but upon bootup the computer hung as soon as the wireless LED came on. After some investigation with a multimeter and an oscilloscope, I found that the line (it is a Mini-PCI auxiliary control line) that the Thinkpad uses to control the LED actually was shutting the card down. I re-routed the wiring on the Mini-PCI card but it still did not fix the situation - the drivers still hung the machine on bootup.

I gave up in the end and bought a Thinkpad Mini-PCI Wireless Card II, with the Atheros chipset. Works well, can't complain but I did pay a reasonable amount of money for it (NZD$101) as I bought it new off the Lenovo web site.

In conclusion: it may be more difficult than just re-programming the PCI ID. However, if you can re-flash the firmware, it may work.