T42 / Intel WM3B2100 and WPA2

[Norway Pad]

A quick question for you guys: Is the T42 wireless card in the topic, Intel, model WM3B2100 compatible with WPA2 encryption? I now experience the same problem as I once did with my T30s when I tried to use them with WPA2 instead of WEP. I assumed the newer T42 would have a compatible card, so I am asking here before I go ahead and purchase a different card.

Thanks!

[DRobinson]

So, in answering this I may need to eat humble pie.

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=108688

In this thread I said that wireless B would not support wpa2 (and as far as i ever knew they don't). But, it appears that transfer rate and encryption are not tied. Just that once WPA2 was comming about, most cards were b/g cards.

I have tried the card you list on a linux box and have connected to my wpa2 access point succesfully. It is psk, not an enterprise setup. But, the b card did work. ymmv with another os than I was running, but i think the answer is "yes, this card can do wpa2."

[Norway Pad]

Some older 802.11b cards definitely don't support WPA2, as I know I have had the same issue with both my T30s, and a friend's T30. In all these machines I swapped the cards, and they worked. It is interesting to see that this specific card works with Linux, while it seems to be various experiences with XP.

So I have some facts:

• - The wireless worked when I used it with WEP, and no changes has been made since. I can change encryption to WEP here at home just to try, but then I probably need to reassociate a bunch of devices, so I rather avoid that.

• - I have XP SP3

• - There seem to be various experiences with the 802.11b cards in general and WPA2

Based on this, my assumption is that it simply doesn't work in my case, and the easiest fix is to purchase a different wireless card. The card I bought for all the T30s was this card: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Gateway-MA2-Lap ... 33787f4600 Any views on that? Is there another, better card?

In order to use these cards in the T30s, I needed to apply the non-1802 hack. But from what I know, the same hack can be used on the T42(?)

[RealBlackStuff]

There's a flood of Intel 2200BG around, that will usually work better than the Broadcom cards.
They are cheaper, have better support/drivers and -if IBM branded- don't need the NO-1802.
NO-1802 can be applied to any machine lower in Series/Type than T43, R52 and X41.

[Norway Pad]

Thanks for the input, good to know. Don't know why I started buying those Broadcom cards in the first place, but they have worked well in the T30s.

Anyway, if it saves me the hassle of the Non-1802, I might as well just buy an IBM branded Intel card. I found a card from a T43, I assume that shouldn't make any difference. http://www.ebay.com/itm/IBM-27K9934-Wif ... 416fcef002 UK seller, which gives me the card a little quicker than US and particularly China sellers..

[RealBlackStuff]

Card-origin is irrelevant.
Get yourself a USB floppy drive. They come in handy all the time, e.g. for updating BIOS on older machines.
Make a DOS-bootable floppy disk and copy no-1802.com onto it. Voila, takes one boot, apply hack, done till next time.
Don't forget that if you update the BIOS, you also need to re-apply the hack.

[DRobinson]

Don't forget that if you update the BIOS, you also need to re-apply the hack.

That is, "unless your flashed bios is modded to ignore whitelist."

I used the no-1802.iso and it worked well. But, it was just as easy to flash with a modded bios. If I ever get rid of the machine, future owner will not have to troubleshoot if/when cmos battery needs replaced.

The dos flash drive is a great thing to have around. Doesn't take much, I am using a 256MB one, and it is overkill for what it needs to hold.

[RealBlackStuff]

That is, "unless your flashed bios is modded to ignore whitelist."

Not true.
Unless your 'new' BIOS also has the whitelist removed, flashing a new BIOS will undo previous hacks.

Please don't try to confuse the issue with non-relevant info for this particular thread.
T42 and older do not need any "whitelists removed" BIOS.

[Norway Pad]

I have a bunch of floppy drives, ultrabay, USB and others. All IBM labeled. Still useful to transfering content to my older 3xxs, and not to mention BIOS tasks. But for the 1802 hack, I actually put that on a cd, as I wasn't aware of the floppy version.

For the BIOS, that is another subject, like RBS says. And as long as there are no issues with the present version, or any advantages from a newer version, I rarely update the BIOS.

[RealBlackStuff]

You can download it here: http://www.vincentkong.com/wp-content/u ... no1802.com