Vista and T42 and a/b/g

[ZPrime]

I've been using an original Aetheros a/b/g minipci card on my t42p since I built it. (FRU 91P7301)

In Vista, IBM came out with drivers that support all of the aetheros cards, EXCEPT the original a/b/g minipci. It supports the "abg II" version but not the normal.

Because of this, with the aetheros card, I can't use the fn+f5 utility to en/disable my wireless in Vista. Since T4x units don't have a switch to turn off wireless, I have to dig around in control panels to disable it if I want to save power.

The Intel cards, OTOH, are supported in Vista with the fn+f5. I grabbed a 2915 abg and threw it in... and got the stupid 1802 error. a few minutes, a USB flash drive, and the "no-1802.com" utility and I was booting again with the Intel card installed. (I figured an Intel card would be accepted because it'd then be "Centrino" but I guess not.)

So anyway, I get it up in Vista with the Intel card, throw in the new drivers, and voila, fn+f5 works. But my farking wireless LED doesn't light/blink now! Is this because I bought a non-IBM version of the Intel card? I can return the card I have now and found an IBM-certified one for a similar price so I can swap if anyone thinks that's the cause for my lack-of-LED...

Any ideas? Would it be possible to somehow hack the aetheros drivers to make my IBM card work with fn+f5? (I don't mind going back to it, I just want all the stuff to work - LED and hotkeys.)

[_erazor_]

I have (well, I had!) the same problem with my T42p and the Version I of the a/b/g card.

You can "force" the drivers for the "II" card on your card. They work flawlessly in Vista.

Just force Vista to install that driver, it will warn you that it`s not the right driver for the hardware, but it works nicely nonetheless.

I am running Vista and that WLAN card like this for some days already, without a hitch.

I am glad that I could (most likely) help you

[justin412]

Yup, because you're using a non-IBM card, the light won't work. I had the same problem with a 2200BG card that someone installed in my thinkpad before I got it. I found an IBM certified 2915 on ebay and once I installed it, the light started working again.

[ZPrime]

I have (well, I had!) the same problem with my T42p and the Version I of the a/b/g card.

You can "force" the drivers for the "II" card on your card. They work flawlessly in Vista.

Just force Vista to install that driver, it will warn you that it`s not the right driver for the hardware, but it works nicely nonetheless.

I am running Vista and that WLAN card like this for some days already, without a hitch.

When I forced the "II" drivers, I lost my A / 5.8ghz connectivity. Did you test it? Many people don't even have A nearby so they wouldn't notice it...

That said, I'm not married to the Aetheros wireless. Originally it was supposed to be the best for range & netstumbler, but netstumbler these days sucks with it, and Intel's wireless drivers have gotten really good. I'm going to grab an IBM-certified Intel card and just run with that.

[_erazor_]

no I did not test the "A"-capability because I don`t have such networks, just as you guessed.

so for me it fixed the problem sorry that it didn`t help you

[zverg]

Hmm, my ABG atheros card works.. I didn't know it was a II

[ZPrime]

windows update has drivers for the "non-II" version of the card that it will auto-download when it realizes that it can't understand your card.

However, these drivers don't work with access connections and/or the hotkey controls (fn + f5) - it can't properly read status of the card and disable the radio.

as erazor mentioned, you can force the IBM-certified drivers to work with the non-II card, but when I did this I lost my A/5.8ghz radio. I use both bands (I bought an a/b/g for a reason!) and so this isn't a viable work-around for me.