Dell Truemobile 1150 wireless on T40 2373-7CU: HowTo?

[hydrostarr]

I have a T40 2373-7CU (WinXP Pro SP2) that claims to have a Dell Truemobile 1150 wireless ethernet miniPCI card in it (according to Device Manager et al). System sees proper networks at "View Available Wireless Networks." But I can't connect to any network (and yes, I've connected to one of said SSIDs before with other machines, including the T41 mentioned below, so I know they can work and I know I have the right WPA key...but I couldn't get to the point of entering the key: "Windows is unable to connect to selected network...").

Fn-F5 yields "IBM Adapters ... are not installed on this system."

What driver/gizmo/software do I need to install to get this to work...assuming this system combo *can* work?

Some background:

I previously had a T41 2378-DHU that, after 5.5 years, has finally died on me, seemingly for good this time. I bought this T40 2373-7CU a while back anticipating this death. So I simply moved my disk drive and memory from my T41 to my T40 (which actually has a slightly faster CPU), and everything is working well...except for my wireless ethernet.

Thanks for any help,
-Matt

[hydrostarr]

I forgot to mention: the wireless-ethernet indicator does not illuminate, even when it's detecting wireless networks.

[uux]

I have a Dell TrueMobile 1150 that I used in a X31. Yes, for those curious, it passes the BIOS whitelist (no hack needed). It's a Orinoco/Lucent/Agere WaveLAN based on the Hermes 1 chipset. These did not originally support WPA. Agere released firmware updates a few years ago to add support to these cards. You should check Dell's support site for update drivers and firmware.

If you still have your T41, you might want to look into swapping the wireless lan card over to your T40 instead. It's just under the palm rest and is a pretty easy swap.

edit:
Oh, and the wireless LED won't work with the Dell card. IIRC, it doesn't provided the signal needed for the LED.

[hydrostarr]

Update: I was able to connect to a non-secured (WEP/WAP) wireless ethernet today (internet worked via email, web).

So I guess the basic problems remain:

* How to connect to WAP/WEP/secure wireless ethernets?
* How to enable the Fn-F5 function to enable/disable my wireless access?
* How to get the wireless-ethernet light indicator (on the indicator row at the bottom of my screen) to work?

I did try a couple different drivers/utils here, without solving above problems:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... 8#wireless

Also downloaded a couple versions of Dell Truemobile 1150 driver/util for dell laptops without success.

Any thoughts?

[hydrostarr]

Thanks uux. (Our posts crossed paths.) I'll try moving the card from my T41 to my T40.

I have a Dell TrueMobile 1150 that I used in a X31. Yes, for those curious, it passes the BIOS whitelist (no hack needed). It's a Orinoco/Lucent/Agere WaveLAN based on the Hermes 1 chipset. These did not originally support WPA. Agere released firmware updates a few years ago to add support to these cards. You should check Dell's support site for update drivers and firmware.

If you still have your T41, you might want to look into swapping the wireless lan card over to your T40 instead. It's just under the palm rest and is a pretty easy swap.

[uux]

* How to enable the Fn-F5 function to enable/disable my wireless access?
* How to get the wireless-ethernet light indicator (on the indicator row at the bottom of my screen) to work?

The Dell card is actually wireless chip on a PCMCIA<->PCI bridge, and not a direct PCI connection. I'm not sure if there is any amount of hackery that could get those functions working with it.

[RealBlackStuff]

You won't get the wifi-led working unless it's an IBM card.
Fn-F5 will probably also only work with an IBM card.

[sktn77a]

I had similar problems in my old T40 (2373-72U) with an IBM/Atheros 11ABG Wireless II card from a T43. It was recognized in the BIOS and Device Manager and eventually worked with the right driver. But the wireless light and FnF5 never worked. Try updating the power manager, OSD and driver to the latest versions. Didn't work for me but appeared to work for some others. Also, the WPA firmware update for the card sounds like it is needed.