T40p wifi, WPA2 capable card recommendation

[synergy]

I have an old T40p originally equipped with the 802.11 a/b mini PCI card.
I just realized that this card is not capable of doing WPA2 encryption.
I tried to find a way to update the firmware on the card but I believe I'm out of luck on that one.

I did some research on eBay for a substitute card but no seller could give me a solid answer whether their cards are capable of doing WPA2.
Many of the mini PCI wifi cards on eBay are manufactured between year 2004-5.
I don't think the WPA2 standard was available in those years yet.

One seller is selling T-Link wifi card and is a brand new (probably manufactured since last year). Is this card a good alternative to the OEM Intel or Atheros?

I intend to upgrade my system to Windows 7 if possible so the wifi driver compatiblity support would be impotant as well.

Could you recommend me a solid and newer card to look for?
Your expertise is greatly appreciated.

[ajkula66]

Welcome to the forum!

Any newer cards such as Intel 2915ABG or IBM (Atheros) abg will do what you need them to...

For the list of applicable FRUs, check under # 14 here:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... 46474.html

[synergy]

Thanks!
By the way, do you happened have any preference between Intel or IBM?
I'd like to go with what the doctor ordered.

[dr_st]

Also slightly older 2200BG works just fine with WPA2.

[sjthinkpader]

I just installed Windows 7 on a machine with intel 2200bg card. I had to search for an older Vista driver but one was available on lenovo.com. WPA2 works fine once the proper driver was loaded.

[craigmontHunter]

Windows xp sp3 has improved support for WPA2 (one of the features). My 2100b card could not connect to those networks untill I upgraded. Have not tried with 2200 BG

Good luck

[synergy]

Thank you all.

Just to be sure, the Thinkpad I own is the T40p, type 2373 G1U manufactured on March 2004. The small sticker under the PC says 23S 802.11 a/b Mac ........
I haven't disassembled the part yet but the system says the the wifi card was manufactured by Philips component and that the driver provider is also the same dating back to 12/7/2002.
I did try to update the driver but I couldn't find the better driver for it. It won't allow me to search the web for it other than the internal HD or the CD-ROM. It would be nice if I could find a driver that works for the WPA2 encryption. Is the WPA2 hardware dependent or software dependent? It'd be nice if I could do the WPA2 without resorting to buy a replacement card. I remember folks saying the WPA2 is hardware dependent and that no driver could make the very obsolete wifi card to work with the WPA2.

Since I prefer to go with the latest mini PCI wifi card possible, I checked the Intel 2915ABG on eBay and all of them are pulled from different PC vendors such as Dell, Toshiba or Sony.
Would it be compatible with my T40p as long as it says Intel 2915ABG regardless of what PC vendors it came out of? I don't really know what FRU stands for and how it applies to my application.

By the way, it seems that this particular card is not so new which dates back to 2005. Thanks to its old age, I could be able get it for under $10.
So I was just wondering, is there even newer and better wifi card money can buy for the T40p? If not, I'd be more than happy to stick with the one that's been tested and proven to work.

[ajkula66]

My personal choice on all of my ThinkPads that support internal wireless:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Atheros-802-11-a-b- ... 286.c0.m14

[synergy]

Awesome.
It does appear to be the best card for the T40p.
Thank you.

[synergy]

ajkular66,
The card you recommended has arrived.
The card was manufactured in March 2004.
I'm trying to figure out how to install the driver. The XP didn't do automatic driver download thingy.
I did try to download a driver from the site the seller has linked to but it won't allow me to download anything and doesn't even have the matching driver for it either.
Is there any solution available?

[ajkula66]

Here's the driver:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-70480

After downloading it you must go into C>Drivers>Win>Wlanath and run the setup file from there.

Hope this helps.

[synergy]

Thanks for your prompt reply.

So I did install the driver and the a/b/g card appeared successfully on the list from the system hardware device manager which it wasn't there before.
Another thing I've noticed is that the list of the available wireless networks now shows whether the particular wireless network is WPA or WPA2 compatible.

However, the problem I've encountered is that unlike the Vista, the XP won't allow me to choose WPA vs. WPA2 and TKIP vs. AES. I'm still stuck on the old wifi manual setting panel. All it allows is let me choose the simple check box for the WPA option but nothing more. There is no specific option to choose for WPA2 nor AES vs. TKIP. Hence, the card fails to connect to my home wifi router.

Another problem I've encountered is the hotkey pop up. The black wifi pop up works but while there still is a typical green highlighted switch botton that allows me to turn on and off for the Bluetooth radio setting, the switch for the Radio (WIFI) has disappeared. Instead, it displays "click to change the status" and shows no information about whether the radio is on or off but simply states 'status' and nothing more. On the other hand, I could see the blinking green "WIFI" LED status light under the LCD screen which indicates that the WIFI is enabled.

Is there an update I could download (or any other solution) from the Windows site that gives me the extensive control over the WIFI settings like that of Vista? I was expecting the XP to download the appropriate updates for it but it didn't.

[synergy]

Thanks ejkula66.
So after some tweaking, I got it to work with the wifi accesspoint.
However I still do have a problem with that stubborn hotkey wifi pop up.
Any solution available?

[sktn77a]

I had the same problem with an IBM a/b/g card in an older T40 (originally came with the Intel 2100B card). I upgraded the BIOS and all of the drivers (PM, HK, Wi-Fi, etc) and never could get Fn-F5 to work with it. Otherwise, it worked just fine, as you say yours does.

[synergy]

For me, installing Thinkpad updates from IBM made it disappear.
I had to resort to fresh installing the factory OS few times in order to get the Fn+F5 to get it right.
I can still use the F5 hotkey to pop the black radio panel up fine but somehow the wifi part got stuck with no button at all. Only the Bluetooth part works fine.
Now that I get to use more secure WPA2 wifi connection, turning off and on the wifi function really doesn't matter too much.
Maybe it's time to upgrade to Windows 7.
I wonder how the hotkeys fair well on Windows 7 environment.