T23 ethernet question...

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james79s · #1 Post by **james79s** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 1:08 am

Hi guys, I am having some trouble here, and I was wondeirng if anybody could help me shed some light on this...

I just got this T23 up and running, and I am having some trouble with the ethernet connection. Although Windows recognizes the card, and all the latest software is installed, when I plug in the network cable, nothing happens. No lights flash on the back, and the connection is not recognized.

Has anybody seen this before? Any fix? Would the problem be the network card itself or could it be a faulty socket? I know the network cable I am trying is good, as it is currently connected to another computer on the network.

Thanks in advance for your help....

James

#2 Post by **rkawakami** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 1:47 am

If Windows sees the ethernet card and has loaded all of the proper drivers, then the problem could be anywhere from the RJ-45 jack to the ethernet daughter card. Could be a bad jack (bent pins, broken solder connection to I/O board), a loose connection between the I/O board and motherboard, a disconnected ribbon cable or the ethernet daughter card itself. You can look inside the RJ-45 jack and check the pins for proper alignment. If you can take the keyboard off, push down lightly on the motherboard just to the right of where the fan wires come out from the heat sink. That's where the connector is between the motherboard and I/O board. To get to where the ribbon cable from the ethernet card attaches to the motherboard, you have to take the entire motherboard out of the case. You could also try swapping out the ethernet card in case something is wrong with the pins on the edge connector.

james79s · #3 Post by **james79s** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 2:58 am

Thanks.... I just finished taking the whole thing apart (all the way down to removing the MB) and put it back together with no luck. Everything looked OK to me....

If it is the jack itself, is there anything I can do about that, or am I SOL?

I am going to try another card that I know is working and see if that helps.

James

#4 Post by **rkawakami** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 3:04 am

The RJ-45 ethernet jack is soldered to the I/O board. If you are convinced that the problem is with the jack and you are handy with a soldering iron, it is possible to replace it. The one slight problem is locating a replacement jack. It's not impossible, but it might take a day or so for me to find a source. It may be easier (and cheaper in the long run) to simply find an I/O board and replace the whole thing. However, that would probably be the last thing I would do. As you suggest, try swapping the ethernet card first.

james79s · #5 Post by **james79s** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 3:15 am

Considering that the lights don't even come on when I plug in the ethernet cable, does it sound to you like more of a jack problem or could it still be anything?

Thanks for all your help...

James

#6 Post by **rkawakami** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 4:21 am

Could be any one of the connections between the jack and the plug that goes into the ethernet daughter card (if not the card itself). Kinda hard to say for sure exactly where the problem is. With this kind of issue you have to start substituting known good pieces in order to isolate exactly where your failure is. As far as we know, the schematics for these Thinkpads do not exist outside of IBM/Lenovo's walls, so even if you have the test equipment (multimeters and/or oscilloscopes), you can't really know what to look for.

I have removed a dead T23 motherboard and I/O card and keep it on hand when referring to problems like yours. Starting from the connector that plugs into the ethernet card, the thin ribbon cable takes a 90 degree bend. The problem could be there. A rip or tear in the cable can be causing the failure. The ribbon cable exits the MiniPCI area just above the fan opening and plugs into the I/O card. It is held there by tape so it shouldn't have worked itself loose, but you never know. From there it appears the signals go to the RJ-45 jack but could also go up through a connector to the motherboard. Without taking some time to do a circuit trace analysis, I can't say for sure one way or the other. In any event, there's also a couple of chip capacitors near the RJ-45 jack. Are they involved? Don't know but it's certainly possible. Assuming that one of these tiny chip caps are bad, you have three problems:

- You don't know the value of the capacitor
- Even if you knew the value of the capacitor, you have to find another one
- Assuming you solve the first two problems, you then have to be able to remove and replace these parts

That's why, generally, it's easier to replace the whole board and not even bother trying to take the time to do component-level diagnosis. For an ethernet problem as you describe (Windows thinks everything is okay, yet obviously a known good network connection doesn't work), I see three items which can be replaced:

- Ethernet daughter card
- Ribbon cable
- I/O card

Replace one item at a time with a proven good unit and you should find the source of the error.

Hope I haven't scared you away

.

james79s · #7 Post by **james79s** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 6:52 pm

Ok, so I tried a new card, still not working. I tried the existing card in another T23, and it worked fine.

The ribbon in my T23 looked kind of frayed, so I thought I would try another one. The one from my old T22 fit, but it is too short to connect to both the ethernet daughter card and the modem. SO here was my solution:

I just took the combo card from the T22 and plugged it into the spot where the modem was, plugged in teh cables and away I went. At first the bios was confused, but as soon as I was able to get into windows and installed all the drivers, the bios was sorted out and everything works now.

Is there any disdvantage to using the combo card from teh T22 over thet separate daughter ethernet card and the modem that come with the T23??

Thanks for all your help!

James

#8 Post by **rkawakami** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 7:19 pm

I don't believe so. If you have no plans on trying to install a MiniPCI wireless card, then your modem/ethernet combo card from the T22 should work fine. I am kind of surprised that the ethernet/modem cable from the T22 works with the T23 motherboard, but I guess the IBM engineers designed it with the same pinout. That's good to know!

edit: I found an eBay seller who is offering just the ribbon cable from the T23:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0080107091

james79s · #9 Post by **james79s** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 8:04 pm

Yeah, I saw that listing. But I figure that since the combo card is working fine, there is no sense in spending money on a new cable is there?

That ebay listing was actually what prompted me to investigate whether the T22 cable would work, since he has the T23 cable listed as working with the T20, T21, T22, T23. The cable itself looks different, but all the connectors are the same and it workds great.

Now that you mention it, this is a good situation if I do plan on installing a wireless card in there. It would just fit in the spot where the daughter ethernet card was?

Thanks...

James

#10 Post by **rkawakami** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 8:13 pm

Uh, no. I am not aware of any WiFi card that will fit into the ethernet daugther card's connector. What I was referring to is a normal MiniPCI wireless card, which you have now replaced with the T22's combo modem/ethernet card. If you do desire to attempt the conversion to a built-in wireless solution, then you would need the replacement ribbon cable from eBay and a MPCI wireless card, but at the expensive of losing the modem capability since there is no known combo card that has wireless and modem together.

james79s · #11 Post by **james79s** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 8:17 pm

Oh ok, I see what you are saying...

Another question though, if this cable is working with the modem/ethernet combo card, why would I need to buy the ribbon from ebay for the miniPCI combo wireless card? Would this same once still work?

Also, if I am not planning on going the wirelss route (I already hav ea wirelss adapter in the PCMIA slot), do you agree that it is not worth getting the ribbon from ebay?

Thanks,

James

#12 Post by **rkawakami** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 8:43 pm

Ah, I see... I missed something in your message... My understanding was that the T20-T22 connector for the MiniPCI (MPCI) ethernet (or combo) card is different from the T23's ethernet daughter card (EDC). If you are saying that the connectors between the MPCI and EDC versions of the ethernet card are identical, then you may not need a new cable after all. As long as the ethernet connector reaches to the daughter card's position (the modem connector won't be used if you install a wireless card) then no problem. If it doesn't stretch all the way, then you'd have to use the "correct" T23 cable.

I have a T21 and T22 but haven't looked at them in quite a while (got quite a collection of T23s

). My recollection is that the connectors used on the T21 and T22 are white and have regular wires attached to it. The T23 ribbon cable (not regular wires) terminates in a thin black connector with a blue pull-tab. I've never compared the two side-by-side to see if they were the same. I thought they were different.

james79s · #13 Post by **james79s** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 9:13 pm

Yeah, you are exactly right in your descrtiption. The T22 cable is regular wires, the T23 is a ribbon, but the ends are identical and interface with the T23 motherboard and works great.

The reason that I switched to the combo card instead of the original daughter card and the modem is that the T22 cable was not long enough to reach to the daughter card's position. Since the combo card is just sitting in the spot where the modem originally was, and which is in the identical spot as the combo card from the T22, I figured this was a good solution. I was skeptical that it would work considering the cables look so different, but it did.

I am able to connect to th ethernet as well as use the modem.

All makes sense?

#14 Post by **rkawakami** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 9:17 pm

Perfectly! Glad everything worked out for you.

james79s · #15 Post by **james79s** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 9:56 pm

Thank you so much for your help, it was greatly appreciated.

I don't think that I would have thought to change/check that cable if you hadn't mentioned it.

Until my next crisis!

James

T23 ethernet question...

T23 ethernet question...

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