Thinkpads Forum

I'd like to change out the WWAN card in my T60 from the Verizon to the Cingular/ATT card. Does anyone have the FRU's for the card and SIM Module req'd?

Has anyone done this change successfully? Any tips would be appreciated. I ran some searches here, but found nothing specific to my situ.

Thanks in advance.

Call IBM, ask to speak to the networking tech. Odds are that it's not whitelisted in the BIOS, in other words, you are stuck with the verizon card.

Thanks...I think I'll do that this evening. I've found the fru for the card and Sim Mod, but the compatibility has me concerned. This machine runs too well to screw it up now.

laowai wrote:Odds are that it's not whitelisted in the BIOS, in other words, you are stuck with the verizon card.

Wha...? This makes no sense. ThinkPad T60s were sold both with the Cingular card and with the Verizon card. There aren't two different motherboards made for the T60, one for Cingular WWAN cards and one for Verizon cards, and there aren't two BIOS releases, one that whitelists Cingular and one that whitelists Verizon. Just like the situation with the WLAN cards, I would imagine that ALL FRUs that are offered as options for a given model/series are whitelisted in the BIOS (for example, you can swap around between IBM-branded Intel and Atheros cards without trouble). Why would WWAN be any different?

The thing I didn't get is that when I first saw this question, my first response was "duh, check the Hardware Maintenance Manuals for the FRUs!" But it turned out not to be so easy/straightforward. For the T60 series, there are no less than two different FRUs a-piece for EVDO (Verizon) and HSDPA (Cingular) cards, and no indication of what the differences are between them. So, for the OP of this thread, I am most curious: did you manage to figure out what the difference is between 42T0835 and 42T0804 (both HSDPA)?

-- Nathan

42T0835 is a MC8755 which runs on 2100MHz for HSDPA.

42T0804 is a MC8765 which utilizes the 850/1900 MHz HSDPA UMTS frequency bands.

A-ha! Thank you, sugo.

Is the difference between the EVDO options (41W1177, 42T0863) also a difference of broadcast frequency for different regions, or is it a difference between EVDO rev. 0 and rev. A? (I know the 41W1177 is a Sierra MC5720; is 42T0863 an MC5725, or is it something else?)

-- Nathan

Scratch wrote:Thanks...I think I'll do that this evening. I've found the fru for the card and Sim Mod, but the compatibility has me concerned. This machine runs too well to screw it up now.

It's not like "it will work but have some problems". If the card isn't on the whitelist, your machine will not boot.

laowai wrote:It's not like "it will work but have some problems". If the card isn't on the whitelist, your machine will not boot.

Yes, but...

A) If that happens, all you have to do is remove it to be back at status quo, and...
B) I still have a hard time believing that the HSDPA cards would not be whitelisted as I already explained above, and nobody thus far has addressed my earlier post.

-- Nathan

I have spoken with our corporate service rep on the issue and the various FRU's. He is looking into the correct parts list requirements and will get them to me for a trial. I had done this previously in the same machine to evaluate the Atheros vs Intel WLAN cards for stability, range and signal retention.

Other than having to add the SIM module is its reserved space the changeover should be pretty straight forward. Hopefully I'll be able to post results in the next week or so.

Thanks for all the responses.

Scratch

I was looking at replacing the Verizon card with the (now) AT&T card and the number is: 42T0804. The price is about $575. !!!!!!!.

Did anyone find out if it will work with the Bios in a 2623 DDU that came with the EVDO Verizon card?

The BIOS will accept the card. You will need to install the SIM card holder (FRU #41W1353) if one is not present on the machine.

I would like to swap mine out also. Does anyone know if the AT&T cards are HSDPA, or only UMTS???