Thinkpads Forum

Posted: **Sat Jun 16, 2007 1:13 pm**

Well, this shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, but I wanted to confirm it myself.

I swapped the Verizon WWAN miniPCI card with a Sprint Novatel 720 WWAN miniPCI card and the x61s gave an 1804 error and would not boot.

What a shame.

Posted: **Sat Jun 16, 2007 6:50 pm**

It is somewhat surprising, however, that installing an IBM/Lenovo Verizon EV-DO Rev. A Mini-PCI Express card into a X60 also generates an 1804 error. It appears that one needs an X61 or T61 in order to use even the IBM/Lenovo Rev. A cards.

Posted: **Sun Jun 17, 2007 1:33 am**

EOMtp wrote:It is somewhat surprising, however, that installing an IBM/Lenovo Verizon EV-DO Rev. A Mini-PCI Express card into a X60 also generates an 1804 error. It appears that one needs an X61 or T61 in order to use even the IBM/Lenovo Rev. A cards.

With the latest BIOS?

Posted: **Sun Jun 17, 2007 11:02 am**

sugo wrote:With the latest BIOS?

With X60/s BIOS Version 2.10.

Posted: **Sun Jun 17, 2007 1:54 pm**

That's disappointing. I was hoping to swap the MC5720 for a MC8775 card in my X60s.

Posted: **Mon Jun 25, 2007 8:30 pm**

I do wonder ... whether the same CMOS bit that controls the 1802 WLAN check might also control the WWAN check?

Is anyone willing to try the no-1802.com method (which sets the CMOS bit to skip the WLAN compatibility check) to see whether it also resolves the 1804 error?

The original explanation for this check can be found here:
http://mailman.linux-thinkpad.org/piper ... 18253.html

This is all that no-1802.com does -- sets bit 0x80 on one byte in the CMOS:

Code: Select all

MOV     DX,0070
MOV     AL,6A
OUT     DX,AL
MOV     DX,0071
IN      AL,DX
OR      AL,80
OUT     DX,AL
MOV     AX,4C00
INT     21

Posted: **Mon Jun 25, 2007 10:25 pm**

I too was hoping to swap out my MC5720 for the new MC5725 Rev. A internal card in my T60p. IF someone figures it out, i would appreaciate it, as i dont really want to use an "external" card.

Posted: **Tue Jun 26, 2007 10:54 am**

@all,

the no 1802 from the t40 series does NOT work!

I have performed extensive researches concerning the 1804, and I can tell you to wait a bit.

A case with customer relations in Stuttgart is looking into this, but upto now not with a solution. ( So in the meantime the hotline claims " Sorry, the european card is not supported in the us machine you own"-- funny though, looking into the hwm you will find identical fru s for bios, motherboard and umts aerial !!!)

as i said, they are taking care of it!

greetz

Posted: **Tue Jul 31, 2007 5:04 pm**

Anyone have any luck removing the 1802 error?

Posted: **Wed Dec 05, 2007 2:55 pm**

Swapped the Verizon Sierra MC5725 with a Sprint Sierra MC5725, and no boot.

x61t, BIOS version 1.07 (7SET21WW), embedded controller 1.02.

Thanks!

Posted: **Wed Dec 05, 2007 3:44 pm**

So by no boot, do you mean that you got an error and were not able to boot the computer, or do you mean that you did not get a boot error?

Thanks

Posted: **Wed Dec 05, 2007 4:23 pm**

Sorry for not being more clear.
It means I get an 1804 error: that I am not able to boot the laptop.

Posted: **Mon Dec 10, 2007 6:53 am**

Anyone know if its possible to get a firmwae dump from the card and possibly hex edit it to change product id like the ipw2200 workaround?
http://stachon.webpark.cz/ipw-eeprom.html

Also anyone with the mc8755 can tell me the product id (not the fru, but the product id that the card reports) of the ibm approved card?

<edit> erm, I meant to type 8775 above, sorry for the confusion

Posted: **Tue Dec 11, 2007 1:13 am**

For an MC8755 (not 8775), HSDPA Vodafone Australia card:

VID: 1199
PID: 6804

This card is whitelisted in the X60/X60s BIOS.

Posted: **Tue Dec 11, 2007 1:27 am**

Is there a way to change the product id of an non whitelisted card to transform the card in a whitelist product ?

It would be great ...

Posted: **Tue Dec 11, 2007 4:44 am**

rek, yup, thats what my 8755 reports also. Switchcorp, thats what I am trying to figure out

<edit> seems I had a case of dyslexia when typing these posts

Posted: **Tue Dec 11, 2007 8:01 am**

Hmm, just had another thought. Flashing a non authorised card with an authorised cards firmware. This could work in some instances, but not with others. It couldnt be so simple, as I guess the imei code and lock is involved in this. Food for thought though I guess..

Posted: **Tue Dec 11, 2007 10:09 am**

Has anybody try to simply unlock a genuine Lenovo 8755 card ?

If it still works that means the lock has nothing to do with 1804 restrictions !

I don't think that our bios has in memory all the imei of all the wwan card ! According to what i think it's simply a lock firmware (specific to lenovo) or just a check for vendor id or something else

It seems to be simple ... but if you look on forums a lot of people are in trouble with 1804 error !

Posted: **Tue Dec 11, 2007 4:17 pm**

Switchcorp wrote:Has anybody try to simply unlock a genuine Lenovo 8755 card ? ... If it still works that means the lock has nothing to do with 1804 restrictions !

The locks (i.e., the cellular locks), if any, have nothing to do with the 1804 restriction.

Re: Locks: The Lenovo MC5720 and MC5725 EV-DO card are not locked. I don't know if that is indicative of Lenovo's "intent" regarding these cards, and whether or not that "intent" extends to the 8755 and the different types of cellular locks (SIM, Subsidy, etc.) on that card.

Posted: **Tue Dec 11, 2007 4:52 pm**

I think also that it has nothing to do with the 1804 error

But it was only for confirmation !

Now the next point is to know if a product id can be changed ... and if we can do that it's possible to find a MC8755 card in an AT&T 875U USB modem (120$ on ebay instead of 575$ for spare parts)

Posted: **Tue Dec 11, 2007 5:11 pm**

This is quite similar to my situation:

1. Have Verizon MC5725 card that came with the laptop
2. Have Sprint MC5725 card that I took out of a U595. Installed it in the x61t, and get an 1804 error, no boot.
3. Put the Verizon MC5725 card back in the laptop, and of course no problems.

I guess the task would be to compare the EEPROMs or something between the two cards to see what the difference is. No idea where to start looking, and don't have a way to install the Sprint card in a laptop and get the laptop to a bootable state.

Where to start looking to see how the laptop identifies an approved card?

Posted: **Tue Dec 11, 2007 5:17 pm**

Why don't you simply unlock your first card ?

It's possible to do it for +- 20 $ if i remember well what I've seen on Ebay !

Posted: **Tue Dec 11, 2007 5:20 pm**

The locking has nothing to do with it. When I thought about the firmware flash I was thinking the firmware probably reads the imei or something similar to how the thinkpad bios reads the product id. I really have no idea whether it would be possible to flash the firmware of one card with anothers. I just unlocked my 8755 that came with my t60p. As for lenovo's intent, I believe all the later laptops that came out with the cards are unlocked. To unlock them, all you need is the code which your cell providor ir IBM should be able to supply and you give it to the card via an AT command.
I believe the 875u has an 8775 in it (I hope, because I have one in the mail atm) as the product id for the 8775 and 875u is the same in the linux kernel. Should get it in the next week and will let you know.

Posted: **Tue Dec 11, 2007 5:20 pm**

Unlock which one, the Verizon card, or the Sprint card?
Do you have a link or other reference information?

FWIW, here's a PCI Express x1 to Mini Card adapter, for example to use a Mini Card in a desktop motherboard/chassis:
http://www.adexelec.com/pciexp.htm#PEX1IX-MINI

Posted: **Tue Dec 11, 2007 5:31 pm**

Mine was locked to Vodafone. It took a while and lots of emails to get the code from IBM, but I got it eventually and enetred it as this page explains. You should be able to do it in windows if you have a serial communicator that you can send the commands to the device with.

http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Verizon_1 ... _the_Modem

Posted: **Wed Dec 12, 2007 6:18 am**

Mmmh Short101 i can't wait ! You're doing what I was planning to ...
This week will be a long week

Posted: **Wed Dec 12, 2007 6:31 am**

Seeing as I wont get the card till next week, and I am only just starting to look into it, (and besides not being a competent c programmer) I think its safe to assume that it will be a longer time frame

Posted: **Wed Dec 12, 2007 9:45 am**

short101 wrote:Mine was locked to Vodafone. It took a while and lots of emails to get the code from IBM, but I got it eventually and enetred it as this page explains.

You got further than I did! IBM hand-balled me off to Vodafone, who then transferred me to a call centre that had no idea what I was talking about.

My WWAN is through Vodafone anyway, but I don't like the idea of having the card unnecessarily locked and being forced into a single supplier. Kind of the same reasons IBM have multiple suppliers for their spare parts, I guess.. wonder if that line will work on them to cough up the code

(Did you also start a similar thread about this on Whirlpool?)

Posted: **Wed Dec 12, 2007 8:26 pm**

Rek, aye, tis me on whirlpool also. Trying to get info from as many places as possible

I eventually got an answer from vodafone too (not the codes, but was getting somewhere) Try this number, its for the data team apparantly 1300 650 410 (option 4)
Vodafone also have an unlock page where you can enter your eimi but I didn't get any answers back from that one.
vodafone.com.au/unlock

Posted: **Thu Dec 13, 2007 11:12 pm**

This restriction sounds very familiar and similar to the bios issues that occured when you installed a non-IBM OEM'd wireless 802.11 card a few years back. Fact is, you could physically install an otherwise identical Intel 802.11 into a Thinkpad, but the machine would now allow a bootup and give a bios error since it didn't have an IBM FRU, even though technically it was an identical card.

It was explained back then to be an FCC issue where certain wireless cards are only tested and certified to be installed on certain model laptops. This could be the reason why installing a non-IBM/Lenovo WWAN card is being blocked at the bios level to comply with FCC regulations.

Thinkpads Forum

CONFIRMATION: 1804 with WWAN swap

CONFIRMATION: 1804 with WWAN swap

WWAN 1804

Any updates to bypass the 1804 error?