No WWAN Antenna in my X61s, how do i get one?

[Fnord]

I recently got a X61s (Model: 7669-3jg) as a replacement to my X41.

I also bought a WWAN mini pci-e card. (FRU PN:43y6513)
It needs aux and main antenna cables but there is none of thos in my laptop. (the simcard holder is there though)

Does anyone know how i can get those installed?
Are there several diffrent wwan antennas or just one to choose from?

I do not have anything sticking out at the side of the LCD.

And i also already made a call to Lenovo but tehy didn't know ??
So here is a chance to prove better then Lenovo themself =)

I also toc a picture of what it looks like.
http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/404902/_DSC1192.jpg (HI-Res 900KB)
http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/404902/_DSC1192-2.jpg (Low-Res 100KB)


Many thanks in advance
Jonas - Sweden

[bananaman]

You need the correct WAN antenna cables and the rod antenna as shown in the Hardware Maintenance Manual.

I would watch the videos before taking the lid apart.

Oh and I just noticed you have the Ericson F3507g WAN card, which is not on the X61s whitelist, so you will need a hacked BIOS to avoid the 1802 error at boot up.

[EOMtp]

You need the WAN antenna kit and the "Clear Plate" (the icon strip at the bottom of the LCD lid that has the indicator lights. Your machine's icon plate has that indicator light blacked out). Here are the FRU numbers you need to order:

FRU #42X3822 - LCD Clear Plate for X61s
FRU #93P4543 - WAN antenna cable set

The primary antenna installs in the LCD case; the secondary antenna is installs at the right of the WAN card. It is an L-shaped circuit board which installs, with double-sided tape, as a reverse-L around the right and bottom sides of the WAN card.

Good luck!

[Fnord]

Oh and I just noticed you have the Ericson F3507g WAN card, which is not on the X61s whitelist, so you will need a hacked BIOS to avoid the 1802 error at boot up.

Thanks for the info, looks a bit tricky but one step at a time and i guess it should work =)
Today i also decided to boot the machine up with the WWAN card installed but without the antenna cables in place.

Windows wont find any new hardware device, i can't find anything in the bios regarding wwan on or off.
I have checked that the wireless power switch is turned on. And i can't find any wwan option pressing fn+f5 either.

You mentioned the white list, i run original 2.19 bios now but did not get any error message upon booting up.

I havn't put a simcard in yet but from my experiece with other laptops using the ericsson F3507g device the wwan card did work anyway and the application just told you no sim card present.

Should i get an error message upon booting if everything was correct with the wwan card?

[bananaman]

You may be lucky and it might just work. I don't recall anyone else putting one of these Ericson cards into an X61s.

The BIOS is quite picky about Sierra MC8775 cards though (the factory WAN card). If you buy a non-Lenovo Sierra MC8775, it squawks.

[Fnord]

You may be lucky and it might just work. I don't recall anyone else putting one of these Ericson cards into an X61s.
The BIOS is quite picky about Sierra MC8775 cards though (the factory WAN card). If you buy a non-Lenovo Sierra MC8775, it squawks.

Yes, hopefully it does just work, I am now however concerned about windows XP not finding any new hardware.
Does anyone have experience if the cards are inactive wehen you don't have an antenna conected to them or if you don't have a simcard in the reader.

The ericsson F3507G is by far the best 3G-modem i have found. I have tested laptops with 3G from, Acer, LG, Lenovo, Asus, MSI and HP. The Lenovo with this Ericsson card and also the LG with the same Ericsson card is the fastest and the ones with best reception i have found so far.

I work with Mobile broadband backoffice support at a Telecom operator if you wonder how i get to try out all the laptops.
And yes we have our 3G-network built with radio-equipment from Ericsson as well.

[Zender]

Actually, you need the BIOS patch. With that Ericsson card reoccurs problem which *60 series ThinkPads had with mostly any non-approved WWAN card - it isn't detected at all, not even by BIOS, so it does not trigger the 1804 error. Tape pin 20 (on the bottom, longer side, second from the key) and you will get the 1804 error.

Having recently tried MC8780 in T60 myself, I've come up with some ideas, and will try to make experimental BIOS to avoid this problem - because with taping pin 20 you lose hardware wireless switch control of the card.

[Sportler2k3]

hey there

i have a f3507 installed in my x61s 7668-cto. u'll have to tape pin 20 and i use zenderbios 2.19
Thank u Zender by the way
After taping pin 20 the card installed without any problems on win xp. I used the "lenovo" drivers:

Drivers for f3507g
GPS-Tool
Mobile Connection Manager for xp

and connected with ac 5.12, for testing with some wlan antennas i had around. Good hsdpa connection with up to 2.5 mbit downstream in a not good covered area.
I still need to install the antennas, still hoping that just using the aux antenna will work, coz i dont wanna risk the warranty for opening the lid. will get the antenna on the weekend, will write u if it works.

But if u install the lid antenna i would be happy if you could write down ur experiences.

Greetings Sportler2k3

[Fnord]

Very happy right now!!
Taped pin 20 and it just works. Did not change my bios from original 2.19.

Well at least so far that i get to enter my pin code for the simcard and then it searches for network. But it will not find any network since there is no antenna installed.
I can also activate and inactivate the cards radio from the Ericsson wireless manager.

Now i guess i only have to order the antenna and see if it works.

Thanks for the pin 20 tip, did not know that this applied to Lenovo cards also.

[Fnord]

Sportler2k3 did u borrow antennas from WLAN or did u get a connection without antennas at all?

I can't wait, must find out... NOW...

Testing with the Wlan antennas... Works just fine with Wlan antennas too =)

Reciving 5.76MBit/sek TCP
Sending 1,17Mbit/sek TCP

This card is FAST!!! I LOVE it!

[Sportler2k3]

Hi fnord,

i used some antennas i had around. did u use both connectors on your card or just the main connector?

so am i right that u havent installed the bios hack?

Sportler

[Harryc]

It seems to me that if it works with WLAN antennas, then it would be easy to rig a switch that allows you to switch from WLAN to WWAN by using a switch and two short pieces of antenna wire with the clips(card end) on the end. That way you don't have to tear the LCD apart.

[Fnord]

Hi fnord,

i used some antennas i had around. did u use both connectors on your card or just the main connector?

so am i right that u havent installed the bios hack?

Sportler

Ok, I have only tested using both antenna conectors, will also try and see it it works with only one. Have you tested that already.

Yes you are right, i havn't switched from the original Lenovo 2.19 Bios. suprised myselt i didn't get the 1804 or something like that others told me i would.
Have also tested rebooting and restarting the machine several times, always seems to find the card.

//Jonas

[bananaman]

VERY interesting. I wonder if Lenovo updated the whitelist or did away with it altogether in this new BIOS release?

Yes you are right, i havn't switched from the original Lenovo 2.19 Bios. suprised myselt i didn't get the 1804 or something like that others told me i would.
Have also tested rebooting and restarting the machine several times, always seems to find the card.

[Zender]

As far as I can tell, the whitelist is still there and not updated. It might not get called though. Or, the card might be so slot to "boot" that it does not respond to request for ID when the check takes place.

[pandavi]

Hello,
Does anyone know the right sequence for wwan cards swapping & modified bios flash?Thinkpad x61 7675-59u
bios 2.19
winxp pro sp3,
Verison Sierra card preinstalled.

Do I need to:
1.Flash the bios first with the Zener bios (many thanks to Zender) and than swap cards and restart ?
Or
2.Uninstall the existing lenovo wwan card first, flash the bios, install the new non lenovo and restart?
Or
3.Swap the cards first and than flash the bios?

Thanks!

[EOMtp]

Do 1.

[Sportler2k3]

YIPPIE!!!

I installed these drivers /tools first
AC 5.12 is also installed



i installed 2 wwan antennas look
here for the pin 20 u need to tape

here for the devices installed in Device Manager
red markers on the left: installed ericsson devices
red arrow marked with an 1: enable hidden devices to check whether there are some unrecognized or disabled devices not shown in normal view!!! had to do this after disabling some of the ericsson devices to find them again.

here for the installed antennas (Part Number: 93P4388)
I used the 3rd WLAN cable as the main WWAN cable and used the original wwan antenna as aux.
The 3rd wlan cable from the wlan card is now as shown also with a wwan antenna, which works without problems. theres enough room for the antenna between the handrest and the wlan card, all u need to do is to make sure that the wwan antenna is not over the left screw on the modem!

here for the connection in a rural area!

positive: its working very good!
negative: is that the handrest gets a bit warmer, but far away from hot!
2-5 wattage power consumption, depending on how much data i send/recive which is a lot my system only needs 8watt with wlan activated and display at 50% surfing and working (word n stuff) so 5 watt is much imho.

Costs about 150 €uro at all.
75€ for the card
50€ for the antennas
the rest for screwdriver, wlan antennas for testing...

Greetings

[Peak2Peak]

Congratulations on your installation of your WWAN & Antenna's and for your Hi-res pic's links too!

Although your WWAN Main is using the WLAN antenna which is likely tuned for the 2.4GHz frequency band and therefore probably not tuned for the GPS group of frequency bands - Have you tried to lock a GPS signal? - My MC8780 WWAN is capable of picking-up several GPS Satellites only by swapping the WWAN antennas on the card (thanks to Zender's suggestion in this post) but the 3G/HSDPA signal is seriously attenuated though

[Sportler2k3]

hello,

i havent tried gps yet, gonna be the first thing when im at home tomorrow.
hmm my hsdpa signal is pretty good (60% rural area) while im writing this post. so i dont think that the antenna is the big variable.

greets

[Sportler2k3]

gps is not working (no fix), but i do have an downstream bout 2.5 mbits in a 3,6mbits coverd rural area


greetings

[Peak2Peak]

Sportler2k3:

Having just received & installed a Lenovo Ericsson F3507g WWAN card (43R9153) with Lenovo Ericsson connection manager software a couple of days ago (for evaluation purposes only) am finding the connection dropping frequently (card usually switching off) be it after 1min or after a couple of hours (transmitting or Idle / GPS on or off) - Are you finding any problems like this? - I have not encounted any problems like this with the existing Sierra Wireless MC8780 previously installed. (It seems that DELL user's are also experiencing the same problems too according to their forums!).

The GPS is working ok both indoors and out by swapping T60p's Main & Aux antenna's around on the card - Takes what seems like forever to get a fix though! - Also getting the same HSDPA signal strength as if the Antenna's were the correct way around on the card.

Both the F3507g & MC8780 Download & Upload speeds are very close across T-Mobile UK & 3-UK with a very slight edge towards the F3507g.

[Sportler2k3]

hmm havent had any problems yet with disconnecting as far as i remember, but the longest time i was online was about 4 hours.
but i experienced problems enabling the wwan card when online via wlan for a couple of hours, but when doing stand by and awake (done in 15 secs) its working w/o problems. havent found a better solution yet
how long does it take for gps to get a fix? i tried bout 5 minutes but didnt get one so i went back in coz it was so cold outside

[pandavi]

I have installed a Sierra MC8775 (HP2300) in my x61 7675-59u win xp pro, swapped the mc5725 which came with it. I flashed Zender's bios, THANK YOU ZENDER!!!, installed hp driver pack and Sierra 3g watcher, the card is working great! did not tape pin20.

THANKS FOR ALL THE HELP IN THE FORUM!!! could not have achieved it without you!

Think vantage ac does not detect the card and Fn F5 does not show the wwan connection, I am using 3g watcher to turn on/off and connect. Any one knows why ac does not detect the card?

Re. wwan antenna, I have the lcd bezel antenna, the mc5725 had 2 antenna sockets, main & aux, the new card mc8775 has only one socket for the main, does any one know if this is the case with all mc8775? does it affect the reception quality? is the card ready for 2nd socket (there are 3 soldering terminals where the socket should be on the right top), is the main conneted to the wwan bezel antenna?

btw, I found a nice client software for unlocking different 3g wwan cards which are carrier locked, it costs 10-15 Euro for each unlock, depending on the card model, but it does the work in seconds and smoothly. I think it is worth it.
Not sure wheather it is ok to post the link to the site, the name is "dc-unlocker"

To Zender - Where is your site now? the one I have downloaded the bios from is gone!

[lsiau]

HI Sportler2K3,

Like to check where did you get your L Shaped PCB antennas?

Did I understand you correctly but the HSDPA modem worked without even installing the antennas?

Tks
Leonard

hey there

i have a f3507 installed in my x61s 7668-cto. u'll have to tape pin 20 and i use zenderbios 2.19
Thank u Zender by the way
After taping pin 20 the card installed without any problems on win xp. I used the "lenovo" drivers:

Drivers for f3507g
GPS-Tool
Mobile Connection Manager for xp

and connected with ac 5.12, for testing. Good hsdpa connection with 1.4 mbit downstream in a not good covered area.
I still need to install the antennas, still hoping that just using the aux antenna will work, coz i dont wanna risk the warranty for opening the lid. will get the antenna on the weekend, will write u if it works.

But if u install the lid antenna i would be happy if you could write down ur experiences.

Greetings Sportler2k3

[Sportler2k3]

I odered it from a lenovo reseller and picked it up at his shop. every shop with an lenovo sign should be able to order them for you. type

thinkvantage point ur city

in google u will find one in ur area. Partnumber is 93P4388

umm no its not working without the antennas. i used some wlan antennas i had around for testing. now i use the 3rd wlan antenna from my wlan card and one wwan antenna. u can see this on the pictures i postet in this thread.

[geckoSG]

Sorry to hijack this thread. I'm using X61 with BIOS 2.19. Had recently installed a used
DELL Wireless 5530 (No Antennas). Am on Windows 7 Professional X64 BIT. Had all the
drivers installed. Using Sony Ericsson Wireless Manager 5.3.2076.12 PA34.

Did the PIN 20 masking. I tried to turn on the RADIO for the WWAN, and my program shows
me "searching"...

Using the Dianostics, everything is a YES, other than Registered & Attached being a "No" under Radio section. Would be grateful if anyone can shred some lights to me...

[Zuke]

I have the exact same setup as you and can't even install the drivers! The driver package above won't install to my Windows 7. Is there a Windows 7 version of the package?

[Zender]

@geckoSG: You need at least one antenna, you won't get any reception without it, unless stand right before your carrier's transmitter. Use one from the Wifi card, for testing.

[geckoSG]

Thanks for the heads up, I've removed the AUX antenna from my WLAN and fix to the MAIN
of my WWAN. Rebooted my machine & got my signal!!! Shall test the GPS when I have time.

Thank you so much people...

Here's how i did it with the guide from here.

1. Mask PIN 20 on the WWAN card itself.
2. Install the WWAN card into the laptop.
3. Remove AUX Antenna from WLAN card and put into the MAIN of WWAN card.
4. *Get the 32BIT && 64BIT driver from this location (posted by CarolinaJones from mydellmini, THANK YOU!!!)
http://go.mydellmini.com/?id=258X408&ur ... 30_GPS.zip
5. Download the Sony Ericsson Software from http://www.sonyericsson.com/cws/support ... c=gb&lc=en

* At stage 4, you may find 2 drivers missing... follow the guide posted by CarolinaJones about revealing the hidden devices and then install the missing drivers for it. Guide is at this mydellmini forum... http://www.mydellmini.com/forum/3g-mobi ... y-gps.html

Now I must go and get my antennas for my WWAN... I am using BIOS 2.19 (no mod) & the
DELL Wireless 5530 card.