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Is the half height pci-e slot bootable and some other questions...

Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2016 4:07 am
by BrothahHeffay
I want to deck out my x220t
Here are my goals. 1) I plan on replacing the half height mini pci-e wifi card with a half height ssd like this http://www.amazon.com/MyDigitalSSD-Supe ... s=25mm+ssd (Assuming it can boot from the mini pci-e slot)
2) Use an expresscard wifi adapter (trying to find one that doesn't stick out) This way I can have 2 SSD's, AND wwan.
3) Has there been success with lte wwan cards in the x220? I'd like to upgrade my Gobi 3000. Does anyone know if these parts are compatible with the x220? I have the modded BIOS with whitelisting removed, but I'm hesitant to order anything unless I know that the mini pci-e port is bootable.
Thanks.

Re: Is the half height pci-e slot bootable and some other questions...

Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2016 4:38 am
by RealBlackStuff
Welcome to the forum.
The WWAN (bigger) slot on the X220/t can accommodate either a MiniPCIe or an mSATA card.
The WLAN (smaller) slot is wired differently and can NOT be used for SSD and stuff like that.
If you press F12 at boot time, you can select from which drive to boot, incl. that WWAN-drive.

Haven't seen a flush wifi expresscard, but there are tiny USB dongles, such as the TP-Link AC450 Wireless Nano USB Adapter, Archer T1U.
http://www.tp-link.us/products/details/ ... r-T1U.html

I have one of those, and it works great.

Re: Is the half height pci-e slot bootable and some other questions...

Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2016 4:52 am
by kr1st1an
Theoretically it should be possible. After all, they are installed in a mPCIe slot. It's not like it's limited to one specific hardware type only.
(Exception: You cannot boot from the Expresscard slot).
@RealBlackStuff I stand corrected now, didn't know that.

I have a T520 with an Intel mPCIe SSD installed on the WWAN slot. The storage device shows up as a valid boot device during bootup.

I use my phone to tether into the Internet, anyway. For WLAN connectivity, you should be able to get by with a flush-mount 34mm Expresscard to USB 2/3.0 adapter, and then install a "nano" USB WLAN receiver on top of it.

I personally use this: http://www.amazon.com/Monoprice-Port-US ... B005E2XXVC

Re: Is the half height pci-e slot bootable and some other questions...

Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2016 9:09 pm
by BrothahHeffay
What about a half size wwan card in the smaller PCIe slot, will that work, or is it only capable of wlan? That way I could at just use a regular msata in the larger PCIe slot.

Check out this card, it might be the solution I'm looking for.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/IBM-Ericsson-H5 ... xyJX1TF9eQ

And this card actually has both wwan and wlan!
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Option-G ... 64731.html