Thinkpads Forum

Hello,

I have a w520. I recently installed a msata SSD to I re installed windows from scratch. Everything seems to working fine. I installed the lenovo drivers/utilities manually from the website.
Device manager seems fine... no missing drivers.
I just bought an RS232 ExpressCard. I plug it in and nothing happens... I tried two different cards... one from ebay and another from bestbuy... same results... is my windows installation bad? Am I missing any drivers? I don't even know if the original windows installation would have worked... maybe the slot is not working at all?
thanks for any input.

Phil

Most of these cheap cards are junk, but try a refresh / "show hidden devices" in the device manager.

I'll forego the presumption my fellow member made about your "cheap cards".

It has to be asked if you've successfully used your Express Card slot in past ?

Have you also reset your BIOS to default settings or verified the Express card slot is enabled for usage in the BIOS.

If navigating the BIOS is intimidating, then just Reset it Defaults and that ensures the Express Card slot is enabled.

If your card(s) remain undetected after resetting your BIOS, then this is a job for SPECCY, a free downloadable applet ( I don't remember the link, so google for it ) and it will illuminate whether or not those ports are present and functioning if the Windows Device Manager is intimidating or ambiguous.

The lack of the slot in Speccy would imply the port isn't enabled in the BIOS, and if your BIOS is in fact enabling the port, it would imply a potential system policy implemented by corporate systems managers or a potential hardware malfunction.

I'm loathe to suggest hardware malfunctions especially for an Express slot that rarely fails and on a W series which is reputed to be solid and reliable.