Bluetooth CDC card for A31?

[hseaver]

I'm thinking of adding a bluetooth card to my A31. I see them for sale for the T40, R40, etc and I've read elsewhere that these will also work in the A31 -- is this correct? And can be turned on with a "FN + F5" if you don't have the bluetooth button, which mine doesn't.
Mine does have a CDC modem card, which I have zero use for, but on the thinkwiki CDC page (http://thinkwiki.org/wiki/CDC_slot) is says that removing this and replacing it with a different card will freak out the bios and cause the machine not to boot. Is this true and is it fixable?

[ElbertR]

I'm thinking of adding a bluetooth card to my A31. I see them for sale for the T40, R40, etc and I've read elsewhere that these will also work in the A31 -- is this correct? And can be turned on with a "FN + F5" if you don't have the bluetooth button, which mine doesn't.
Mine does have a CDC modem card, which I have zero use for, but on the thinkwiki CDC page (http://thinkwiki.org/wiki/CDC_slot) is says that removing this and replacing it with a different card will freak out the bios and cause the machine not to boot. Is this true and is it fixable?

Some A31/A31P models actually came with a bluetooth CDC. Just look at the Hardware Maintenance Manual (HMM). The antenna part (which you could order from a parts supplier) attaches around the serial port, to install it you have to remove the entire system board (not that hard if you have done that about a dozen times like me).

The bluetooth models also have a small BT on/off button on the bottom of the screen next to the battery indicator. The light & button are part of the screen inverter (not all inverters have this). If you have the right inverter, you need to change the cover/bezel with the battery & standby light. Don't think Fn+F5 will work.

I have added the required parts to my A31P, but so far could not find a good working bluetooth/modem combo card. The BT part always works, but the modem doesn't (driver issue). I just don't want to loose the modem (it's there, it should work). I have one more card on order (BMDC200B) which according to another user on this forum can be made to work with the modem.

Until then, when I need to use bluetooth I use the Ultraport Bluetooth module (attached to the Ultraport on top of the screen). Only A31P models came with an ultraport.

[ElbertR]

Ok, after installing the BMDC 200b in my A31p I managed to get both bluetooth and the modem to work.

Just had to use the right drivers.

Another successful upgrade for my A31p!

What's next? Got a SATA ultrabay HD adapter on order so I can use a large SATA in one of the bays.

After that might try to install a wireless-N mini-pci card.

[hseaver]

What's next? Got a SATA ultrabay HD adapter on order so I can use a large SATA in one of the bays.

They made a SATA ultrabay adapter? Are they very common?

[schen]

What's next? Got a SATA ultrabay HD adapter on order so I can use a large SATA in one of the bays.

They made a SATA ultrabay adapter? Are they very common?

No, not common, especially for the older UltraBay 2000 that's on the A31, but you can easily find them on ebay these days. I believe that the ones that exist for the UB2K are all after-market pieces. I know IBM/Lenovo did/does them for the UltraBay Slim, but created them really for the T60 (but they'll work on the T4x machines as well).