G40 wireless adapter upgrade, including compatibility list

[underclocker]

FYI, I recently did some upgrading/testing of my G40. It was the high end model that came without built in wifi (model 2388-5DU).

It turns out that the same motherboards are used in the wifi/non-wifi G40 models. So, all I needed was 1) a mini-PCI wifi adapter, 2) antennas (they do not come built-in/prewired), 3) front clear plate with wifi indicator (the LED is behind the blank are of the existing clear plate on all models).

I found a G41 cover with antennas on eBay (G40 and G41 covers are interchangeable) and I modified the existing G40 clear plate by cutting off the section without the wifi icon and adding a section from a T40 clear plate that had the wifi icon (great fit, hard to notice unless you look for the seam).

Then I started testing mini-PCI wifi adapters. I knew the Intersil B adapter and the IBM/Atheros A/B adapters would work, since those came as options, but I wanted a G adapter for faster speeds.

I found it somewhat surprising that all the other adapters I tried were prevented by the 1802 error at boot up. I tried the following adapters (I expected the older IBM/Atheros a/b/g to work since it is so simalar to the IBM/Atheros a/b, but no go);

IBM/Atheros a/b/g
IBM/Atheros a/b/g II
Intel b/g
Intel a/b/g

Luckily, the no-1802.com utility worked and permitted me to install the Intel b/g (my first choice, since it runs cool and uses little power).

It works great, the wifi indicator works properly as does the IBM Fn-F5 utility.

[schen]

How about some pictures? Those things are such beasts. I probably wouldn't want to own one, but just like to look at them!