Mini PCIe WWAN slot on Z61t - is it really Mini PCIe?

[GnatGoSplat]

My Z61t has an unused Mini PCIe slot for the WWAN card. I was thinking about putting a Broadcom Crystal HD card in that slot, so just out of curiosity, I moved the Wireless LAN card into that slot. However, it was not recognized at all. No error or anything, but Windows 7 didn't recognize it. It didn't know I plugged in anything at all.

I was just wondering, is the WWAN slot not a real Mini PCIe slot? I see the Mini PCIe pinouts here:
http://www.interfacebus.com/Mini_PCI_Express_Bus.html#e

It appears Mini PCIe also has USB, and I have found USB-to-Mini PCIe adapters specifically for WWAN cards. So I hypothesize that WWAN cards might really just be USB devices with a Mini PCIe card edge and the WWAN slot only has the USB wires hooked up. Could that really be the case?

[dr_st]

I think, maybe, the BIOS only allows certain devices from a certain whitelist to be recognizable in each of the respective slots.

But then again, I would expect an error in this case, which you didn't get...

The Ltwbook clearly states "mini PCIe adapter" for WWAN card, so I would think it's really mini PCIe.

Is the WWAN enabled in the BIOS? Perhaps somehow it shuts power to that slot if it is disabled.

[GnatGoSplat]

Yes, I checked and "Internal Wireless WAN" is Enabled in BIOS. After doing a lot more web searching, I'm more convinced the 2nd Mini PCIe is really just USB on a Mini PCIe slot with only the USB signals connected.

Here is a thread, not about the Z61t specifically, but it implies there are other notebooks/netbooks with internal USB in the form of Mini PCIe slots, but no PCIe wires connected:
http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/IdeaPad-S-s ... 7C14E84EEB

I also found on ThinkWiki a page about the WWAN card, apparently to Linux it presents itself as a USB device:
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Verizon_1xEV-DO_WWAN

That could explain why my wireless LAN card wasn't recognized in that WWAN slot.
Oh well, I didn't have my heart set on HD/Blu-ray playback on my Z61t. It was just a thought that crossed my mind. I suppose if I were very determined, I could track down an internal USB Wireless LAN with a Mini PCIe form factor to put in the WWAN slot, then put the Crystal HD card in the LAN card slot. I probably won't bother.