R40 wireless issue/question

[pcengine92]

Hello everyone,

I have an r40 which doesn't have the internal wireless card, nor does it have the internal antennas. Would I be able to purchase a wireless card and use it, or would I still need to purchase an internal card and wires? By the way, I recently purchased a wireless usb adapter but could not get it to work-that's why I'm asking. ANY help would be appreciated. Thanks!

[RealBlackStuff]

Your best bet would be to find an R40 lid with built-in wifi antennas.
You'll find the P/N in the HMM.
14" 91P9157
15" 91P9156
Then you could remove the modem and replace it with an internal wifi card.
Other option: if USB wifi doesn't work, get a PCMCIA card, which should definitely work.

[pcengine92]

Thanks. I think I'll just go ahead and get the PCMCIA card.

[ajkula66]

Are you sure we're discussing a R40 and not a R40e here?

AFAIK, all standard R40 units came with antennae, even if the card itself was not in place.

What's the 7-character model number of your ThinkPad?

[pcengine92]

I'm sure it's not an r40e. I know it's a 2681 model.

I purchased a netgear rangemax wireless pci adapter, but I cannot get it to recognize my IP address. So I'm still stuck.

[RealBlackStuff]

Tell us the specifics of your wifi gear (router make/model) and how it is set up.
You can download Netstumbler, which should find all networks around you: http://www.netstumbler.com/

[ajkula66]

What's the full 7-character model number, 2681-???

[pcengine92]

What's the full 7-character model number, 2681-???

The full number is 2681-2BJ (it's hard to read as the label has faded). I've tried using both a usb adapter and an pcmcia card, and no luck. Both types detect the adapter/card, but the cannot detect the ip address. And my laptop is no more than 3 feet from the router- what am I missing?!

[RealBlackStuff]

Some routers send on only one group, some on all.
Make sure that your wifi card looks for the signal that the router sends, e.g. B-card with B-router or G-card with G-router, etc.
Also, some firewalls are notorious for blocking wifi (such as ZoneAlarm...) unless specifically set to allow it.

[pcengine92]

Okay, I finally got the wireless connection working. the router is a "g", and I was using an "N" type usb adapter and card. Even though both were supposedly backwards compatible, they could never locate the ip address of the router. I borrowed someone's "g" usb adapter and it worked perfectly. So I went out and got one for myself. No problems whatsoever.

Thanks to everyone who offered assistance!