Thinkpads Forum

Dear All,

Well thanks to the helpful people on this forum I completed the wireless mod for the 600x using the mini pci slot and internal antenna. I used this mini pci card:

Broadcom
Type III A, powerful BCM4306KFB chipset

Having read elswhere that this had been successfully installed in the 600x. Popped it in installed drivers and sure enough it worked and could connect to my router.

Then dismantled the laptop and surprisingly found a fair amount of room in the lid for the antenna and that was great. Put back together and then was disappointed to find the signal was terrible.

I thought the signal would be less - perhaps alot but I wasn't prepared for it to barely see the network. I have a PCMCIA Dlink G650+ in and it sees the network find so its definitely a signal problem. If I take my laptop right next to the router it works fine.

My question is has anyone got any laptop based signal boosting ideas. I'm thinking that the lid just blocks too much signal but others seem to have had some success getting some signal. Also the T40 series have these antenna in the lid set ups and they work.

The antenna I'm using are the ones with the little flags on the ends - perhaps theres better antenna out there or perhaps I need a more powerful mini pci wireless card?

Anyone got any ideas?

Another user in the T2x/T30 conference is experiencing the same issue (weak signal w/internal antenna in lid) as you are and it's probably due to the same thing: the metal in the lid is interfering with the microwave signal. Thinkpads which have the antennas built into the lid are located up against small plastic "windows" which allow the signals to enter and exit the lid. If you've place the antenna(s) behind the LCD panel, against the lid, then the only way for the signal to get out is through the LCD panel itself. The better location is next to the upper left or right edges of the lid as then the signal only has to go through the plastic bezel that surrounds the LCD. As the other user has found out, make sure that you insulate your antenna so that it does not touch any of the surrounding metal (LCD frame or lid) since that seems to negatively affect the reception.

ref: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=34959

If you're read my 600X wireless upgrade web page, I briefly made mention about my experiment in putting an antenna inside the lid. It had slightly poorer reception than a PCMCIA card so that's why I put in an external antenna jack.

Yesterday I put an Intel Pro/Wireless Mini-PCI card in my 600x and stuffed a Tyco antetnna in the base as well. Comparing the signal with that of my T43 with the same wireless card, it varies from the same to about 15% weaker than the T43. I don't know if that helps, but maybe it's the brand...

Thanks for the help guys. Done some serious searching on eBay and found that the sticky, flag topped antenna are designed for the laptops that have the "plastic windows" in the lid. For the older designed laptops its recommended to get the antenna with the sold metal tops. I think I'm going to go for a pair of these although there are some Cisco ones (like these http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... B:EF:UK:11)
which its claimed are great but I've heard no user reviews for them.