Thinkpads Forum

Hey all,

I have a question regarding WiFi.

I got this laptop without a WiFi card. I purchased a miniPCI WiFi card on eBay, and it seems to work OK, but I have a small problem. When I take the laptop away from the WiFi router, I quickly loose signal. My maximum distance I can get is about 20 unobstructed feet.

Now the question.... Is there supposed to be an antenna hooked to the WiFi card? I don't have a picture of the board, but it looks to have 2 connectors on the top of the card. Because it didn't come with WiFi origonally, and when I took apart the display to replace the hinges, I don't think there was an antenna origonally in it.

I think I see one on the parts list at Lenovo, but it doesn't seem to be labled.

Anyone know enough about this model to help?

Thanks,

OGPIM
oldgrandpainmi

Yes you'd definitely need an antenna, but I couldn't tell you which one to order or how to install it. I'd guess that MiniPCI wifi was not an option on that laptop ... What is the machine type/model on the bottom?

Harryc,

As stated, mine is a i1300-1171-4mu. The barcode sticker is now totally worn off, now.

Can you tell me, FOR SURE, if what I am seeing on the componant side of the WiFi card is the antenna socket's, or not? They are gold in color and about +-1/8" in diameter.

I have built my own ham radio antenna's for years, from the 160m band, thru the 1.2ghz band with success. If I am in need of an antenna, and I have to fab one, I can do that. Even if I have to use a scrapped one from an old PC, I can do that too. The problem is to where to hook it (them), thus the first email!

I haven't been on the Lenovo site yet, today, but what I believe was the antenna was actually two wires, running parellel, along the display. It just is not technical as to the hook-up's. If I have to, I can solder 2 wires to act as antenna's. Tuning can come later.

I appreciate your reply,

OGPIM

Just as I thought, that machine was not built with internal WiFi -

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... y=1171-4mu

The posts that you are describing are for antenna connections. You need to use the main and aux terminals on the card. You can buy an antenna from Lenovo or on EBay for another model Thinkpad, but it's the length that you'd have to determine yourself. It is routed from the card up the insides of the LCD panel. I have seen antennas (on EBay) that are made to be routed around the palm rest/keyboard area as well. That might be a better routing option for you.

harryc,

Thus, the problem!!!

There are no terminals on the miniPCI card. Except those connectors I tried to discribe! It's been a couple months since I looked at it, but I don't remember if they were labled or not on the board layout, or not.

I was surfing to see if I could get a pic of the board, to help show what I am discribing, when you replied. If I get one, I'll include it in a future post, if I haven't solved this problem.

Thanks, again,

OGPIM

If you can get the part number off of the card it would be easier to see what you need.

harryc,

FRU# 08K3309

This is on the part and at the Lenovo web site.

OGPIM

The only reference I can find to 'wireless' is in this parts list -

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... rintLenovo

Lower case with label 1171, US wireless Li-Ion battery model

26P9282

To me that says that you need a specific lower case part number to get the wireless connections. I can't find a single reference to an antenna other than that. Here's one on sale -
http://www.impactcomputers.com/26p9282.html
That particular part also calls for a Lithium ION battery, so be carefull there if you don't have that feature already or you may end up buying another battery. Study that parts list for alternate applications. Good luck.

harryc,

The Lenovo link is where I got the little bit of info I needed.
The antenna is located within SELECT i1300 models, of which mine is not one of. I know this as I just replaced my left hinge a couple months ago, and no antenna wire was in my old or new unit.

IF I cannot find a replacement, I will attempt to build my own, based on the parts diagram at Lenovo. My only problem is that both of the times I removed the keyboard and the PCI slot cover to do wifi parts installation, my hard drive had its partition completely wiped out! 40g of raw data and the blue screen of death telling me there was nothing on my drive. Thats why I didn't get back and reply until today!!!

Kinda waiting to see if I can get an OEM antenna before my next attempt!

Thanks for your help.

OGPIM

harryc,

I may have the answers, but none really help.

First, I spent an hour with a tech at IBM/Lenovo. He could find nothing about the antenna, except for the fact that if you need one, the only way you can get it is to spend the money (about 200.00) to get the hinge/antenna asm. That is, if you can find one on the web, as they are not available from Lenovo.

Second, I fell back on my Ham Radio training and determined that the 2 antenna's are actually folded dipole antenna's. from the wifi card, the antenna is fed with a shielded cable about the size of a set of good ear phones. Then, at the hinge, the antenna looks like the oldstyle 300 ohm antenna wire, cut to be tuned to the frequency of the WiFi board. (I've built dozen's of these for ham radio use, but nothing this small for WiFi).

I got fed up with this antenna situation, so after 1/2 hour of soldering iron prep and case disasembly, I ran a couple wires down the sides of the display, thru the bottom case, and soldered the ends to each of the antenna socket tabs, as these board connectors for the antenna's are SMT sockets and the solder tabs are easier to solder to than the socket it's self. I can't say it is perfect, but I can now connect to my wireless router on the other side of my house.

Thanks for your help-----
Bruce
OGPIM

Thanks for the information.