Thinkpads Forum

I spent 3 months hunting for a 16 bit pcmcia wireless card at an affordable price, and i finally got this:

3com OfficeConnect 11Mbps Wireless LAN
3CRSHPW696

It should be a 16bit card, in fact when i stick it in my T20 the linux command 'lspci' doesn't display it at all (of course the card works fine).
So when i try to plug it into my 365x, it stops about 1cm before being fully plugged in. As i see, the plastic spacer-or-something is shaped like the one on my 32bit cardbus cards, not like on my 16bit ethernet cards.
Here's how the card looks like:

http://kaniak.kicks-[censored].net/box/3comwifi1.jpg
http://kaniak.kicks-[censored].net/box/3comwifi2.jpg
http://kaniak.kicks-[censored].net/box/3comwifi3.jpg

So, is it 16 bit and i should mechanically modify it a bit to fit, or that would fry the card, or what?
Any suggestions much appreciated!

I learned something new again today about voltage regulations on pc card device:

http://www.pcmcia.org/faq.htm#slot

Moral of the story: Thinkpad 365x computers and 3com OfficeConnect 11Mbps cards don't mix well...

It's hard to tell from the blurry photo at http://kaniak.kicks-[censored].net/box/3comwifi3.jpg, but the "nose" on the left front side of the card looks like a Cardbus (32Bit) form. A 16Bit card has a very thin "nose", whereas the one of the 32Bit card is thick, as in the picture. The card is described as a 16Bit card, but for some reason it looks like the Cardbus form was used for the housing, and it won't fit in a 16Bit PMCMIA slot.

This really is strange, since the description of the card states that it can be used in a 16Bit PMCMIA or 32Bit Cardbus slot. But with that thick nose it can't be inserted in a 16Bit PCMCIA slot without damage to the slot.

Looks like the "key" on the front left doesn't describe the 16/32bit, but the voltage:

A "key" was defined on the edge of the PC Card connector to prevent 3.3 V cards from inserting into slots that only operate at 5.0 V in order to prevent damage to the card.

from pcmcia.org

I took a more clear photo of the card, this time with a Cardbus and a 16bit next to it:
http://kaniak.kicks-[censored].net/box/cardbus1.jpg
http://kaniak.kicks-[censored].net/box/cardbus2.jpg
Guess i should look for the voltage provided by the slot on the 365x in the manual, but i'm almost sure it's 5V.

delete

Looks like the "key" on the front left doesn't describe the 16/32bit, but the voltage

Interesting... all I was aware of up to now is that the 32Bit cards had the thicker "key".

I took a more clear photo of the card, this time with a Cardbus and a 16bit next to it...

Yes, the Compaq card with the thin "key" is the 16Bit one.

Guess i should look for the voltage provided by the slot on the 365x in the manual, but i'm almost sure it's 5V.

Presumably. So it seems that it's not enough to look for 16Bit cards for older Thinkpads, you also have to check whether they are 5V or 3.3V cards (best by a good photo of the left front side). That makes it even more difficult to find cards that really work in the older machines.

Thanks for going into this and pointing out the differences!