Thinkpads Forum

Knowing that the Thinkpad 760xl did not support cardbus cards, I bought a pcmcia netgear ma401 wireless 802.11b card for the laptop. Neither in windows xp or in 2000 can I get wireless with this card working. The drivers install and the card becomes recognized, and I can even run the configuration utility, but it can neither find a hotspot or connect to anything else. Has anyone had success with this card?

The 760XL lacks CardBus support? Odd, I thought every model excluding the C, CD, L and LD did. I know my 760E does. Well, nevermidn that. What you need to check on your ThinkPad is your IRQ settings. The 760 line of laptops is pretty much the epitome of IRQ hell. I know that on my 760E, I have to have at least one device disabled at all times, usually it's the serial port, otherwise, I'll have IRQ and resource conflicts.

Same problem here with the Netgear MA401 and ME102 station on my T41p. Both working fine though after a firmware and driver update

I was able to fix all of my 760's IRQ problems when I decided to remove the mWave sound/modem combo and replace it with the ESS soundsystem while in the process of replacing the P133 with a P166-MMX. The modular design IBM applied to the 760 series laptops makes it possible to replace just about any part in the computer without replacing something else at the same time. Similar concept as with desktops, but with variation. I'm going to install a new video board once the one I sent off for arrives.

With the new faster CPU, a soundsystem Windows supports and removal of the modem that was only hogging IRQ's (because I use broadband, I don't need a modem, especially not a 28., my 760 runs like new, without me having to disable various devices to make others work.

This is a long-term headache. It seems that with Windows 2000 (and presumably XP) on the 760XL, the ONLY wireless card that works is the Cisco 350. I had one working perfectly a while ago - and then, when I booted the 760XL again recently, the Cisco refused to connect to the router, and it hasn't come back since.

The computer itself didn't change - the only thing that changed, I think, since I last tried it is that I replaced my 802.11b access point/router with an 802.11g model. It's possible that this was just enough to get the thing confused.

IF you have only an 802.11b access point, you MAY get wireless on the 760/Win2000orXP setup with a Cisco card. But you certainly won't get it with anything else.

I have a Siemens SpeedStream SS1021 802.11b Wireless PCMCIA Card that works just dandy in my 760xd. I seem to recall however that I needed to disable the IR device, because it was using an IRQ that the wireless card wanted.

Also - the MSI CB11B 802.11b wireless card would not work regardless.

What you need to do is purchase the SS1021.

Good luck!

Which operating system are using the Siemens card? Every wireless card I tried works on the 760XL under Windows 95 and 98. The problem occurs with 2000.

i'm using win98se. i'll bet you a beer that you wont get the MSI CB11B to work on a 760xd with win98se!

Not one of the cards I tried...!

Anyway, back to the orginal poster's topic: anyone able to get a wireless card to work under Windows 2000 on a 760XL???

I have used a Orinoco Gold 802.11b on my 760XL with both Win2K and XP. I currently use a Belkin CardBus 802.11g with Win98_SE (and sometimes a Belkin USB-to-102.11g). Problem with the 760XL is that neither 2K nor XP has 32-bit CardBus support for the 760XL TI-1130 PCMCIA controller which narrows your choice of WLAN cards.

Try setting the irq to 10 in the device manager. I'm sending this from A TP760XL with a MA401 card. Works with 98SE and 2000.

I very belatedly noticed the previous item on this thread after hauling out my 760XL and trying out the wireless on it under Windows 2000.

Vcim is absolutely right: changing the IRQ on the Cisco card to 10 suddenly made it possible to connect to my wireless network again.

Thank you!