Bluetooth in a T601 Frankenpad

[zoltan87]

Maybe I am missing something, but upon trying to assemble my T60-T61 Frankie build I just noticed, that there is no way to insert the Bluetooth module in. The connector for it on the T61 motherboard is slightly misaligned compared to the original T60 mobo position, and because of the magnesium rollcage there is no space there.

I googled this issue, but no-one mentions it, or talks about it. What am I missing? Or is it just a well known fact that bluetooth won't work in these T601 builds?

Also off topic, but in one of my spare Thinkpad T61 I noticed that there are 4 cables coming out form the lid, one for the WWAN, two for the Wi-Fi card, and there is a fourth white cable going under the wi-fi module into an insulated small white envelope, connected to nothing. Any idea why that white cable is there?

[RealBlackStuff]

In a T60 (and T61) the Bluetooth module is located in the lid.
Not every LCDcable has the connector for it.
Remove the 3 screwcovers and screws along the bottom, then lift up the bottom-part of the LCD-bezel.
The BT-module sits left of the LCD-cable.
Check the HMM for exact details.

[pkiff]

[...]in one of my spare Thinkpad T61 I noticed that there are 4 cables coming out form the lid, one for the WWAN, two for the Wi-Fi card, and there is a fourth white cable going under the wi-fi module into an insulated small white envelope, connected to nothing. Any idea why that white cable is there?

A third antenna, maybe? Some Wifi cards have 3 antenna ports, so they might install three antennas even though the actual card that was delivered in your machine only has two ports. I'm not up on the technical rationale or practical differences between 2 antenna vs 3 antenna.

[RealBlackStuff]

The white cable is the 3rd antenna, for use with Wimax.

And the connector you cannot access because the chassis is in the way, is/was for the modem.

[zoltan87]

And the connector you cannot access because the chassis is in the way, is/was for the modem.

Wow, I feel like a complete fool. In all this time I always thought that that was the bluetooth module.

Also surprised about that white cable that they thought about future proofing the antennas for 3 connectors. Especially that in the other hand they put a whitelist in the BIOS against most wifi cards.

[TPFanatic]

There were some Intel 3 antenna wireless cards available at the time, at least T61 had them, not sure if they are the same.

The fastest 3 antennas now are Intel 6300 N used in ThinkPads from 2010-2012 and some 3 antenna Atheros.

[zoltan87]

Pretty much everything else is sorted now on my Frankenpad build, but I just can't figure out how to get the Bluetooth module to work on Windows 8.1. The funny thing is, it kind of works, as I can switch it on with Fn+F5, the Bluetooth LED under the screen is on, it's in the device manager too, but I just can't use it. I tried to find it with my phone's bluetooth, but my laptop doesn't show up. Also there is nothing on the laptop where I could initiate a search or something with bluetooth.

I tried to install the newest bluetooth driver for it (the one for Win 7 32, 64 bit with enhanced data rate), but it can't install stating it has compatibility issue. I tried to change compatibility to Win xp, 7, 8, but none of these changes helped.

It's so annoying, as the module shows up in device manager, and windows states it works correctly, but there is nothing I could do with it. Any ideas? How is it even supposed to work? Any of you use bluetooth on these older systems ? By the way, I have the EXACT SAME issue on my T60, I just remember I gave up on it a long time ago. But I really want it to work on my T601 build.

[Thinkpad4by3]

That might not necessarily be a problem with the BT card. It could be the antenna...heck it would be a problem with your phone not wanting to talk with your Frankie. I'd try a different device and your antenna wires. BT headphones are my go-to test device.