Wireless mini-PCI Card Installation Experience

[Aeroguy]

Perhaps my experience adding wireless to my T40/237314U over the past couple of days will be helpful to others. The installation, especially software, was a bit tedious. But, bottom line, the adapter is now working well and I'm glad I did it.

The T40 came to me (from another employee at my place of work) as "wireless upgradeable". Bought the ThinkPad 11a/b/g Wireless LAN Mini-PCI Adapter II (US), model 73P4301, from the IBM/Lenova website @ $65.00. Chose it because it was the most recently released (and presumably most recently designed) of the available cards.

Physically installed the mini-PCI card in the T40, with the help of one call to IBM/Lenova support in Atlanta (800-426-7378 from the U.S.). Booted the T40 and got the well-known Error 1802 ("Unauthorized network card is
plugged in. Power off and remove the Mini PCI network card.")

Called IBM/Lenova support again and got "Rocky". He patiently and expertly explained the solution. 1) Upgrade the BIOS to version 1RETDNWW (3.19), released 2005/10/25. 2) Upgrade the Embedded Controller to version 1RHT71WW (3.04), released 2004/11/15. Then, after booting, install 3) the driver, and 4) Access Connection software. More on steps 3) and 4) below.

Incidently, "Rocky" really knows his stuff. That was the best phone help support I've gotten in years.

Steps 1) and 2) went well. When I booted the T40 it recognized new hardware and asked for the diskette that came with the hardware. The process completed without any errors.

I then hit the "Fn" and "F5" keys simultaneously, which is supposed to turn the wireless card on/off, and is an indicator of its being installed properly. The display indicated that the driver needed updating. Got file 77cw14ww.exe, dated 2005/09/01, from the IBM/enova web site. After uninstalling the driver from the diskette, I installed the new driver without a problem. The "Fn-F5" combination then worked as intended. Step 3) done.

Incidently, when installing and uninstalling drivers and utility software, it's good idea to reboot after every change.

For step 4), I could not make Access Connection work properly. I tried both the newest version, 4.01 (dated 2005/12/20), and the next-to-last version, 3.81. In both cases, when Access Connection was installed, the "Fn-F5" key combination did not work (got message to the effect that a card is not installed).

Decided to let Windows XP SP2 control wireless networking (backup option suggested by "Rocky"). Went to Control Panel and clicked on Network Connections -- and saw nothing. Frustrated. Windows doesn't know about the wireless adapter. More research needed.

With some help from a web site, clicked on Control Panel --> Administrative Tools --> Services --> Wireless Zero Configuration. Changed Start Up Type from Disabled to Automatic. Rebooted. Message in tray says "Detected wireless network" -- my router. Happy ending to the story.

[jongordo8]

I am doing this exact same upgrade if my wireless card ever clears customs, so thank you for the write up! I will make sure that my embedded controller is up to date so that I don't have to deal with the 1802 message.

[jongordo8]

installation was a snap, and card works well. Hey anyone know how much battery life I will lose if I put power settings to the highest? If I set it to the lowest?

[boshi]

"unauthorized card"

does this mean it restricts the cards we can use to just IBM/Intel ones?

[GomJabbar]

"unauthorized card"

does this mean it restricts the cards we can use to just IBM/Intel ones?

Yep!

The cards have to be IBM branded, whether they are Intel, Atheros, Cisco, etc. IBM puts something in the firmware of the cards. I understand the ThinkPad won't even boot with a non-IBM card unless you do the 1802 firmware hack. Doing the hack carries some risk though.

[boshi]

Wow, I wish they said this before I ordered one. Now I'm scared, do they restrict other things also?

[LtTPfan]

IBM puts something in the firmware of the cards.

IBM puts a whitelist in the machine BIOS, not the cards. The BIOS compares the manufacturer ID in the card with the whitelist.

Doing the hack carries some risk though.

What risk? I haven't heard of anyone having a problem as all it does is set one bit in CMOS, and it is easily reversible, just remove all AC and battery power then disconnect the CMOS battery for a few seconds--poof, it's gone. (There is also an 1802.com program that will clear the bit set by no1802.com.) On the other hand, it is possible to hack the machine BIOS to change the whitelist, or change the ID in the card's EEPROM, both of those options are certainly risky.

[boshi]

Do they also restrict other things that have internal branding codes, like RAM, optical drives, and hard drives?

[LtTPfan]

Wow, I wish they said this before I ordered one. Now I'm scared, do they restrict other things also?

Fear not, just use the no1802 patch. This is not an IBM imposed restriction but rather by the FCC. All radio devices have to be FCC certified for their intended use. All laptop manufacurers who choose to put wireless cards in their machines have to have each model card certified for each model machine.

[boshi]

Wow, I wish they said this before I ordered one. Now I'm scared, do they restrict other things also?

Fear not, just use the no1802 patch. This is not an IBM imposed restriction but rather by the FCC. All radio devices have to be FCC certified for their intended use. All laptop manufacurers who choose to put wireless cards in their machines have to have each model card certified for each model machine.

yeah, I already have the 2900ABG or whatever, so I'm ok with that, but I did purchase a Lite-On dual layer dvd+-rw burner for it, and now I'm worried it wont fit when I get it, or that it will reject my ram upgrade because of the vendor ID bit.

[GomJabbar]

Well, LtTPfan knows more about the 1802 hack than I do. He was correct in saying that the 1802 hack is for the BIOS rather than the firmware of the wireless card. And apparantly he was also correct in saying that the 1802 hack doesn't seem to be risky. Having just skimmed over a search on 1802, I see he has posted in most of the threads. I was writing from memory (sometimes faulty), where he was writing from experience.

I did run across this one thread where the 1802 hack would not work for a user of a T43p. So 'I guess' there is some question if it will work with the newest ThinkPads.

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=14328

[LtTPfan]

I did run across this one thread where the 1802 hack would not work for a user of a T43p. So 'I guess' there is some question if it will work with the newest ThinkPads.

I've been wondering about the T43p myself after reading that thread as I am going to write a Windows based program for doing this, rather than having to go thru the hoops of making a DOS boot disk etc. Since that thread is several months stale, I might just start my own thread to ask the question of newer series owners.

[dlichterman]

At work we had some Broadcom 54g cards from HP's laying around so I put one in, and then got the 1802.....then patched(once I found a working floppy...) and it works great!!!!!

R50 BTW