Success Wifi added to T30

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strayhand · #1 Post by **strayhand** » Fri Sep 08, 2006 11:18 pm

I just thought i would post my positive experience installing an inexpensive mini-pci card in my T30.

I bought this MSI card from Newegg.com
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6833158115

Wireless G for $20 bucks and free shipping I couldn't resist.

Before installing the card I did my research. Since I own a T30 I decided to go with the CMOS no-1802 hack. The tricky thing was that I don't have a floppy drive for my machine (The no-1802.com program requires you to boot to dos). I tried creating a bootable USB key but that turned out to be a real pain in the butt.

Then I found this CD iso. It contains the no-1802.com program on a bootable CD-Rom. All I had to do was drop into the bios and change my start-up sequence.
http://www.command-tab.com/2006/02/26/u ... less-cards

After running the application, I restarted my machine. Everything worked as normal. I then powered off the machine and installed the wireless card. The card is a lot like a ram chip, there's only one correct way to put the card into the slot. If you look really closely at the card you'll see where it says AUX, attach the black antenna wire to this connector. Snapping the antenna wires onto the card was a bit of a pain, but eventually they connect.

Throw in the CD that comes with the card. Windows XP had no trouble installing the drivers. I tried using the default windows wireless manager but I wasn't able to connect to my D-Link DI-624 router. I was running WEP 128 and windows wasn't giving me an option to input the key. So I went ahead and installed the wireless management software that comes with the card. I had to disable windows as the wireless manager. Then the card's software let me input the password.

That's it. If you're thinking of grabbing a cheap card... I say go for it. It was pretty simple.

ironduke2010 · #2 Post by **ironduke2010** » Wed Oct 18, 2006 11:15 am

sounds great. i've got a working 802.11b card, but i'd like to upgrade to an a/b/g, which means i'd have to go the no1802 route.

my tricky thing is, not only do i have no floppy, but my cd/rw dvd-rom drive is broken too! i hardly ever use the thing, so i'd like to avoid buying a replacement anything. even an ultrabay floppy for about $20 seems like a lot to pay for something i'll use just for a no1802 hack.

i do have an extra 2.5in hd, and a usb external case for it. is booting off a usb device a viable option? i was thinking i'd put the above cd on the usb hard drive. any chance that would work?

any other workarounds?

for that matter, anyone know if there is an easy fix for an nec cb-2100a that can't read anything?

thanks

strayhand · #3 Post by **strayhand** » Wed Oct 18, 2006 12:59 pm

I have no ideas how you'd do that. The no1802 hack that I refer to is part of a bootable ISO, which to my knowledge will require the use of a cd/dvd drive.

You might be able to contact the author of the ISO file to see if they have any suggestions. You might be able to transfer the no1802 hack to a USB drive and boot from that. But I'm not sure if the T30 supports USB drives in the boot sequence. You'd have to somehow mount the ISO file to your USB drive. I know of some utilities within windows that will allow this, but this will obviously take place before windows boots.

If I were you... I'd drop the $20 for a cd-drive. Sorry that I cannot be of more help.

ironduke2010 · #4 Post by **ironduke2010** » Wed Oct 18, 2006 2:25 pm

no problem strayhand, i wasn't expecting you to come up with all the answers. but just so i'm clear, you burned the .iso file to a cd, right? and then you booted to that cd, right? if so, i think i may be on to something. i found a sort of guide that describes how to boot from a usb flashdrive. a bit of work really, but in theory it should work.

the whole thing hinges on the bios though, and since i don't have my laptop with me at the moment, i can't check to see if booting off usb is any kind of option with the t30 bios (apparently its an option on a lot of bios's). if i can boot from a usb device, then the hard drive or flash drive should both work.

but yeah, $20 for an ultrabay floppy might be the easier way to go. guess i could always sell it again on ebay!

#5 Post by **rkawakami** » Wed Oct 18, 2006 4:27 pm

There is another option for floppy drives, as I understand that the T30 uses the same docking port connector as the T2x series. If you already have the port replicator (FRU 02K8667), there is a floppy drive port that can be used with the external floppy case/drive for the 600 series systems. I do it all of the time with booting my T23 from a floppy when Ghosting the hard drive.

Website · #6 Post by **tfflivemb2** » Wed Oct 18, 2006 9:26 pm

If you are really in a tight spot, I can sell you one of my spare internal floppy drives for $6 regular mail, or $10 USPS Priority Mail.

I think it is always a good think to have a spare floppy drive laying around.

BlueDevilTide · #7 Post by **BlueDevilTide** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 5:01 pm

Any idea if this would fit/work into my X30? I don't think it has antennae for wireless built in, and the newegg spec sheet says it has an internal antennae. I have a media slice so I can burn that ISO and do the hack that way. Any forseeable problems?

Also, would a T23 need the hack at all?

I have a PCMCIA wireless solution in the X30 (the T23 is always at the desk) but I can't help but wonder whether this might be better.

I've never installed any kind of computer hardware before, aside from replacing my T23's keyboard....though this seems pretty easy, right?

#8 Post by **rkawakami** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 5:14 pm

BlueDevilTide wrote:Also, would a T23 need the hack at all?

The no-1082 hack? I don't believe so, based upon a couple of Broadcom-based 802.11b/g cards that I've stuck into some T23s. Of course, I've only put in those MiniPCI cards into systems that already have the antennas in the lid. The alternative is to put the antenna(s) underneath the keyboard. This is based upon reading several accounts here about people trying to put antennas into the standard lid (without the plastic "ribbing") and my experience in putting an antenna into a 600X lid. Coverage was not as good as a PCMCIA-based WiFi card due to the metal lid.

danage · #9 Post by **danage** » Fri Oct 20, 2006 3:42 pm

why don't you do the no-1802 in windows?

1. download cmos info from http://www.peter-weigel.de/ (sublink: anwendungen)
2. goto section 0 register 6A
3. change 01 or 00 to 81 or 80, depending on the original value

4. then, install the card into your computer.

anneortim · #10 Post by **anneortim** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 2:20 pm

danage wrote:why don't you do the no-1802 in windows?

1. download cmos info from http://www.peter-weigel.de/ (sublink: anwendungen)
2. goto section 0 register 6A
3. change 01 or 00 to 81 or 80, depending on the original value

4. then, install the card into your computer.

I can't read German, but I think I did this right. Mine has "21" in Section 0 Register 6A. Any thoughts?

danage · #11 Post by **danage** » Tue Oct 24, 2006 3:31 am

yeah, it really depends on your system and its configuration. i messed with that byte quite a a bit (get the pun?) but didnt find out what the other bits were for. you can just as well go ahead and set that to 20. that should get rid of the 1802.
if the bios complains, you can always put back the original value or even reset all CMOS data by unplugging the CMOS battery for a second or so.

is the program in german? i dont even remember. all i remember was that it was coded pretty well, realtime CMOS updates and all.

danage · #12 Post by **danage** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 4:42 am

[censored]... i mixed upper and lower bits up. sorry. set this to 81.

smiler · #13 Post by **smiler** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 4:45 pm

Maybe this will help someone:

I replaced the standard IBM high Rate mini-pci 11b/combo modem card in my T30 with a new intel 2915abg using the existing internal aerial. This would only work at all with the latest intel drivers and IBM Access connections did not work at all, with either the intel or the IBM 2915abg drivers.
I have now removed all the intel drivers, config tools and the 2915abg hardware from device manager and just installed the recently released IBM Access Connections 4.21 software here:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... IGR-4ZLNJB

IBM bundled 2915abg drivers 9.0.4.17 (same as latest intel driver) at:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-62875

I updated my T30 BIOS to the latest level 2.10 that is supposed to support 54g wireless, but had to use the no1802 bios hack to get round the POST error. No pb after that.

I am now running 54g mode WPA-PSK TKIP on my network, runs great, all LAN connections are managed fine.

I also bought a CDC modem card on ebay to put in the unused slot next to the mini-pci card, so I got the regular modem functionality back. I used the IBM ThinkPad R40 Modem Card FRU91P7657 and plugged the modem cable in it, XP picked it up..works fine.

Good luck.

anneortim · #14 Post by **anneortim** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 12:29 am

I finally got my card from Amazon and was able to try this tonight. Thank you to everyone who contributed to this thread, because it worked! I first installed the card and got the 1802 error. So I removed the card and booted up so I could run the cmosinfo program that danage suggested to change the necessary byte from 21 to 81. Shut down, reinstalled the card and Windows started this time. Cancelled when it found the hardware and tried to automatically load drivers. Installed the software on the CD and everything is working great. Thanks again all.

Success Wifi added to T30

Success Wifi added to T30

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