wireless dilemma

[sojourner]

Wanted to upgrade my 2100 3B wireless card. Researched the forum and found most people prefer the Atheros, so I bought an AR5005. Wow, it is sooo much faster than the Intel 2100 3B card in this T41. I did in fact see 4+ times the speed in XP & W2k!

The problem, cannot find drivers for it for Win98SE! If you check my SIG you see this is a multi-boot system and I must have 98. Concluded it best to try an Intel (IBM) 2200BG or 2915ABG however Lenovo's web site, to me, is unclear as to whether or not there are drivers for these cards for 98. Does anybody know for sure if there are drivers for 98? (if so a link would be appreciated).

Here's the link I used for finding drivers:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-55386

If anyone KNOWS if there are drivers for Win98SE for a 2200BG or 2915ABG please let me know!

Thanks

[ulrich.von.lich]

If anyone KNOWS if there are drivers for Win98SE for a 2200BG or 2915ABG please let me know!

Can't find any drivers of those cards for Win98SE on Intel's site. I think they have ditched Win98. If you must have it, have you considered Virtual PC, which allows you to run it as a Guest OS? In that case you'll be able to benefit the wireless connection in Win98.

You might also want to try installing some 3rd party drivers. For example, I have a Baffulo PCMCIA card, which some people got working in OSX and it's identified as an Atheros B/G card. So I would assume it shares some similarities with the Atheros B/G cards used in ThinkPads. The Win98 driver can be found if you google it, but I don't know if it'll work at all, but it might be worth a try.

Good luck!

[sojourner]

ulrich.von.lich, so you looked for drivers too, thanks!

Considered virtual PC many years ago, even bought a copy (thats when they were selling it) but the software I run is specifically made for DOS. It runs ok in 98 but I've had a heck of a time getting it to work in W2K or XP, so, I figured virtual PC may not provide better performance. Perhaps the reason for this is the DOS software accesses hardware direct, which of course W2K, XP etc. do not like!

I ordered a 2200BG wireless card hoping to be able to get it to work in 98. It should arrive this week. Will have to play with drivers and see if anything will work. It's a shame the Atheros 5005GS has no drivers for Win98, it is a nice card. The only con's I saw with it (in W2K & XP) were the LCD screen LED (antenna light) would not light and of course fn-F5 didn't work. That was not a big deal and many live without those features. One nice thing about the Atheros software though, they did provide an option to quickly switch the radio on-of with a menu selection from a systray icon.

For now, we'll see how the 2200 does.

Thanks for your time and comments!

Sojourner

[aaa]

Hey all, I'm pretty sure an Atheros driver exists for 98 (I know it does for the AR5004 at least), it's just a matter of finding it.

[GomJabbar]

Google is your friend...

http://www.soft32.com/download_177471.html

[sojourner]

Hey all, I'm pretty sure an Atheros driver exists for 98 (I know it does for the AR5004 at least), it's just a matter of finding it.

aaa, you are right! And I found the IBM 802.11bg wireless has the Atheros AR5004 chip. IBM's P/N is 93P3475. IBM also provides software for it for 98SE to XP, not sure about Vista. The software provides LED function and allows fn+F5 (only tried fn+F5 on W2K). Linux also has software available so this card is one of those rare ones that has support spanning MANY OS's (which I like).

BTW: I struggled getting the fn+F5 hotkey to work when I first bought the laptop. Read the forums for solutions etc but still found no joy. Then, happened to stumble across a work-around. For those having trouble and want immediate access to turning off the radio try this:

Do a file search on your computer for a file named TPFNF5.EXE (you MUST have installed the Hotkey software and the file should reside there)

Double click the file. If it works, prompting you for action specific to your wireless, create a shortcut on your desktop or in Quick Launch (which I did). You'll then have immediate access to turning your wireless ON/OFF. Works great!