T61 BIOS Blacklisting of WLAN and WWAN Cards

[Rambler76]

Hi,

Ive got a question in regard to the blacklisting of aftermarket WLAN and WWAN cards.

Ive heard that the BIOS will not allow the laptop to boot upon the detection of certain mini pcie cards that are not in its allowed whitelist.

Im looking at adding the following cards and would like to know if they will work.

- Intel 4965AGNMM1WB WLAN card, and

- Sierra Wireless MC8780 WWAN card

The MC8780 is the successor to the MC8775 card which is know to work with the T61 so I dont know if this will be whitelisted yet.

Thanks

[Harryc]

If they are not Lenovo parts, and are not available options in the T61 series, then they are not white listed.

[sugo]

- Intel 4965AGNMM1WB WLAN card

Only Lenovo branded 4965AGN will work in T61.

- Sierra Wireless MC8780 WWAN card

Not every MC8775 works in T61, only Lenovo branded ones do. Lenovo does not have a branded MC8780 (yet), so no MC8780 on the market will work in T61.

[Rambler76]

So I guess Im out of luck buying after market cards.

[Proteus]

I'm confused..what is this "blacklist" being referred to?
I better [censored] well have the right to use whatever miniPCI adapter I please, in MY laptop!

[sugo]

Each mini-pcie card has VID and PID. T6x BIOS has a list of allowed VID/PID pairs. If the card installed is not one of the allowed pairs in BIOS, BIOS will throw error and stop booting process.

It is a very sad restriction for thinkpad users.

[Rambler76]

I'm confused..what is this "blacklist" being referred to?
I better [censored] well have the right to use whatever miniPCI adapter I please, in MY laptop!

Unfortunately you don't.

Lenovo has imposed restrictions only allowing the use of their hardware accessories.

[alacrityathome]

wow!

Is Lenovo the only manufacturer that does that?

[sugo]

HP does that too.

[brentpresley]

I'm confused..what is this "blacklist" being referred to?
I better [censored] well have the right to use whatever miniPCI adapter I please, in MY laptop!

ROFL - yeah. DREAM ON.


Lenovo controls the hardware. You don't have squat to say about it.

[Rambler76]

ok so it seems im forced to buy a Lenovo MC8775 WWAN card.

What about a 4965AGN WLAN card?

I can buy one of these Intel cards for about AUD$50, however IBM want to charge me AUD$132!.

Do we know for certain that non IBM/ WLAN cards are blacklisted by the BIOS as well?

[sveintore]

On my T40p I booted with a diskette that cleared the "lock", is that possible on the T6x?

http://www.command-tab.com/2006/02/26/u ... ess-cards/
(not working on the T60 apparently)

No help here either I think:
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Problem_w ... twork_card


Merry christmas

[sugo]

On my T40p I booted with a diskette that cleared the "lock", is that possible on the T6x?

http://www.command-tab.com/2006/02/26/u ... ess-cards/

As of today, there is no hack available that can bypass WiFi/WWAN card bios check on thinkpads T43/p, T60/p, T61/p, X60/s, X61/s, Z60/t/m and Z61t/m.

The question came up so many times that we need a FAQ for this ...

[aaa]

I wonder if the idchanger hack would work. It would work to a limited extent on minipci, but I don't know about the newer minipcie.

[short101]

which idchanger hack are you refering to? Changing the product id on the card? Is there a program that does this, or are you refering to the links on the thinkwiki page that mentions it?

[aaa]

idchanger is a Linux program for changing the product ID.

Here is something interesting:
http://www.geocities.com/asy99997/ and the google cache of the darglas page.
The problem with the hack is getting the drivers to load. Apparently this person was able to modify his Windows drivers accordingly.

[Jason404]

Does anybody know is a Lenovo branded Sierra MC8775 will work in a [WWAN upgradable] X200s?

I know that the X200 is available with the Gobi 2000 and the Ericsson f3507g WWAN/GPS cards, but the Sierra MC8775 only seem to have come with earlier ThinkPads.

Would it still be in the whitelist?

[RealBlackStuff]

If the X200s takes the same BIOS as the X200, there's a Zender-modified BIOS available that lets you use any card.
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=55837

[Jason404]

Thanks. I have successfully the no-1802 hack previously and did not know there were modified BIOSs for newer ThinkPads.

I was looking into using it, but just realised that the Sierra MC8755 card does not include GPS (or does it?).

If it does not, I will have to buy a more expensive Ericsson f3507g or Gobi 2000, both of which are available as official options on the X200, so should work fine on the X200s, which seems to use the same BIOS.

But I suppose that by still using the modified BIOS, I can use non-Lenovo Ericsson/Gobi cards, like Dell or HP branded ones?

[Peak2Peak]

I was looking into using it, but just realised that the Sierra MC8755 card does not include GPS (or does it?).

Correct - The MC8755 does not support GPS.

But I suppose that by still using the modified BIOS, I can use non-Lenovo Ericsson/Gobi cards, like Dell or HP branded ones?

Yes, most probably - If the card does show not up in device manager (I assume you are running on a Windows OS platform(?)), you may need to tape over pin20 of your chosen WWAN card, so preventing the BIOS from disabling it.

You could also try the Sierra Wireless MC8780 which does support GPS providing the firmware has been updated. Some eBay vendors also claim that the Huawei EM770W supports GPS too!

[Jason404]

@Peak2Peak
Thanks for your reply. So it looks like these are my options for WWAN/GPS on an X200s:

Best (no BIOS modification required):
Levono branded Ericsson F3507g or Gobi 2000

Or (BIOS modification required):
Any brand Ericsson F3507g, Gobi 2000, Sierra Wireless MC8780 or Huawei EM770W.

I still have to look into which frequency ranges and 3G protocols that these cards support.

[Peak2Peak]

I still have to look into which frequency ranges and 3G protocols that these cards support.

Product info for the following WWAN cards:
Ericsson F3507g
Huawei EM770W - (No mention of GPS - although eBay sellers CLAIM GPS is supported!)
Sierra Wireless MC8780
Sierra Wireless MC8785V
Qualcomm Gobi 2000

[Jason404]

Thanks again. From looking at those spec sheets, it looks like the Gobi 2000 is the one to go for, as it supports every band out there, and even supports EV-DO, so you can use it all over the world. If I find a good deal on another model, I may still go for that.

[Peak2Peak]

Yes, the Gobi 2000 does cover nearly all the HSPA/UMTS Bands (800/850/900/1900/2100MHz) - As usual Lenovo branded cards do seem to command the highest price tag while the HP equivalent (UN2420 - SPS 531993-001) can be had on eBay for approx £52.00GBP.