Thinkpad A21e 2628 Drivers

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Ryvral · #1 Post by **Ryvral** » Sun Apr 13, 2008 8:27 am

Hello,

My mother-in-law gave me a Thinkpad A21e 2628..
It didn't have any CD's or disk with it at all..
The harddrive was dead so I replaced it..

Ive been trying to find drivers for this with no luck at all.. Ive put Windows XP Home on it and that found most of the drivers.. The only driver that it didn't find is for the built in network device.. I have tried for the past 3 days to go to http://www.lenovo.com/support/ but always get a " 500 Internal Server Error " which ends up at the url " http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... eLenovo.do "..

When I hit report the problem or Get assistance its comes up with a " 404 Not Found " error..

So what I'm hoping is someone out there has this machine and the drivers for it.. Or at least a working link to some drivers or full CD/disk to download..

Thanks in advance.

Ken

Website · #2 Post by **tfflivemb2** » Sun Apr 13, 2008 8:56 am

Welcome to the forum!

I would suggest the System Update utility, as it will find the appropriate drivers for you, if you have another means of accessing the internet with the system. Obviously, you can't connect through the Network port, if that is the driver that you are looking for.

I should also note that IBM/Lenoivo is having problems with its support area, and we cannot access drivers/HMMs/etc. Hopefully, it will be up and running soon.

EDIT: For now, I will provide a link to the old Software Installer, which will provide a link to System Update, since the Software Installer is no longer available, ONCE the connection issue is available through Lenovo. I had the System Update link saved on another computer, but I don't have access to that one right now.

vanaya · #3 Post by **vanaya** » Sun Apr 13, 2008 9:39 am

Just hang tight for a little while. The server is down, check back in a few hours.

Ryvral · #4 Post by **Ryvral** » Sun Apr 13, 2008 7:56 pm

Yeah the Thinkpad can't access the internet until I get the driver install.. What I have been doing is downloading drivers and such unto a usb harddrive then plugging that into the thinkpad to transfer.. The USB Harddrive is only 30megs so its not easy LOL..

As for the network device its showing in windows thats its a unknown device.. I downloaded ( now that the website is working ) http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... IGR-4K4PWT

but didn't have any luck with that.. When I try installing the driver windows gives me a error that its doesn't match the device ( or something like that ).. So I force install it anyway but the NIC still doesn't work.. I'm guessing I'm installing the wrong thing.. I don't see much else on the site that could be the network drivers..

EDIT:::: I just noticed in the BIOS Setup its shows:
MAC Address ( Internal LAN) Not Applicable

I checked the network settings and the:
Internal Network Option ROM is enabled, so shouldn't it show a mac address?

Website · #5 Post by **tfflivemb2** » Sun Apr 13, 2008 9:03 pm

Not sure if this will help, by try downloading and installing Belarc Advisor. When it is run, it will tell you what exactly is installed on your machine. That will tell you which Network device you have installed, (ie. Intel, 3Com, etc.) Then you can try to walk through the installation process on the correct driver based on IBM/Lenovo's lists of available drivers for the A21e.

Ryvral · #6 Post by **Ryvral** » Sun Apr 13, 2008 9:22 pm

Ok I gave that program a try and here is what it told me

Communcations:
Lucent Win Modem
Network Card MAC Address: 00:00:00:00:00:00

Network Drives:
None Detected

And lots of other information reguarding the system..

I'm starting to guess the network device is bad since it has no MAC address.. I do have a wireless card for the Thinkpad but I don't have a wireless router.. LOL.. Guess getting a wireless router is my next stop if the built in network device is malfunctioning

sjthinkpader · #7 Post by **sjthinkpader** » Sun Apr 13, 2008 10:17 pm

There are four types of combo cards that may have went into your machine:

3Com
intel Pro/100
intel Pro/100 SP
Xircom (acquired by intel later)

Most common is the intel SP. It would be easier if you can identify the type of card then look for the driver.

Ryvral · #8 Post by **Ryvral** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 1:22 am

Thanks for the info..

Identifing the card has been one failure after another.. I have used all the recommened programs to get the information for the card.. Nothing comes up except a mac address of 00:etc.. No details on the type of card used in the machine..

I guess my last option is to dloaded all the drivers of the cards you just mentioned and try them one by one..

But I must ask.. Should the network card have a mac address reguardless of drivers? I mean in the bios it doesn't show a mac address either.. That what is making me think its failing.

sjthinkpader · #9 Post by **sjthinkpader** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 9:34 am

Open the door on the case bottom and take a look. It is the one with two cables plugged into it.

Ryvral · #10 Post by **Ryvral** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 9:20 pm

Ok opened it..
Saw the 2 cables but only the smaller one was plugged in.. Was no where to plug in the bigger one.. And the card just said it was a modem with voice is about it..

So it looks like the card was either replaced at one point in time or it just never came with it..

Shopping time.. Hope someone still has replacement cards for a machine this old..

sjthinkpader · #11 Post by **sjthinkpader** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 12:12 am

Yes, the big plug is for ethernet. Try to get an intel Pro/100 SP combo card. It worked for me in many machines.

Oldguy · #12 Post by **Oldguy** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 9:51 am

Ryvral

Hopw have you made out? I just came across this thread, though not presently at my thinkpad. I up graded to XP Pro, didn't install any thinkpad drivers at all. That said I do believe my card is the 3COM. Another altermative is a PCMIA card - I have a linksys wireless that works fine, again with WIN XP drivers
I do believe my TP is a 2628 JXU

Oldguy

Thinkpad A21e 2628 Drivers

Thinkpad A21e 2628 Drivers

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