Does this T43 have wireless and/or Bluetooth?

[GlynH]

Hi there,

Just collected a T43 (2668-41G) from a friend of mine who's son had installed a pirate copy of XP on it...of course they had nuked the hidden partition so no chance of a factory restore...

As I don't have a T43 Restore disc (is there anywhere I can get one from quickly?) I booted a clean XP disc to get it running for him.

Installed SP2 and everything looks good...apart from the fact that there is no sign of a wireless card...not that I noticed before...

I say no sign but in the BIOS the options for Wireless & Bluetooth are enabled - does this mean they are fitted?

Obviously with a clean XP install FN-F5 has no effect...

I popped the keyboard out and noticed the 'modem' card was a 93P4212 [56K Modem] so it appears that it may be modem only but it looked like a black lead was also attached to it...

However a grey antenna lead snakes across to underneath the centre of the keyboard where a small, rectangular, plastic looking 'thing' is attached to the end of the cable.

What is this 'thing' anyway?

Nothing to do with Wi-Fi or BT I suppose?

I have various cards here;

FRU 27K9934 [802.11b/g]
FRU 93P3471 [BT / 56K Combo]
FRU 39T0061 [56K Daughter Card]

...probably for the X41/T as that is the only Thinkpad I have had through here so I don't suppose any of these would drop in if it turns out I don't have Wi-Fi and/or BT onboard?

If I don't already have it but wanted to fit a Wi-Fi and/or BT card into the T43 what FRU would I be looking at please?

And if I don't have one why does the option show in the BIOS?

Surely it should be disabled, inactive or hidden?

How old is the T43 likely to be - I mean when was it released/discontinued?

Thanks & regards,
-=Glyn=-

[sarbin]

Product: ThinkPad T43 2668-41G [change]
Operating system: All [change]

Original description: P M 750, 256MB RAM, 40GB 4200rpm HDD, 14.1 XGA(1024x768) TFT LCD, 64MB ATI Radeon X300, 24x-8x DVD, Wireless upgradeable(MPCI), Modem(CDC), 1Gb Ethernet(LOM), UltraNav, Secure Chip, 6 cell Li-Ion battery, WinXP Pro

so... looks like no wifi/bt, but has the wifi antenna installed, which is likely what describe seeing. i wouldn't count on an installed bt antenna, though.

re: a recovery disk set... have a look at: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=62169
these are real, ibm/lenovo sets. i'm a satisfied customer.

hth.

[GlynH]

Thanks for the reply Sarbin,

Still not sure about the Wi-Fi/BT but I have ordered some Recovery CD's from this guy;

http://search.ebay.com.au/_W0QQsassZyasmicorra

Same guy who advertised here referenced in your thread maybe?

[chan_man]

Here is the link to the FRU list for the T43 series, the wireless B/G card is listed so should work.

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

If you look at your B/G card, there should be two small gold plated coax connectors, this connects to the antenna cables (grey and black) from the monitor screen.

To get the Fn-F5 to work, go to the Lenovo site and install the System Update software, it should then install all the necessary Thinkvantage stuff...

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... yle=lenovo

[SteveS]

If you did a clean XP install from a generic Microsoft CD, you probably installed the incorrect HAL for the T43. Your security chip won’t work, along with some of the power saving features in the power manager. I have also experienced random blue screens from a T43 with the generic HAL installed. You can’t easily change the HAL once Windows is installed.

You should definitely reinstall starting from a recovery CD set.

Some “Wireless upgradeable” Thinkpads were actually upgraded at the factory per the customer order. If this is the case, you will see a label with a barcode listing MAC address and the 802.3 modes it supports – a, b, and/or g, attached to the bottom of the case. I have never seen a T4x that lacks the WiFi antenna, but the bluetooth antenna was usually only installed on Bluetooth models, or the "p" models.

[GlynH]

Thanks for the replies guys...

I have since had my genuine IBM Recovery discs arrive from Australia (excellent price & service) and all is now as it was when it originally left the factory...apart from being more up to date what with SP3 & the latest Lenovo software/drivers etc.

There is definitely no Mini PCI Wi-Fi card (I can see the empty slot now I know what I am looking at) and the grey/black wires are definitely the Wi-Fi antenna cables.

What looked like a small, rectangular, plastic looking 'thing' was not attached to the end of the cables but was an edge connector for the trackpad assembly - the Wi-Fi antenna cables themselves were just tucked away underneath the trackpad area and in fact were not even insulated to prevent shorting other components...


chan_man:

Thanks for the link - I had already stumbled across that in my search but noticed that there is a choice of 23 different FRU numbers none of which seem a match for my 2668-41G
Good job I never needed a Base Cover - there are 35 of those to choose from!


SteveS:

Your logic sounds correct - there is definitely not a fitted BT antenna - just the two Main/Aux Wi-Fi antenna wires mentioned above.
And on the label underneath there is what looks like a 'blank landing zone' adjacent to the existing Model/Serial number barcode sticker labelled 802.11b MAC Address which I guess is for fixing the Wi-Fi MAC Address label.
Looks like nothing has ever been fitted there...

All I need to do is find what looks like the correct FRU for the 2668-41G

Anyone?

[virge]

I've had a couple of T42 machines and one T43 lid pass through my hands and even the ones without BT installed had the antenna so it seems strange to me that there wouldn't be one on yours. The BT antenna cable much shorter and if its there, it should be tucked under the modem (on the motherboard and about 1-2" away from the left hinge). The cable should be white. Have you taken a look there?

[wireless4laptop]

actually, you can use any short mini pci wireless antenna connecting with bt module under the keyboard. not need to disassemble LCD.

[sparta.rising]

Just in case you put the wireless card in, and boot, and you get an 1802 Error, power down the computer, remove the wireless card, reboot with the CD found here, follow the on-screen instructions, power down, reinstall the card, and reboot.

[Specter]

About the OP:s question of whether a device is fitted if it is listed in the BIOS, is this so?

I have several T4X and generally, if a device is listed in the BIOS it is also available in the machine. But I have a T43 which lists a bluetooth device as present in the BIOS, but Windows can find nothing related to bluetooth. And according to Lenovos pages this T43 has no bluetooth, but why then is it listed in the BIOS?