Wireless and G40

[blackrockburner]

I am considering using win7 eventually. Unfortunately the only thing standing in the way is the drivers for the wireless card.

Is the wireless card upgradable? In other words, is there a win7 compatible wireless card that would fit?

I would rather not have to use an external adapter if I don't have to.

Also can the video be up graded to be able to use the AERO interface (whatever that is)?

[ajkula66]

No for the graphics, since G40 has Intel integrated graphics, no Aero there.

If you posted the full 7-character model number of your machine, or at least which wireless card it currently has, we'd be able to help you...

[blackrockburner]

I've decided that for the price of win7 and considering I only paid $35 for the machine - I'm just going to stick with XPP sp3.

[ac12]

w/o opening up my non-wifi G40 to look for the antenna leads.
Is the wifi antennas already installed on a G40 that came w/o wifi?
I would like to be able to just install a mini pci wifi card rather than have to deal w also installing antennas.
Any BIOS issues that could restrict what wifi card I put into the G40. I would like to put a BGN card if I could, rather than be limited to BG.

thanks

[ajkula66]

No.

If your G40 came with no wireless, there are no antennae in the lid either.

Good luck.

[ac12]

Thanks
Looks like I'm stuck w the PCMCIA wifi card.

[ac12]

I was just thinking, I wonder why IBM did not just put the antenna into the units and leave them unconnected. One less assembly (the display unit w antenna) to inventory and all the different parts for it, and makes it easier for the end customer to upgrade later.
Oh well, one will never know.

[ajkula66]

I was just thinking, I wonder why IBM did not just put the antenna into the units and leave them unconnected. One less assembly (the display unit w antenna) to inventory and all the different parts for it, and makes it easier for the end customer to upgrade later.
Oh well, one will never know.

Two things come to mind here:

a) When these machines were introduced, an internal wireless card was not a must for many people.

b) G4x was really a desktop replacement - bigger and heavier than an A3x which was bulky enough - so the train of thoughts likely was along the lines of "who needs a wireless card in the desktop anyway"...

Of course, these are just my $0.02...have no "inside knowledge" on the issue at hand...

Given the today's price range of the G4x generation, you may just want to pick up a dead machine with a wireless lid on feebay for a few bucks and transplant your screen into the "new" lid...

[ac12]

My G40 is my desktop companion. Thanks to the forum I bumped the RAM up to 2GB, and it works much better. When my main PC is busy, I use the G40 for other stuff, so I don't really need wifi, I just plug a LAN cable into the G40.

At this point I need to limit how much $$ I put into my older computers, so I will stop tinkering w the G40.

For my on-the-road computing I either use an old T23 or a newer (and heavier) T61, so the G40 stays home and no longer needs wifi.