topic Re: Mini-pci wireless question in Communications and Wireless

Mini-pci wireless question

Robert M. Lee — Sun, 26 Dec 2004 16:37:33 GMT

I have an HP Pavilion ze4500 (ze4547wm). This was not originaly "wireless ready". I have since installed a set of wireless antennas. What mini-pci wireless cards will work with this laptop? Are there "locks" in the bios that will prevent the laptop from booting with out the "stock" wireless adapter (IBM seems to love this feature)? Thank you for your time.

Re: Mini-pci wireless question

Thomas Bianco — Mon, 27 Dec 2004 11:55:57 GMT

mini-pci is, for the most part, miniturized PCI. it's a bus just like any other. while i'm not ruling it out, i will say it's unlikley that HP would go to the effort of programming in a bios restriction only to have to update it every time they release a new version of the wifi card.

i've had, on more then one occation, IBM branded Cisco 350 wifi cards working in Dell Latitudes.

none of the vendors are happy about it, but they work very well together.

the only real factor you run into is form factor, not all slots are created equil, some are quite a bit smaller then others.

Re: Mini-pci wireless question

Robert M. Lee — Mon, 27 Dec 2004 15:29:37 GMT

Has anyone had any success with using a Dell Trumobile 1450 Mini-pci WIFI card in thier pavilion laptop?

Re: Mini-pci wireless question

Philip Doragh — Tue, 28 Dec 2004 07:48:15 GMT

Thomas,

You are wrong, all HP notebooks engineered in the last year do have a BIOS locking mechanism that makes sure that only legal (as defined by the regulatory agencies) WiFi cards are installed. Whether this particular model is a part of that group is unknown to me.

Re: Mini-pci wireless question

Thomas Bianco — Tue, 28 Dec 2004 08:45:39 GMT

i stand corrected. any guesses why they would do this? corporate greed aside, of course.

Re: Mini-pci wireless question

Robert M. Lee — Tue, 28 Dec 2004 10:51:40 GMT

How do I determine what a "legal" (as defined by the regulatory agencies) WiFi card is? Is there some type of "Intel Inside"-type sticker or "complies with..." standard that is needed?

Re: Mini-pci wireless question

Thomas Bianco — Tue, 28 Dec 2004 12:10:42 GMT

strictly: you're already outside FCC by attaching an aftermarket antenae to a transmitter it wasn't designed for. i think that's only for sale of radio transmitting equipment, but i could be mistaken

the FCC approval process only allows the use (sale?) of approved antenae-trnasmitter combinations. "modular" radio setups (such as linksys's newest soho routers) are simply run through the testing and approval process with every posible combination. you're using a antenae and a transmitter that were both approved for 802.11(whatever), they just were not approved toghether. it's kinda grey here.

but for signals as low as 802.11 (~100 mW), i really doubt a FCC g-man will come knocking down your door if you use the wrong rig. in fact, unless you're using a 21 db Gain antenae (bit bigger then a digital satalite receivere, 24" radius), you don't even have to tune down the power in the states to be within 802.11 RF band regulations.

Re: Mini-pci wireless question

Philip Doragh — Wed, 29 Dec 2004 08:07:12 GMT

It was not corporate greed, but the FCC and other regulatory agencies pre-condition for allowing 11a based radios to be accepted with modular, dual band antennas. It is in the FCC filings for all of the notebooks.

Re: Mini-pci wireless question

Anonymous — Wed, 06 Jul 2005 12:11:05 GMT

I would like to unlock my BIOS to work with a minipci card. I have already purchased the card and an FCC certified internal antenna for it. I will be doing all of the work myself. Please inform me as to how I may enable this FCC certified combination on my ze4560us notebook.

Re: Mini-pci wireless question

Anonymous — Thu, 21 Jul 2005 18:50:16 GMT

*Bump* Please help me.