Lenovo wireless card headache

[Big Jim]

I bought myself a Lenovo Thinkpad Edge E520.

I recently aquired a dual-band wireless router and discovered that the wifi card in my thinkpad is actually only single band.

I thought that I would take advantage of the dual-band router and the 5ghz channel, so I did some digging and it appears that Lenovo have locked their laptops down so that only certain "approved cards" fit (otherwise it gives an error at POST and will not let you continue further)

I looked around and thought I had found the right card on ebay.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271091931033?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

When it arrived I got the POST warning that I had read about and it won't even let me enter the bios.


Do any of you guys know which card I can buy that is dualband and will work in my laptop, I can't find this information anywhere, my google-fu has failed me

 

[FoolishTech]

I had this issue on an old used Compaq laptop I picked up once. It would only allow for like 5 different models all sold of course by HP/Compaq. It was wireless B and I had a G but naturally it wasn't one of the only 5 models.

Solution? There was a way to hack the BIOS to add the PCI/VEN string to the BIOS for the card that I had. It involved obtaining the latest BIOS from the mfgr, modifying it with some program that escapes me now to add my existing card to the list, and then flashing the bios with the modified ROM.

As for the program, I can't remember which but I think it was Phoenix's own BIOS editor - which as I recall will work even on non-phoenix BIOSes but I may be mistaken. AMI/Award has one as well - but I remember it being very difficult to find them for public download. I'm not sure who the maker of your particular Lenovo BIOS would be you might see it in detailed POST (if you have that option) or within the BIOS, but it may take yet more google-fu.

As for the PCI string, that you can get from device manager though if Google doesn't help you, you may need to install it in a laptop that actually will accept the card, and get the string data from device manager.

I'm sure the same thing is still possible these days. It's going to take a lot of google-fu to get you through this I'm sorry I can't help more I haven't the time to research the method.

Then again, to save yourself the effort I guess you could always contact Lenovo sales :\ (assuming they would know what dual-band is heh)

EDIT: It appears that most Lenovo BIOSes are Phoenix so that BIOS editor would do ya... I couldn't hurt for you to download that, and the latest BIOS for your Lenovo, and poke around. As I recall the editor was fairly simple and intuitive to use to accomplish this task. Again it may be difficult to find later versions of the editor for download though, torrents are a good bet - because naturally it is intended for major OEM usage only.

 

[KompuKare]

There are modded BIOS for a lot of Thinkpads but probably only for the 'real' Thinkpads (i.e. T,W and X series) not the consumer Lenovos.

For instance for the T61, X61 and X300 there's the Middleton BIOS
http://forum.notebookreview.com/len...s-cap-willing-pay-solution-8.html#post6501443

But there's probably not one for the Edge's so Foolish's suggestion of a DIY BIOS mod is probably your only option.

 

[SilverLeaf]

I had a similar issue with an older T series thinkpad, when the OEM card failed. The easiest solution for me was to disable the onboard wireless and just use a USB wireless adapter.

 

[Big Jim]

following Foolish's advise within about 3.8 nano-seconds of googling I found an already modded bios, sorted, I am all dual-banded up. Now just got to get a dual band adapter for the xbox.

Oh and the edge series is consumer grade ?

I was under the assumption it was a budget business orientated laptop :S
It certainly feels more substantial than most of the stuff that comes through our shop

 

[FoolishTech]

Kick ass! Glad you got it sorted with a mod bios, it honestly never occurred to me one would be out there pre-modded for you. Saves a lot of works! Sweet!

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Oh and the edge series is consumer grade ?

I was under the assumption it was a budget business orientated laptop :S

The "Edge" is a Lenovo Thinkpad model...which falls under business class. The "IdeaPads" are an example of Lenovos consumer grade model.s

However, as your assumption is correct...the "Edge" series is "budget business"....1 year warranty, sorta like Dells Vostro series.

A lot of Thinkpad snobs consider only the T, W, and X series to be true Thinkpads....yeah, there are differences. I've had tons of my own Thinkpads over the years...going back to the T20 models...T40, T60, as well as secondary X30 and X40 and X60 series. Last time around I didn't have 2 grand to spend so I spent 600 on an Edge 4202...which I am typing from right now.

IBM/Lenovo have been doing this BIOS lock against 3rd party cards for many years.

 

[KompuKare]

Thinkpad snob... That's not quite why I mentioned it: my thinking was that the T/X/W are very modular and widely deployed in organizations.

While big IT departments are unlikely to use no-official FRU (parts), the modular models do have a sizeable following amongst enthusiast / private owners who do replace parts and hence have a need to fit unofficial parts. Hence for those models, modded BIOSes are easy to find, for the other series probably not.

BTW, I don't see the need to spend vast amounts on thinkpads since I don't see the need to buy them new. Got my T60 used while it still a year's warranty left and I have seen last year's model (or the year before that) plenty of times going cheap(ish).

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

In case you didn't notice...I mentioned that I had many many T and X series myself...personally. But if you hang out at forum.thinkpads.com....if you're an Edge owner...you'll feel the snobbery from the exclusive T owners there.

I do agree about not having to purchase new....I have frequently purchased some of my Thinkpads "used"...through factory outlets and other resellers that sell "off lease" models. Matter of fact, one of my recent T series was a very high end T60p model...a specific model with a higher end FireGL graphics card an the highly coveted "Flexscreen". Brand new I recall about 2,200 bucks. I paid 645 for it. Still had the factory 3 year warranty...2.5 years left on the warranty at time of purchase. It was never removed from the box..never used. Typically those used off-lease models being resold are never used, or hardly used..they come from short leases by big enterprise companies...typically pharmaceutical..and can be great deals.

I'll take a used Thinkpad over brand new computers of most other brands any day of the week.

 

[KompuKare]

Guess the T is considered the Tank but with hindsight I should have got an X60 at the time: the T60 is just an extra kilo and optical never gets used anyhow (and my rucksack always carries an USB one anyhow). When it finally dies I'll probably swap to an X and make sure to get an IPS screen. The major problem with T series is that (most of them) have poor TN screens.

 

[Big Jim]

I bought this 2nd hand with full warranty on it, When i got it, I unwrapped it and went trhoughthe initial windows setup screen, it was bought for a project that never happened apparently.

I paid £350, the guy I bought it from paid just alittle over that +VAT, but obviously he was able to claim back the VAT so both winners.


Although it has had to be warranty repaired, it just died, wouldbn't power on or anything, the guy I bought it from had exactly the same thing happen to an identical one he bought at the same time and it is quite common.
took a just over a week for lenovo to repair and cost me £25 in postage other than that hasn;t missed a beat, and I love the 15s from pressing power button to deskto pwith the SSD I installed.


All I have to do now is buy a decent dualband extender so I have full house/garden wireless coverage.