Centrino

Hi,

I have this IBM T40 notebook, with the Intel PRO 2100 chipset builtin (Wireless & 100mbit LAN) - better know as a part of the Centrino chipset. For the life of me i can't get it to work with my Novell VPN software. It's a know bug, and Nortel was the first to publish a workaround for their Contivity VPN product - but the workaround dosn't do it for me. Does anyone here have experience with the Centrion chipset ? Any clues ? I've looked up and down on various websites, without any luck!

Argh!

Tada,
Kaare

Am I wrong or does the 802.11b access in Centrino just come from a Mini-PCI card? If it is just the card holding you back, I would just replace it. Excuse my ignorance if 802.11b is actually built into the chipset.

Nah. Centrino is a sort of semi integrated wireless LAN technology. Part of it is embedded in the motherboard chipset and the other half is the radio portion which is "replaceable".

If I wanted to buy this centrino notebook then why do I have the option to change its wireless card?

The adverts for it on UK television are bugging me already. One of them has a guy at the top of a mountain in a blizzard with a broadband wireless connection... Does Everest have an AP at the top now?

Those are mini-PCI boards. The T40 has a mini-PCI slot as well as the Centrino stuff.

I just started using that exact notebook about 2 hours ago. It's my new work laptop. It seems decent so far. Small, light, relatively powerful and a nice screen. Haven't tried the Wi-Fi yet, but the Dell AP that you recommended just arrived yesterday so I'll give it a shot this weekend. Don't know anything about replacing the existing Wi-Fi card, but two thoughts:

1. The built in Centrino is only 802.11b, as you probably already know.
2. There is a PCIMCIA slot on this machine. Just one, though.

FWIW,
Jim

OK, then if he wanted, he could add another wifi card to his laptop to bypass the centrino problem? (assuming his laptop has an open mini-pci slot and ability to wire-up the antenna).

I'm not trying to be a smartass so I hope it's not coming out that way. Someone at work has a Centrino laptop and I had just assumed that it was a mini-pci card. Now I know better.

Yeah, you can add another card if you want 802.11g or you have some other reason you can't use the built in. It's not a card, though.

Hi Rob,

I do have the option of buying another minipci card for my notebook, atleast thats what i think - some IBM technican told me i could upgrade to a IBM type a/b/g wireless card, but he couldn't tell if it would solve my problem, which probably is in the "adaptive switching" feature. Buying a new minipci card is the next option on my list, but i thought i'd give just one more go before investing. It's becoming more and more irritating having to take two notebooks along when i travel europe

tada,
Kaare

Hi Rob,

If i should have the VPN software working, i would have to disable the internal wireless lan card first i reckon, trouble is that the IBM bios dosn't let me do that. On my former notebook i used the Orinoco card for ages without any troubles.

In every other aspect this IBM notebook is a killer. I've completely (more or less) stopped using my desktop pc at home and at work, only reverting to the old portable with going traveling (as i have to on monday going to iceland) - then i have to bring two portables, one to work on, one to provide network link to the coorporate lan cute eh ?

Tada,
Kaare

Nah. Didn't think you were being a smartass. It's just that Intel are useless at actually specifying what Centrino actually is in terms of hardware...

To be called a Centrino platofmr then you must have a P4M processor, a specific mobile chipset and the Intel PRO 2100 board. It's a mini-PCI board as well but according to Intel it's "special". I've not got one so you could be correct and it's just a standard mini-PCI 802.11b board. The more I look into it, the more likely it seems!

Bah. Finally found the chipset documentation and it does seem to be a normal mini-PCI card! So ignore me

Hi Trevor,

By any chance do you know where the minipci card is located in the T40 notebook ?

Tada,
Kaare

Yup. I do as it happens The service manual for the T40 is here

I just put a Dell TrueMobile 1300 802.11g card in my Latitude X200. It replaced a more generic Lucent 802.11b card that I had previously installed. The 1300 is only $49 from Dell. I imagine it would work in your IBM but I'm not certain. I'm willing to sell the Lucent card though if you want something cheaper. When I bought the card off ebay, that's all I got (no drivers or instructions). It uses the generic Orinoco drivers if I remember correctly.

Thanks!

Tada,
Kaare

Hi Rob,

I'd avoid adding an "external" card to the pc, on my former notebook i broke the antenna of the Orinico card 4 or 5 times. It was fixable the first tree times with a soldering iron, but later requered a replacement

Tada,
Kaare

Yeah, just to confirm, I've never seen a centrino notebook that didn't have a minipci slot. Pretty much every manufacturer lets you swap the intel card for a (a)/b/g card, but if you do that they can't lable it as centrino. So order a truemobile 1400 from dell, or some card that you can confirm works. First off, flip the thing over and find the existing minipci card just to be sure.

What does your wireless card have to do with your VPN software? Don't you connect tot he VPN at the IP layer? I've never used a VPN, so I don't actually know.

Matthew

My old Lucent 802.11b card is mini-PCI. It seem that you're under the impression that it's PCMCIA.

Hi Rob,

I did, sorry!

Tada,
Kaare

Hi Matthew,

VPN software tunnels uses or binds to the existing NDIS drivers for the netcard in the pc. There is a known problem with the Intel pro wireless 2100 card, that causes the pc to bluescreen when installing some software vpn drivers.

Tada,
Kaare

Hah!.. I disassembled the notebook half an hour ago, took out the Intel mini pci netcard, replaced it temporarely with a regular pccard from lucent! Succes! VPN works. I'm a happy camper.

tada,
Kaare