Problem with aftermarket wifi

I have a Dell Inspiron 5100 which has no built in wireless.

I got given to me a 'Broadcom 4318 KFBG' mini pci card which I think should work.

The problem:
As soon as I put the card into the PCI slot (and Yes its seated properly) and bootup the laptop, nothing shows on the display not even the post messages. Running windows XP SP2 and I also tried running 2 different live linux versions and still no display on the screen, its like there is some kind of hardware conflict but I'm lost at where to go next.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

Since you know the exact model of the WiFi card, perhaps you could try downloading and installing the drivers for the card before putting it in.

 

tried that already and no go, I'm just trying to re-install XP to see if I can get the conflict fixed.

 

I'd' say that the wifi card is dead (assuming that the laptop works normally without it). Otherwise, it's an incompatibility that probably won't be fixed with a Windows re-installation. I'd try to find another laptop with which to test the card; if you get the same results, it's most likely a dead card.

 

I remember that mini PCI cards have more compatibility issues compared to mini PCI express ones. At least I've experienced once when replacing wireless B mini PCI card in my old Toshiba notebook to wireless B/G, where the wireless switch doesn't function anymore with non-stock card.

Maybe you should try changing the card to Intel based wireless card, as if I'm not mistaken your Inspiron 5100 has Intel chipsets.

 

The Inspiron 5100 is ancient... it has an 845 chipset.

 

Ouch... My bad. Mistype the 845.

945 would have been an express chipset. The point is that, maybe, within the same brand it would have better compatilibity.

 

Thanks, I have a cheap pcmcia card that works fine. I just don't like having it stick out, I thought i'd rather have an internal instead.