So I installed a Half-Sized Intel 5300... For some reason the switch nor FN-F2 will enable it.

The title pretty much tells all. I installed a Half-Sized Intel 5300 in my 7811FX to free up the full-sized slot. Windows recognized it and installed it just fine. However, when I go to actually connect to a network it says the Wireless switch is turned off.

I know for a fact that the physical switch is set to on. However, no matter how many times I press FNF2 it won't enable. I also happened to notice that the little keyboard light for WiFi isn't on.

Any ideas? Is the 7811 not compatible with the half-sized cards afterall? Is there something stupid that I'm forgetting due to exhaustion?

 

Windows might not like 2 wifi adapters, did you unistall the 5100 from the Device manager? and refresh?

 

you may also need to look into bios for network setting, and if you have already installed the correct driver for intel 5300.
it could be becuz 7811 doesnt support other cards. i was never able to install any other wireless card in 7811fx, tried 2 n cards fruitlessly , atheros full weight and broadcom full weight.

 

Yeah,the 5100 is also physically removed from my laptop as well.

That would seriously effing suck. Did you run into the same problem? Or was windows just never able to detect it?

 

So I put the 5100 back in. Yes it sucks, but it's not that big of a deal, I will manage.

It's kind of weird though, the 5300 works fine if you have the 5100 in-alongside it and then disable it through windows. My theory is that the half-size PCI slot is not directly tied to the BIOS FN or hardware switch as the full sized one is.

Or it's like HP or IBM and you have to use Gateway parts.

 

I may be mistaken, but I recall reading that the half-size slot is for Intel's Turbo memory card.

 

It's a full-fledged half-size miniPCIe slot. I was hoping to free up the more-widely used one and maybe put a SSD in the big one.


Oh well, it's no big deal. I'll just put a TurboMemory in it or something.

 

Just so there is no mis-information... the 78xx will support other wifi cards. I removed the original Intel cerd and put in a Gigabyte card (it's based on an RA Link chip) and it works fine. My guess woulb be that your problem has something to do with the 1/2 height slot.

 

This is what I am figuring as well.

 

You might be able to fix this via a registry change, generally there's some "option" pins in the mini PCI-E slots that are used for stuff like hardware/software switches. Most wireless cards have registry entries that control whether or not it pays attention to that stuff, since the original card was designed to be disabled and enabled via a switch, which is presumably only wired to the full length slot, it probably is set up to only work when the switch signal is present. Hypothetically you could also track down what pins the switch is tied into and hard mod the other card "on" if that's the issue.

 

I'll have to look into this. However, as said before, being able to use the half-sized slot is a perk, but not a necessity.

 

Great news, I got it to work! I did some reasearch due to Big Mike's suggestion and found out if you cover Pin 20 the wireless card will stay enabled regardless of what the physical switch is set to. The 5300 is now fully functioning, the only downside is that the wifi light no longer illuminates, but I honestly really don't care considering my range and speed has improved tenfold over the 5100. Not to mention I free'd up the more usuable full sized slot for an SSD or something.

Picture of what I did...

 

Even easier than I thought, congrats

 

Good to know! I'll keep that as an option for future upgrades. The only concern would be if you were using your laptop on an airplane....

 

You can still disable via Device Manager and selecting disable. My fix just disables the BIOS/Hardware Switch.

 

where did you find this info at? im trying out different card combos and its driving me nuts!

 

http://www.interfacebus.com/Design_PCI_Express_1x_PinOut.html

 

You think that would work for any wireless card? Reason asking my switch broke off the motherboard and now it’s causing my wireless card to randomly turn on and off

I've been using those PCMCIA Cards in the mean time but don't like how much life it sucks out of the battery also the range isn't as good as the wireless card in my Gateway.

Also do you cover both sides of the pin or just one?

 

i tried it on the mini 5100 card and it worked, but it didnt work on a bluetooth module i wanted to use.