PCMCIA card compatibility with NC4000

I was recommended by brianstretch to go for a PCMCIA wireless card rather than the HP-only mini-PCI card and decided to follow that advice. Venombite said that all cards are much alike, but on looking into that further I found some mention on various boards of HP machines having compatibility problems with some PCMCIA cards - D-Link was mentioned as a bad choice. Someone suggested 3Com was a better bet. Someone even suggested the power to the NC4000's slot was too weak to sustain an 802.11g card.

Can anyone tell me of a card they've used successfully with the NC4000 or a similar machine, or just generally reassure me? Also, am I going to have compatibility issues when I want to add memory or add an external CD-ROM drive?

 

MacGee,

When I mentioned all cards are generally the same, I meant in features. Design variances may cause compatibility problems with some systems as you indicated (eg. not enough power to slots), but that doesn't happen too often IMHO. I guess you'll never really know how a card will react when added to any notebook. It might work for some, but not for others. The best thing to do is to buy the card from a reputable shop with a generous returns policy. This way, you can return the product or get it exchanged if it's not compatible or if you don't like it.

Memory upgrades shouldn't be a problem, as long as you get the right/comptible memory for your notebook.

Also, adding an external CD-ROM (assuming USB), that should be fine as the power will run off of its own power adapter.

-Vb-

 

I've now installed memory, without a problem, and a PCMCIA wireless card - with a couple of problems. First I tried to install with 3Com's own SetUp program, but I got a message:
'CE services are not installed. Please install ActiveSync 3.5 or higher and try again.'
I tried the Windows installer and that worked, but only after another warning to the effect that the software did not match up to XP's standards.

Should I be worried by any of this? The card is working well, reception being reported as excellent all over the house.

 

If it is working, I wouldn't worry about it. There are a lot of drivers Microsoft hasn't digitally signed off on. It doesn't mean they don't work. Just that Microsoft hasn't OK'd them.

 

What I am noticing is how big an impact the wireless card has had on the battery life. I was wondering if a PCI card, integrated with the Pentium processor, would be less demanding.

 

Even having an integrated wireless card and a Pentium M CPU will still get an impact from enabling wireless communications. The Centrino technology (which is really a marketing label for a notebook with an Intel Pentium M CPU, Intel 855 or 915 Chipset and an Intel Wireless card), does reduce overall battery consumption in overall use and therefore better battery life, but you will see a decrease in runtimes of approx 45mins and up depending on usage.

-Vb-

 

Thanks, Vb. I posted in my thread about the integrated wireless card that I've now installed one. I'll see how it goes.