Thinkpad novices: Beware buying new wifi card!

I spent a lot of time researching which notebook to buy before getting a used X200t last week. I'm very happy with it, but pretty darn upset at Lenovo about one thing: "ERROR 1802: Unauthorized network card is plugged in - Power off and remove the miniPCI network card."

I now know that Lenovo has taken a page from Apple and allows only a certain, small subset of mini PCIe wireless cards (only official IBM / Lenovo cards, and only those models that originally sold with the notebook). I've built many desktop PC systems over the years, but this is the first time I've tried so much as changing a part in a laptop. Shame on Lenovo, regardless of the reason (FCC compliance - ha!). If other PC companies (except HP) don't have restrictions, Lenovo should not, either.

So now I'll be selling my brand new Centrino 6300 on eBay, and replacing it with an official Lenovo 5300. (There are some workarounds to this that people report success with, including modifying the bios or taping over pin 20 -- but I am not interested in trying them.)

I just hope to warn anyone else in a similar situation. I had no clue that such a restriction existed, but perhaps someone new to Lenovo products will read this and be forewarned.

Shame on you, Lenovo. (But thanks for a great notebook! )

 

This has been common knowledge for quite some time.

 

Common knowledge, but notice my title ("novices"). It's not mentioned in the sticky, so how's a newbie to learn (other than the hard way?).

 

Yep, among other manufacturers, Lenovo and HP both whitelist WiFi cards. You have to buy specifically-whitelisted cards for the upgrade to work (often, eBayers will indicate that a particular card works in Lenovos, etc).

 

"This has been common knowledge for quite some time."

It sure has.

Renee

 

Thanks, guys.

You sure know how to make a fella feel like a true idiot.

 

Next time if you're unsure and doing a less than common upgrade (such as ram or hd) just be sure to ask!

 

Good advice, jaredy.

The problem being, I wasn't unsure! Ha. And I wasn't aware it wasn't a common upgrade. (I do recall reading a few posts of people who mentioned, in passing, they had upgraded their wifi cards, and no one specifically mentioned this problem. There was mention of making sure it was a "genuine" card, but I thought that meant there were counterfeit cards around, and as long as I bought from a reputable dealer, I'd be fine.)

 

I ran into this problem with my T40 machine. Fortunately someone came up with a solution with a CMOS hack that disables the check to see if it is a legit card. It was simple to install, and I never had to worry about the problem again (until I hard to replace the motherboard). Whether or not someone has done this for the newer machines, I don't know.

for those interested, here is a link to info about the original hack:
Thinkpad MiniPCI wireless cards

 

At least you didn't try something more expensive. Live and learn.