CF -50 retrofit wifi

I just bought a CF 50 ( CF-50MB7FDKM ) MK4. I want to install an internal wifi instead of using a pcmcia. I don't have the CF 50 in my hands yet, so I can't look at it and see.

Does this unit have the mini pci slot even though it did not have wifi from the factory? I checked photos of motherboards on fleabay and it looked like at least one did not have the mini pci slot soldered on.

I want to order all the parts while I am waiting for the CF 50 to get here. I am looking at an Intel Half Size Mini PCI 512AN_HMW 5100 series card. I just want internal wifi and don't need anything crazy powerful, this card gets a/b/g/n which keeps me covered. I figure on getting a set of used CF 51 antenna's to stick in it.

Will I be able to do this? Any better ideas?

Thanks in advance

 

No

You will have to wait until you purchase a newer Toughbook as the mini pci express 5100 series wi-fi card will not work

I can check later to see if you have a spare slot for a mini pci card
Unless someone else posts on slots available


Alex

 

Aha, I just learned something. I quick trip to Wiki revealed the difference between mini pci and mini pci express. I didn't know that!

Are there other mini pci slots used by the 56k modem or smart card? I just figured they had proprietary connectors as on my old laptops. I will never need a dial up modem or the smart card security for that matter.

Thanks
Shawn

 

The only CF-50's I know that do not have the mini pci slot is the Federal model which was spec'd with no wireless. All other models should have either an empty mini pci slot or already occupied with wifi on centrino models. It is accessible from a door on the bottom.

Oops I just checked your model number and you do have the federal model so yours will not have the mini pci slot, on these they actually didn't bother to solder the slot in.

 

Hi Shawn

The CF-50 was my first Toughbook. I got a lot of them.... I Think you will just need a mini pci wifi card of your choice Older models came with 2100b and latter with 2200bg the antennas should be there already.

Here's some pics...

 

I have ran across one unit like this. It was a early Gen with only 128 memory on board. Newer Federal model I have opened did have the mini pci slot. Good luck.

 

T2Go,
Both my 50s (CF-50JAKUJZZ - shot mainboard & CF-50HB2FUDM Federal unit) has mini-PCI and factory-installed WIFI cables. The dual paddle antennae are under removable plastic covers on either sides of the keyboard.

Ron in SG

 

Well, from the configurator at Panasonic, I know mine is a later model MK4 with 512 ram. It's interesting that even non wifi models have the antenna's installed. I guess I will have to wait impatiently and see. I am hoping since it is a newer model it will have the mini pci slot.

Next question, anybody know a model / brand of mini pci with wifi N? I would like a/b/g/n, but will settle for b/g/n

Thanks again. I think I am going to really like owning a toughbook.

Shawn

 

Hi,
I have taken apart/rebuilt several CF50's. Of two federal models I have seen, both had the slot, but one had the antenna and the other did not. The one I currently have is a CF-50MB2FDKM which had the slot, but no antenna. I salvaged an antenna from a trashed unit, and installed a Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG card. Works great. The antenna is under the pads on either side of the keyboard.

 

It is good to know that they came to their senses and decided to leave the slot in place on the later models, the CF-50 I had without the mini pci slot was in fact the older federal model: CF-50F1FGUKM opened the door and found an unpopulated bare spot where the slot should have been.

 

That sucks, doesn't it? Almost like walking into a pub only find Jack & Daniel has left for vacation with Jim & Bean!... and not a drop in sight

 

Xactly, kinda like how ken would feel when he tried to have with Barbie or vice versa

 

Well, I bought a card for it. I got an Askey WLL4070-D50. It's based on the Atheros ar5006xs / ar5414. Has A/B/G, Super AG and extended range. Supposedly it uses low power. Looks to me like a clone of the Gigabyte WL01HT. I would have preferred N over the A, but it seemed like a great price for a card with that chip on it.
From fleabay for $5.84 to my door.

2 feet of snow fell here last night, and I'm trapped inside (not really, but where would I go?) with a internet connection and a credit card. This may go BAD.

Shawn

 

Agree , thats a bad combination

Reading posts on the Toughbook forum is free though... Or maybe not


Alex

 

Hello All,
I just got a cf50 and would like to make this mod, is there a step by step to add internal wifi somewhere here? Thanks in advance
DAB

 

What's your model number? Most of them already have Wifi. Unless you got a federal model, like I did. I am not sure how to install the card yet. My laptop and Wifi card are not here yet.

 

Cabin, it was already mentioned earlier in this thread, that depending on which CF-50 model you own, the WIFI cables, antennae and mini PCI slot are factory installed and ready to accept an internal card. That's mini PCI, not PCI-E!!

 

When you flip the unit over, with the mic/headphone ports facing you, the cover to mini PCI slot is at your upper right side (retained by a single screw)

 

Just out of curiosity, in the parts section of the service manual, it says that's the modem. The manual is for a mk5 and I have a mk4 if that would make a difference. Is there an error in the manual? Would someone have both service manuals that could see if there is a difference?

Shawn

 

Thanks , I will check it out this evening.
Cabin

 

My new Toughbook is here...my new Toughbook is here...my new Toughbook is here....So much for my Steve Martin impersonation.

Well, it is a mk4 and like what was said earlier, it does have the mini pci connector and the antennas. Now I just need to get the battery and ac/dc adapter in the mail. I swapped in my dvd burner tonight. I am just like when I was a kid. I couldn't wait til I got home to play with my toys. Always had to open them in the car. Once I got home and found my screwdriver, I tore them apart. I can hear Mom and Dad yelling at me now.
Life is good.

Shawn

 

Geez, I've got the pci slot but no ant cables. Could they be underneath somewhere?
Cabin
P/N cf-50mb2fdkm

 

Cabin
Look at the pics posted in post number 5 of this thread. The pic of the circuit board with the 2 tiny gray wires. Those are the antenna connections. Mine are hanging there just like in the pic. They have a little piece of what used to be clear tape on the end of them.
Here are the specs for your machine. Mine is identical except I have the Smartcard reader.

Shawn


CPU:
M - Pentium M 1.7 GHz
LCD - USB:
B - 15" UXGA with 64 MB VRAM - USB 2.0
HDD - RAM:
2 - 60 GB HDD - 512 MB RAM
Multimedia Pocket - Wireless LAN:
F - FDD - Combo
Origin:
D - Mk4
Operating System:
K - Windows XP Pro
Destination:
M - North American

DESCRIPTION:
*** FEDERAL ONLY*** Pentium M 1.7GHz,15" UXGA, 512MB RAM, 60GB, FDD, 56K, Ethernet NIC 10/100, NON-WIRELESS, DVD/CDRW (B's Clip), WIN
XP


Information from http://www.config.toughbook.com

 

Crap, no wires. looks like I'm stuck with the PCMIA card.
Thanks for the other info.
cabin

 

I was going to disassemble mine and put the antennas in, if I had needed to. I found several CF-51 sets for less than $10.00 on fleabay. They look close to being the same. I really didn't want to use pcmcia cards anymore either.

Shawn

 

Does anyone know if the antenna is the same for the 51 and the 50?
Thanks
cabin

 

Hi Shawn

Here is one of many options....ebay Item number: 150411453028 or 300390007813 it would leave you with extra parts. And what about upgrades? I put a 2.0 cpu in a MK5

 

I have the antennas already installed from the factory. Cabin does not. Disassembly was my plan if I did not have them. There are several listings for CF-51 antennas for $8.00 with shipping. I was figuring on the cheapest way out and glue them down if I had to.

I thought about CPU upgrade. I have a MK4 with the 1.7 Pentium M. I don't know if a can upgrade or not. I need to ask that in a new thread.

Thanks
Shawn

 

Like cabin, mine was missing the antenna. Buying a parts unit is the best bet for a factory antenna, such as ebay item 150411453028 mentioned above. Before I got the parts unit, I tried the generic flag antennas such as this one: 390153600512. They worked, but I had to route the excess wire around the inside of the laptop and tape it down. I ended up getting the real antenna as a permanent solution. As per cpu upgrades, I thought the mk3-5 could take cpu's in the 1.4 to 1.7 range. I upgraded a 1.4 to a 1.7 and a 1.5 to a 1.7. The bios accepted it no problem. Good use of the cpu if you get a junker 1.7 to part out.

 

Atheros mini pci card works great. Better reception than Atheros based pcmcia card. It's worth the effort to use the mini pci card, even if you have to install the antennas.

Shawn

 

don't know too much about the cf-50 yet, but mine is a cf-50BB2NUDM, didn't have the wires so got one from cf-51 and a broadcom mini pci 802.11bg 54m. placed the antenna on left side antenna cover (both of them cause the wires were barely long enough) downloaded and extracted drive for it installed it and now have wifi on this old bird. looked for antenna setup on ebay( should've called toughbook) for the cf-50. thanks TB for sending manual for the cf-50. it wasnt hard to disassemble but it ain't no cf-29. still for 38 bucks and 18.00 in mini pci card and cf-51 antenna parts it was a good lesson for this beginner. if anybody has info on cf-50 antenna pass it on. I might try to use those instead. .........Driller

 

The cf 50 antennae and cf 51 antennae are different. The cf 50 uses longer cables and the actual antenna is twice as long. The cf 50 uses 2 antennae. They are placed on each side of the keyboard.

 

Hi Driller

Here is a photo for you.

-Nick

 

that is about what I thought, but don't have any diagrams in the service manual copy that I have, anybody have an idea where I might find these antenna with cables? have checked ebay, maybe they'll show up eventually, thanks for the photo Nick, Driller

 

Well I found that 1 antenna works almost as good as the pair. I replaced 1 of the antennae with an external rp sma jack. If I am inside my home the signal is almost exactly the same with only 1 antenna instead of the pair. It does improve with the external though. I get hits from several neighbors with the 12" external screwed on.
If the CF51 antennae work and are attached well, then it may not be worth the effort and expense to find the originals.
I did notice that the CF 51 had a black wired and a gray wired antenna. My CF 50 had 2 gray wired antennae. I am guessing that the black one is for the 5ghz 802.11a and the gray antenna is for 2ghz 802.11b/g/n. Point is that if you only use 1 antenna, I would use the gray one since 2ghz is much more popular.

 

Found this on ebay,

TYCO Laptop Wireless Mini PCI PCI-E Internal Antenna - eBay (item 250667859511 end time Aug-15-10 22:52:39 PDT)

 

Those are just the ticket for your CF-28s. Here's some pictures of one installed under the left side palm rest cover.



One really is all you need if you have any sort of decent signal. The heavy cable is for a RP-SMA bulkhead fitting for an external antenna which you probably won't need.
CAP

 

you know, that hook up for the external antenna looks real interesting to me, have you done this with cf-29 yet? do you already have a post about this, thanks, ........Driller

 

CF-29s don't really need any improvement in the factory antenna set up so I have never messed with them. I'm sure you could find a place for the external bulkhead mount. Its a ufl x RP-SMA. I don't really recall if any one has posted a bulkhead mount hack. Remember, within the last 18 months we were getting anywhere from $500-1400 for hacked CF-28s and CF-29s were almost unheard of for forum members. The market has certainly changed!
CAP

 

U.FL male RP-SMA female Pigtail Cable for PCI WiFi Card

 

I knew I saw it somewhere.
I am planning something very similar. I want to reuse the pass thru pcb after I remove the plastic connector. I am going to take the u fl end off a rp sma pigtail and solder it to the pass thru pcb. Then I can keep using both internal antennas and an external when I want to.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/panasonic/391434-cf-29-pigtail-addition.html

 

I have a CF-50bb2nudm and want to install wifi card, antena and also install memory. Where can i get directions How to take apart the laptop) on how to install the wifi and what memory can be installed.

 

Wifi card and memory get installed through doors on the bottom. 1 screw for each door. I suggest you check your machine first as it may already have antennae. To install antennae, you need to remove the keyboard and the 2 antennae covers. 1 on each side of the keyboard. 1 screw per antenna and route the wires as pictured in I58SR's post #33. You do not need to remove the LCD.

 

Driller--- I have the same CF-50 and want to install the antenna. do you have some instructions on taking apart the laptop and how to install the antena? Thanks Gary [email protected]

 

I just got the cf-51 antenna of ebay and because the wires with the ufla connectors were so short I mounted them both on the left side and made a little notch in the plastic for one of the wires to go through and make the connections to the wifi card. I,m not so sure the antenna from a cf-29 wouldn't work better if you can find them on ebay for a reasonable price or just look for any antenna that are shaped similarly. I think Gork or one of the other master mechanics didn't say that just one antenna gave about as good pickup of signal. but I used the 2 cf-51 wifi antenna anyway. they are supposed to be one on the left of the keyboard and one on the right. the cf-50 set is hard to find so that's why I used the cf-51. I'll try and dig it out and will attempt to get pictures if it will help, but don't shoot me if I can't get my camera to work. check with Topcat 57 ot Toughbook the moddder-ators on getting a copy of the manuals. I'll try and find mine if I can figure out which laptop I put it on. will be back in touch........Driller

 

I sent 2 to your email, hope it helps

 

glucier, am having some issues with sending email for some odd reason, was attempting to forward some copies of manuals Toughbook sent me on cf-50's but keep getting error messages. could be problems with server. thanks to toughasnails for being quickdraw here, you'll find him extremely resourceful and knoweledgable. thumbs up toughasnails!.......Driller

 

After reading this post I still have questions about the wifi card and antenna. Is it possible with my toughbook. I opened up my cf 50 and found no antenna and no wireless card. The model # cf-50aakhudm and serial # 3byua02614. Do I have a government model? Then if the process is possible where do I purchase the wifi card and antenna. No ebay please.

 

Do you have the socket for the wifi card under the panel on the bottom of the unit? Some Gov't units did not have the socket.
As stated in previous post, try the BST forum here. CF 50 antennae are somewhat harder to acquire than CF 51 antennae. Get the CF 50 antennas. Don't be tempted to try the cheaper CF 51 antennae. You don't need 2, but a pair work a lot better.

 

Yes I have the slot under the cover, but no antenna. I will look on the BST forum.
Thanks
Mike