CF-19 Mk2 WLAN Upgrade?

EDIT: See post 22 for solution!

I have a CF-19 Mk2 that currently has a Intel 4965AG WLAN card in it, mini-pcie type. I'd like to upgrade to wireless N. I have two Intel 5300 cards that I have used in other laptops. Installing either one will not allow the CF-19 to even power on, much less boot to the bios or the desktop. I tried taping pin 20 on one of them to see if that would at least get me to the bios screen, but that had no effect. I've tried disconnecting the CMOS battery when istalling the cards, also with no effect. I've changed WLAN cards in a lot of laptops, but I've never seen anything like this. Putting the 4965 back in allows power on and bootup without a problem.

Has anyone here upgraded the WLAN card in their CF-19? If so, which one did you use? Any tricks to get it to work?

Jon

 

Search on having to tape or paint (nail polish) one of the contacts on the card...

 

I did, pin 20, noted in the original post. I haven't seen mention of any other pin to tape.

Jon

 

Check out these pictures, is this what you did Index of ./CF-30 Stuff/CF-30 Upgrade to 802.11N Intel 4965 Fix/

 

Yep. What's weird is that it won't power on at all.

 

Well, I have been experimenting with the WLAN card on my CF52 mk2. I swapped it the first time without pulling the battery. The unit booted by itself as soon as I plugged the new card in. I tried it again just to verify the behavior. I think it might have to do with the power on LAN???

Some CF52's have WLAN whitelisted. Maybe they went a step further and prevented it from booting? Maybe it has to do with the whole Centrino branding thing. Intel may insist that the cards are locked to the unit to allow Centrino on it? I dunno, that's a guess.

 

What brand of card are you trying to install. I have seen this happen before but the card was dead.

 

First post he said Intel 5300

 

I did have a intel 5100 (I think) here but it had a HP sticker over the intel sticker and I could never get it to work in any other laptop but the HP one. I was told it would only work in a HP laptop. I did the mod to it too but would still not work. Makes me wonder if the one he has was rebranded / modified to only work in a certain brand....

 

Do I vaguely remember reading something about someone trying to use the wrong mini pci-e slot - the one meant for WWAN?
Some people haven't noticed the wireless switch behind the SD/express/pc card door.
Would a 4965AGN be any more likely to work than the 5300? Assuming the problem really is the card itself and not something nobody's guessed yet.
Doesn't seem relevant here but sometimes only removing all power has enabled a card.
Just out of curiosity does your CF-19 have a corporate/Government special bios?
Weird and a bit scary that it won't even power on though isn't it?

 

Ok, several questions to answer. It is a generic Intel 5300 card (actually two of them that I've tried), not one of the ones for certain brands of laptops. Generally other cards will allow the computer to boot, but won't be recognized by the bios.

My CF-19 is a generic one (CF-19FHGAXAM), not a special bios, and I have successfully added a generic Gobi 2000 card to it, and gotten the GPS portion of the Gobi to work. I upgraded the bios when I installed the Gobi card, although I had tried the first 5300 card before I did that and before I installed the Gobi card, also without success. I haven't tried the WWAN portion of the Gobi card yet because I don't have a sim card, but the GPS portion worked fine out of the box.

For the life of me, I can't figure out why the thing won't power up at all with either 5300, but starts right up with the 4965 reinstalled. Unless someone has a better idea, I'm going to take another brand of wireless-n card out of another laptop and try that tomorrow. Maybe it's something specific to the 5300's.

I have upgraded an ASUS laptop computer that had a 4965 to a 5300 without a problem.

 

HP and Lenovo cards are specific and won't work in other laptops. I have tried 5 maybe 6 different cards in my cf52. Yes I am back with the original card. Nothing else works-Intel or Atheros. I may downgrade the bios next.
I assume the cards are good. They both worked in other machines.
Check the 1/2 height adapter that you are using. Is it shorted out anywhere? Is it touching any place it shouldn't?
What brand of laptops did the card come from?

 

Only one of the cards is half height. The other is full height. No way for either to short out. They are both aftermarket cards that were bought originally to successfully upgrade other laptops.

Would your CF52 power on/boot with other cards installed?

Jon

 

In mine it did boot (CF-30/52) but did not show up untill I did the mod

 

Yes it would power on and boot.

 

I realise I'm probably still misunderstanding you - but if you are in fact installing the wifi card in the slot that's below the small 4-screw cover near the sim card slot - then that's only for WWAN cards.
Access to the wifi mini pci-e slot requires removal of the complete bottom cover.
Sorry if this is too obvious to be worth posting but I've sometimes assumed things I shouldn't.
At least I'm old enough that I'll have forgotten my embarrassment by tomorrow

 

No, I have a gobi card in the wwan slot. I'm replacing the original 4965 wlan card in the wlan slot.

 

Just to follow. I just put an Intel 5300 card in my cf52 to replace the Intel5100. Direct swap, everything including the switch works. No mod to pin 20. The 5300 was originally for a Dell. The 5100 was for a Toshiba. The 5300 can use 3 antennas. I am going to add a third antenna and see if it performs any better than the 5100. Currently with 2 antennas it is identical. The 5300 shows up in the bios.

Wow...I just attached a third antenna to the Intel 5300. Connection went from 72mbps to 130 mbps. Still not as good as a 2 antenna Intel 6250 (it gives me 140mbps)but very impressive mod that requires no pin 20 work.

For the third antenna, I used a Tyco flag. I stuck the flag inside the plastic dummy filler on the far right of the palm rest. I think it's the space for the fingerprint reader.

Maybe the OP can add a third antenna and get a decent performance increase? Although the 4965 is 801.11G and not draft N like the 5100/5300.

I used one of these type antenna.

 

Been a long time since I posted, as I got frustrated with taking the bottom on and off my CF-19 MK2 all the time. As the first post stated, it came with an Intel 4965 a/b/g wlan card originally. Trying to install an Intel 5300 to gain dual band wireless N would result in nothing happening when I pushed the power button. No lights, no nothing. Reinstalling the 4965 resulted in everything working normally again. Here is a summary of my results to date:

1. 4965 original card, works fine 54 Mbps max (wireless g limit)
2. Intel 5300 dual band b/g/n half height card with adapter- computer no power on
3. Intel 5300 full height card - no power on
4. Intel 6235 dual band b/g/n w/Bluetooth half height card with adapter- no power on
5. Azurewave AW-NE186H half height card w/adapter - power on! Drivers installed, but adapter not turned on. Tape pin 20, and card works. This is a 150 Mbps card, single band wireless n card. Best actual speed I've seen is around 74 Mbps. This card is typically used in low end laptops
6. Azurewave AW-GE780 full height card- powers on. Didn't go further as this is only a b/g card. Purely a test to see if the CF-19 would power on. Old card I had laying around.
7. Ralink 309x series half height card - powers on. Drivers installed. Works WITHOUT pin 20 taped. Single band wireless N card, 150 Mps max, best I've seen around 72 Mbps. This is the card currently installed.

Other information. None of the working cards (other than the original 4965) light up the wireless led on the left of the palmrest. Wireless on-off switch has no effect.
The Intel cards work fine in other computers.
"Dual band" = 2.4 gHz/5 gHz. "Single band" = 2.4 gHz only

Conclusions:
1. Any Intel card, other than the original 4965 results in no power on of my CF-19. Completely dead when I try with the power switch. Taping pin 20 has no effect.
2. All of the "other" brand cards allow power on of the computer, with mixed results of needing to tape pin 20 to get the card itself to turn on.

I still want a dual band wireless n card. I live in a condo complex, and the 2.4 band is pretty saturated. The single band wireless n card I currently have installed gives a modest improvement in speed over the 4965 card, but no where near the 300Mbps speeds I have on my other laptops.

Anyone had luck upgrading their CF-19 to a dual band card? If so, what brand/model did you use?

Hope this helps someone else.

Jon

 

FYI.........Cards originally in an IBM/Lenovo or HP will NOT work in other laptops........

 

These are all generic cards. Didn't come from an HP or IBM/Lenovo, nor are speced for them. As I said, they work fine in other laptops (Asus, Averatec, etc).

 

I FINALLY found a dual band wireless card that would work! After trying yet another card that didn't work, I noticed that the Intel 4965 that was in my CF-19 said that it was model number "4965AG_ MM1", while under that it said "Intel Wireless Link 4965AGN MM1". But it only showed up in the Windows device manager as a 4965 AG_ (notice the dash after the G). After doing a fair amount of research, I found that Intel sold two different versions of the 4965, one with the N capability disabled from the factory. Why, I don't know, as the card has 5 gHz capability for the A band. Anyway, the card with N enabled is a Model Number "4965AGN MM1", with "Intel Wireless Link 4965AGN MM1" underneath. I did a careful search on ebay, and found one with the correct model number for $7 shipped! I got and installed it today, the computer started up, and I didn't even have to update the driver. It is connected at 300Mbps on the 5 gHz N band as I type this.

There are a lot of these cards on ebay with both variations of the model. Make sure to get the one with the 4965AGN model number, NOT 4965AG_.

Why on earth Intel did this is beyond me. Talk about confusion. But I'm glad I finally found a card that worked, and gives me decent speed.

Jon

 

That's good info jonlowe. I'm off to ebay.
Also, thanks for returning after such a long period of time to let us know the results of your trials.
So many posters have sought advice here, but they forget to return to tell us of the solution/outcome they had.

 

I 2nd that...thanks for letting us know. :thumbsup:

 

Thanks. I had given up for several months, and only decided to try again a few weeks ago. I really wish I knew why my CF-19 would completely refuse to power up with other Intel cards installed. In fact, if I had the AC adapter plugged in, the charging light would go out when I hit the power button, and only come back on after a few seconds. It wouldn't even try to boot up; no lights, no nothing. It didn't matter if the pin was taped or not. For whatever reason, single band wireless cards would work ok, but zero dual band cards would allow power up, except for the 4965 cards. I even tried an Atheros dual band card and it acted the same way. Maybe it was sensing that other cards wanted to pull too much power. Guess I will never know.

Jon