CF-28 internal PCMCIA bluetooth

I installed this card http://cgi.ebay.com/Billionton-v2-0...ryZ44999QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem into my internal PCMCIA slot after taking out the Cisco 352 card need WPA now running a 3com a/d/g Xjack card. Anyway the bluetooth card fits perfectly just leave antenna in the closed position.

 

This fits in the internal bay with the antenna folded? Do you have the LAN and the modem jack on the side?

Also... When you boot... Do you see Cardbus B... (Cardbus A & B actually) or just Cardbus A?

 

hows the signallll...... poor...good...better. let us know

 

Not to hijack the thread but I just a few hours ago got my PCMCIA BT card working! Pretty cool. I've got a microsoft BT mouse for testing purposes, but what i really want is a BT RS232 adapter. It would be SO cool to be able to go online with a PLC while sitting at a table like a normal person! Anyway here's some pics, let me try to narrate them a bit:

http://tech.ph.groups.yahoo.com/group/toughbooks/photos/view/c850?b=13
This is the "finished product", after doing the grinding. (guess i'm back-asswards)

http://tech.ph.groups.yahoo.com/group/toughbooks/photos/view/c850?b=14
This is the card I started with. There are 2 versions of this card, this one that has a real antenna, and one like it but with a little "bump". I figured the rod antenna might work a little better, although I may have not had to do any cutting at all if I had used the other kind. This is where I got it:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160159034480

http://tech.ph.groups.yahoo.com/group/toughbooks/photos/view/c850?b=15
not sure why i took this picture this is the corner piece with the modem/LAN ports removed.

http://tech.ph.groups.yahoo.com/group/toughbooks/photos/view/c850?b=16
This one shows the grinding the best. Pay close attention here.. It turns out that I did not have to do any grinding AT ALL on the boss on the right side! I thought I was going to have to leave the antenna up close to the card at first. but I later discovered that I could extend the antenna on a small angle and wedge it in between the flat surface of the plastic cover and the support boss. This might give it a slightly better signal, too!

If I were to do it again, I would only grind on the one side and I think I would try leaving the port connectors in place. The chips are non-conductive so what ever couldn't shake out probably wouldn't harm anything.

As for performance.. I tried the mouse about 10' away from the computer and it worked fine. I will play around with it farther away tomorrow!

 

I have both ports fits great best is how the antenna is designed fits between the plastic hump for the mounting screw for the Ethernet and modem board. Signal works at 20ft with mouse but will need to have someone help as I can't see my screen any further. If you use this card install first in one of the other ports first before you take your 28 apart as it's a pain to install software after as it tells you to insert device during install.

Over 40ft and mouse still has signal.

 

Question 1:
Yes fits with antenna in closed position against the card and yes I have both ports. I tried the other designed card with the small plastic hump but it hit the LAN mount.

Question 2:
Unsure as when my 28 posts it stops at my DVD burner then goes to the setup screen is there another key to hit to display the post as the Esc puts you in boot-up drive selector. Both A and B are in auto in BIOS.

 

This is the same card I used didn't do any grinding but did noticed that there may have been some grinding done to the small web due to the fact that I had the Cisco 352 card and antenna originally installed. I don't know if extending the antenna really helps out I know that some manufactures out there place fake antennas on there products as a sales gimmick this has happened on some BT USB dongles I had as the antennas were there for show didn't connect to any thing and were 100% plastic. Either way on this BT card you can't go wrong I'm happy with it.

 

haha.. a fake antenna huh? well mine is all closed up now but i wanna say i saw a wire running to it! i tried it w/o grinding and it was close but no cigar.. needed a little relief to fit properly

 

Ahhhh... You have CardbusB in your BIOS... If you don't... You can't use the internal slot.

 

doesn't every 28 support the cardbus B? every one i've seen has the third slot..

 

Yes... It's on the mobo but not in every BIOS... I have a bunch that only have Cardbus A

 

If the slot is empty cardbus B will not show up in the BIOS. Once you put your card in then go to the BIOS to enable it. I never come across one that didn't have it in the BIOS and usually it defaults to enable once it sees the card.

 

Hmmmm... I just tried it a few days ago and couldn't get it to see anything. I'll have to try it again. The other ones I've seen show cardbus B even when there is nothing in the slot.

 

Yup.. the toughbook BIOS is tricky.. it must go out and detect everything before it shows it in the BIOS as an option. This applies to all options.. touchscreen, GPS, radio modem, cardbus B, lan, modem, etc. If it finds somethig there, it lists it. if it can't find hardware there, it hides it.

 

Hell... I'll plug it into the local Lotto machine then!

 

if you put anything of value near one of your state's tax collection machines, its liable to snatch it up and not give it back!

 

I am building another Ultimate Toughbook for ebay... I'll have to try the internal slot again and then reboot to see if it is recognized. It didn't see it last time.

 

Well... It worked this time! I wonder what the story was with the other one. Well... I'm loading winXP on it now. CardbusB shows in the BIOS so I am good to go. Just need to load everything on.

 

how are you guys doing with your inernal BT? I must say I'm confused and somewhat displeased with mine. I followed the installation procedure and installed the software that came with mine(toshiba bluetooth stack), but the system wasn't very stable after that and I couldn't consistently connect to my BT mouse. so I uninstalled the toshiba stuff (leaving only the native XP support) and immediately was able to connect. ONCE. everything worked great one time.. i tried turning off the mouse and turning it back on.. no problem, reconnected and started working again. but then after rebooting, it's back to not working again. it still shows the mouse as a BT device, gives a "last connected" time of the last bootup (even does this when the mouse is turned off!) but now I can't delete the mouse (locks up) or re-attach it or the other mouse i've got. it just sits at the stupid flashlight screen indefinitely. i know it is not a range issue because i've got the mouse just a couple inches from the card, and when it DID connect I could reliably use it from another room. so is this just a problem with my computer or does bluetooth really suck this bad? i've got a USB BT radio that I think I will try on my 27 and see what happens.. if it doesn't perform any better I might just abandon the whole BT concept altogether.

 

I've been using the Billionton with great success. I get plenty of range and it always connects. What type are you using?

 

its a billionton. what software/drives are you using? how does it appear in device manager? mine comes up as a generic bluetooth radio made by cambridge silicon radio. wierd huh? do i have the wrong driver?

 

Mine actually don't show as yellow ?? after installing... They show up as generic drives. After installing Billionton software everything works great. I just pop in the CD and click okay and it install all 5-6 things it needs to and then pops up with "Finished"... Then I can start using it.

Which BT Card are you using? The one with the foldable antenna?

 

yup, foldable antenna. i loaded the "stuff" on the CD, the toshiba bluetooth stack, and it is different but still doesn't work too often.

 

guys

silly question, when you folks make refrence to "hidden/internal" pcmcia slot, are you refering to a slot that has to be accessed by taking the laptop appart, or are you refering to the standard pcmcia slots that are hidden by the door. my cf28 has two pcmcia sots hidden by the door next to the modem jack, and i would be interested in adding bluetooth as you folks have done, and there are some Billionton cards on ebay like youy guys bought.
thanks

 

There is a slot inside as well, making 3 total PCMCIA slots.

It's right behind the ethernet/modem jack panel.

 

modly

to access the hidden slot do i just have to pop off the plasstic pannel?

 

Yeah, there are two screws holding it in. One is underneath the PCMCIA door (If you're looking at it with the door open, the upper left corner), and one is right next to the hard drive, about an inch away from the corner of the laptop. It is recessed a bit.

Once the two screws are undone, detach the ethernet cable from the ethernet card, and pry up on it from the PCMCIA door edge.

 

thanks
i have had that plastic cover off before but never noticed the pcmcia slot!! right now i have the wifi antenna mouned to where the rj45 jack was. I put an internal wifi with the boards help and now it looks like BT as well.
thanks i will buy one of the ebay brillinton cards and give it a whirl.

 

Go buy from BOTEQ and tell them Rick sent you. They are GREAT guys to deal with!

 

toughbook
i placed the order from them Boteq as a matter of fact, thanks

 

OK.. if you guys go into Device Manager... does your bluetooth card show about 11 com ports associated with it???? I have Bluetooth Communications port 5.. and BT Port's Com 6,7,10,11,12,13,14,20,21,40... Are there supposed to be that many??? I am wondering if its interfering with my GPS.. can't get a single Sat to show now....

 

Did you have your GPS showing first? Then add the BT? I had the same issue when I added my GPS to a laptop that I had already added the BT to. The GPS couldn't find the com port. I disabled the BT in the BIOS then uninstalled the BT ports and rebooted. It finally picked up the GPS. I haven't turned the BT back on... Are you saying that is what you did and it kicked the GPS out?

I have that many com ports showing. I think we could/should go through and figure out what will be used with the BT then uninstall it.

Make sense?

 

My GPS works.. At least it connects to the Com port.. but I don't get any reception at all.. and I used to....now that I have my mount installed in my truck.. I wanted to see it it made a difference in the GPS if it was in the mount instead of lying on the seat.....I'll disable it and see what happens.....

 

Alright I need clarification. The billionton card worked fine with the 28 that has the buldge panel...28s without that bulge panel need to be ground out slightly as Gravitar did?????

 

If you are talking about the GPS bump-out.. That makes no difference as it doesn't install on that side. It slides behind the LAN/Modem cover. You need to pull that out ans slightly grind down the plastic that is obviously in the way. You'll see it when you pull it out. Just take out the two screws, disconnect the modem connection and then grind away. Then push it in (correctly oriented) and then reassemble.

 

Ok Got it! Thats what I thought. I just wanted to be sure that there was not a model out there with a buldge in the ethernet and modem panel.

My bios does not show a com port B so I assume it does not have anything in it. I practiced opening my other unit per instructions in the thread. Im not doing the install yet because I dont have a card...just wanted to be ready for when I do.

Thanks Toughbook.

 

If you have a factory wifi "bump", don't you dare grind it. sell it!

 

Thats what Im trying to figure out...so units that came with wireless have a bump on the panel above the ethernet and 56k modem jacks? Neither of my units have a bump above the jacks.

 

I think the ports themselves (and the plastic around them) is raised up from the surface. The one in the picture you provided doesn't have the raised wifi antenna.

 

Okay Dokay. Thats what I thought. So I will need to mod the inner wall of the panel a little ya? Gravitar, I tried to access your pics but dont have yahoo groups access.

Thanks again guys.

 

The ones that have a wireless antenna will only have an ethernet jack or modem jack but not both. The patch antenna is integrated where the missing jack would be.

 

One set of CF-28's (mk2) that I have only have a modem jack installed, but the metal holder is there for a network jack to be installed, and just needs the cover plate cut through. It also has the space for the patch antenna attachment, located toward the media bay from the modem jack. So at least some of the pieces/models have three locations prepared for mountings. I guess there may have been some modifications to that side piece by Pana as time went by and options changed.

 

The side piece with the wireless antenna is quite different from the other units. Picoshark posted a good picture of one here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=187926

The entire black face plate surrounding the jack makes up the antenna so there would be no where to put the extra jack unless you cut through the antenna.

 

I think all of the modem/LAN port units have a detail that looks like they may have been thinking about adding a third.. something. I've often wondered what I could put there while still keeping the outside flush with the surface!

 

Can someone please look at the bumped out GPS cover to see if there is a part number stamped or written on it? Almost all seperate pieces have their part numbers on them. Since the GPS cover is not listed in the Service Manual... If we had the part number... We could search for it or call Heartland.

 

I looked mine over.. no number! Here's some pics of it, by the way..

http://home.wideopenwest.com/~vega215/p1.JPG
http://home.wideopenwest.com/~vega215/p2.JPG

 

Little metal tab has the only number on the whole assembly.
Try #DFMD7838