CF31 MK2 WWAN enable in BIOS

Hello Forum,

I recently purchased a CF31JLL9B2M on the second hand market. It was sold with only 200hrs in bios. Made a deal to include a fitted WWAN card. Well the machine arrived and the Ericsson card is fitted in the slot but it is not enabled.

The gentleman who sold me the unit who up until dispatch was quick to reply to any correspondence has now become very quiet indeed.

There is no sign of the card in device manager. The wireless switch utility doesn't list wwan on/off. As my GOBI enabled CF31 does. And surprise, surprise it is not listed in bios.

In the CF31 mk2 bios there is an dialog which states

"Optional kit configuration"

This option brings up a password box, which I assume allows you to toggle on the WWAN enable.

I have read all the other threads for WWAN enable. All seem to point to GOBI enable on older toughbooks and the use of booting into dos and loading GOBI files or setting DIP switches.

I suspect that these are solutions for older models only?

Can anyone point me in the right direction from here?

Thanks in advance

James

 

I think I remember someone referring to the password-protected "optional kit" issue being the fingerprint reader option.
Might have been Alecgold's 19.
You've tried full disconnect of power & then cycle the power switch?
Sorry, that's all I've got...

 

Thanks Unclemack,

Yeah I've tried power off batteries out etc. Even disconnected cmos battery to give that a try.

Called Panasonic UK and they tell me it is a US Toughbook and Panasonic UK can't even access the password far less pass it onto me.

Told me that the unit would require shipping to the US and alteration made there.

Seems like a ludicrous state of affairs that a main agent in any part of the world cannot make the addition of a WWAN card to a laptop!

What possible reason could there be to prevent it?

The same units barring the serial number are supplied into the UK market with the same card enabled!

 

Oh they could but now they are told not to. The answer is so many UK buyers are now looking to the USA to buy there Toughbooks because of price . Many times they are priced under half of the selling price in UK. I have 4 dealers that I sell 100's of port covers and other parts to in the UK because of that reason. What they are trying to do is stop the flood of them Toughbooks into the UK.

 

Thankfully the kind people at Toughbook support US did let me have the password.

After receiving it I have to say Toughbook UK were speaking rubbish about not being able to supply the password. Yeah it does look like they were trying to protect their market.

Thankfully I am now up and running. If anyone requires the info drop me your details and I'll provide it.
Searched for days to find out how to enable the WWAN Turns out a couple of emails to the right person and wayhay!

Nice and simple in the end.

 

That is great news. I will be closing this thread very soon only because I just know that someone will come along and start asking about other BIOS passwords and we can't talk about them. It has happen in the past.

 

Sorry to hear that it will be closed. It stinks that this type of simple installation is made difficult by lack of information. I understand the manufacturer wants to keep these tasks to themselves.


I assume that plenty of people on the forum know what the password is, but are prohibited from disclosing it. It is a real shame. The next poor sod may not get such a helpful response from tech support.

 

Well some things we can talk about and some things Panasonic will not let us take about...if you can understand that

 

Yeah we all have a company line to tow.

Maybe the forum couldn't help with my new cf31 but how about my old one?

I have a CF31ATAAXPM with embedded Gobi 2000

A few months ago the Gobi became non responsive and only showed an obscure com port in device manager. (I can't remember what it was)

Tried removal and then reinstall of the CSA without any joy.

Had a look under the bonnet and could see no cause for concern.

Tried the power off reset carry on a few times then gave up and ordered a replacement Gobi card from Ebay which was listed as unlocked for Panasonic.

Fitted the card and device manager now shows

-? Other Devices
-?!Sierra Wireless Gobi 2000
-?!Unknown device

When I try to reinstall drivers none can be found.
It lists the Sierra wireless Gobi 2000 as USB\VID_1199&PID_9000\6&28C321BE&0&6
The unknown device lists as ROOT\KL_KLIM5MP\0000

Can anyone help?

The WWAN is enabled in bios and the Wireless utility shows WWAN ON

 

As an addition to the WWAN enable for my CF31 the unit arrived without any sound from the internal speaker. Everything checked out in the utility's and sound coming from external speaker jack.

The hotkeys were muting and turning up and down the sound to external speaker. They were also turning up and down the brightness. But those were the only hotkey functions which were working.

Reinstalled the Hotkey driver, application and settings. And I now have sound at internal speaker.

Might help someone?

 

Thanks for your helpfulness JA! When everyone contributes we all benefit.

I've had good results loading the Carrier Select Application (CSA). It includes the Gobi 2000 driver, and lets you choose which (USA) carrier, either AT&T, Sprint, or ???

Here's a link to the page, register then you can download it.
Panasonic Mobile Computer Wireless Carrier Software

 

Hello Springfield,

I have tried to reinstall the CSA package but it fails to see the Gobi at the last hurdle.

Thanks

Jim

 

if the CSA doesn't recognize the Gobi card, then it's most likely not a genuine Panasonic Gobi2000 card.

You may have got:
1) a generic Qualcomm Gobi2k
2) a Fujitsu/Lenovo Gobi2k - their drivers work/install
3) a HP/Dell branded Gobi2k - couldn't get it to install their drivers
4) or even worse, a fake chinese Gobi2000 card that only works with special drivers - I''ve read it here, on the forum, someone wrote about it.

my Fujitsu Gobi2000 has VendorID (VID) 1199 and ProductID (PID) 9001.

what are the VID and PID of the Panasonic OEM Gobi2k that stopped working ?

 

Pay CLOSE attention to the installation PDF that comes with CSA. Check your Device Manager and Programs as directed.

 

Hello Gear6,

Looks like you are probably right in relation to the not genuine Panasonic part being the reason the CSA rejected it. I downloaded Fujitsu file.

Technical Support pages from Fujitsu

Which did install drivers for the Gobi.

Device manager now shows two com ports listed as Gobi. One of them is the GPS port. So at least it is up and running again. Device manager still shows one unknown device and the above link didn't seem to include a carrier selection or connection manager.

Anyone know where I can get a complete Fujitsu package that will run on my Win XP machine?

 

Hi,
Ive got two CF-31's I need an Optional kit password for. I've been tearing my hair out in much the same way you seem to have been in the past. Could you please send it to me at [email protected] ?
I would be forever grateful.
Regards,
P.