Got the 408 GPS installed BUT.....

Missed the post about wire 5 and 7 duuuuhhhhh.
Gotta tear it back down now and redo them two.
Oh well, need another go at taking it apart anyway. Hey first time for a 28 and not left over screws! Id say thats pretty good.
I did replace the separate modem and NIC mini PCI boards with a combo (Thanks TB!) but windows XP does not see them. Wonder whats up with that.
Well Monday the internal wireless should be here and that is next, well after fixing the wiring screw up on the GSP.
Also.... I had a RIM Radio, what do I do with the on off switch on the front.
When I put the unit back together and fired it up, the radio light was off. I turned it on and it lite up as did the mail light, and now they wont turn off.
The switch was/is wired in through the daughter board not the radio.
Any ideas?
Rick H...

 

Mine both do the same thing with the CDPD card removed... I beleive it's cuz the card isn't there to send the exit code back to the BIOS...

mnem
Awwww man, you spilled all my bits... 1... 10...11... 100... 101... 110... 111... 1000...

 

Just disable the radio in the BIOS and she wount turn on again.

 

I make covers to replace the on/off switch in the front. If you wanted to you could probably trim of a little piece of the black flap under the battery and cut it to shape with a pair of scissors. Then use double stick tape to cover it. That is all the factory does. When I finish mine... You can't tell the difference and you'd never know that there was an on/off switch there in the first place. Actually... Mine stick a little better than the stock ones! Either that or you could just trim a piece of elec. tape to fit. It wouldn't look stock... But then who would know what that looks like if they have never seen another one?

As far as the combo card... Try seating it and then unseating it a few times. If you had the other one in there... Try uninstalling the network adapters and COM ports and then rebooting. See if that works. Keep us posted!

 

I will give it another go.
I do not recall even seeing the radio option in the Bios, will look again.
I was hoping the on and off switch would kill power to the daughter board thus shutting off/on the GPS. But when we powered the unit down, the radio light and mail light stayed on. Had to pull the battery to get it to go off.
What is a CDPD Card? I am guessing the combo OEM NIC/Modem???
Wonder what com port the GPS will show up on?
Rick H...

 

The front power switch has no affect on the GPS it is always on and pumping NMEA data.

 

Ya if I had it wired right!!!!

I thought it would cool to be able to turn the GPS off and on, guess really does not use that much power anyway. Probably could make it work but not worth the effort.
Rick H...

 

Yeah, the front panel switch was supposed to be my project - I was gonna trace it out & draw up the schema, but never got around to it after I got into the WIFI antenna mod... and taking care of my baby... and a bazillion customers... and... and... and... *HEAD EXPLODES*

mnem
Do you have any idea how much that STINGS?!?!?

 

When I get time, the on/off switch is gonna get tampered with to see what we can make it do.

But for now, without a RIM wireless card, it won't do anything.

 

WIFI antenna mod... and taking care of my baby... and a bazillion customers... All good things!

*HEAD EXPLODES*
Now thats not a good thing!

Awful nice day around here today, may not get back to the project until after dark of Monday night.

Does the stock OEM GPS stay on the entire time the computer is powered on?

Rick H...

 

I believe so. There is nothing software based to turn it off.

 

Well when I go back in to repair the wiring I will scope out the switch and board and see if I can figure anything out.
I know after the removal of the RIM and install of the 408, the switch acted different. It stayed on and as I mentioned, would not turn off even after shut down, only after battery removal and unplugging computer.
Rick H...

 

The CDPD card and RIM card are on and the same... It is just what is attached to it that makes the difference. The pc board is the same for both.

Pull the switch out and cover the area like mentioned above... It will look stock! When you pull off the RIM it breaks the circuit rendering the switch useless... It is then just an LED.

 

Well got the wires swapped around. Streets and trips found the gps but no fix. Of course I do not have the antenna hooked up yet. Let the computer sit out side upside down with the battery door off, but still no fix. I suspect the battery is killing any incoming signal.
Does anyone know of a program I can down load to actually interface with the GPS and look at the sat tracking status and strength?
Gotta work on antenna now...
Rick H...

 

Rick... You can try it with the power cord powering the laptop... Battery out and holding it upside down then. As long as it is plugged in... You don't need the battery.

The programs like WinFast (freeware) will show you the data streaming from the GPS engine but you won't get a lock without the antenna. At least you would know it is working...

 

With as much as the case blocks the signal, I'd imagine the battery is going to do it even worse.

 

Well crap! I can not find a download for winfast, google is letting me down!
Anyone got a link?
Rick H...

 

I found it! Man it was hidden.
Winfast is getting data from GPS so first step passed.
Now to go string an extension cord and pull the battery, flip the PC upside down and see if it can get a fix.
Rick H...

 

Ok, passed the outside upside down test! After letting it sit for 10 min or so it had locked onto 1 sat, then I held it up and moved it around and picked up 6 more real fast....
So conclusion is the GPS is working, just need to move onto antenna now.
Thanks all!
Rick H...

 

Good to hear! Now... Get crackin' on that antenna!

 

Working on that combo card. Seated it a few times and still nothing.
Now I know I am not going nuts, but seems like the Bios options have changed since the GPS mod.
Prior to do anything, I had to disable the internal OEM NIC cause it was interfering with the wireless card I stuck in the side. Now after the mod, removing RIM adding 408 GPS and pulling the Modem and OEM NIC cards out, the Bios list GPS and not modem and NIC!
What the heck!
Is the Bios dynamic?????
Because of the short length on the hookup wire for the NIC/Modem, I had to use the out board Mini PCI slot.
Rick H...

Hey just located the 100gig Hitachi hard drive at Zipzoomfly.com
108 bucks with 2 day shipping.

Oh man I am getting old..... I just order this 100 gig and now I see I ordered a 60 gig yesterday SOB! Dooohhh dang it you guys got me hooked, yes I am blaming you guys, at least thats what I am going to tell my wife, ha!!!!

 

Uh oh, we don't need angry wives on here!

 

Hey Modly,
Post your phone number so we can have the angry wife calls properly directed. Then you can email them back with pics of the sawzall, casket, and hearse. Might mean marital bliss for those of us who are marriage challenged.

Maybe Mnem could handle the overflow calls.

 

As scary as that sounds, it was hilarious at the same time...

I'm still afraid of angry women though

 

Ok back to ME...
What do you all think about the combo card and the BIOS changing?
Gave up on the front RIM switch, it is momentary so would have to go deeper into the daughter board to find where it gets excited. Not worth the effort.
Removed the switch cover and ribbon and made a plate as TB suggested, looks just like OEM.
Rick H...
Rick H...

 

Sure, just have them call 1-374-686-6643 *1-DRGNTONGUE*

Yes, he makes housecalls. The dwagon's tongue goes everywhere...

mnem
*Slaps self with a largish trout*

 

Got the antenna fitted,
Now just need to get the coax ran.
Rick H...

 

RickH,
Nice looking antenna installation. I guess I missed out some where (not unusual with me) but where did you get the antenna and mount?

 

Antenna from Jim Gray and used all existing hardware.
Substantial hand fitting with a file. Right now the clamping action of the screen case and the rubber deal on top is holding it in. And its pretty darn tight.
I used a file to remove just the right amount of material from the lid top and the rubber deal on top, so that the antenna is not squished between the lids, but is held nice and tight.
Once coax is hooked up, I will see if it may need a little more to ensure it stays where it is supposed. I suspect it will not need any thing additional.
Rick H...

 

Don't see another response, tho someone else will probably elaborate with more pertinant details -
The BIOS does react to what is installed to some extrent. The swithch on the daughter/CDPD board tells the BIOS if GPS/RIM/CDPD is installed, and also affects the front panel wireless switch to some degree. Inserting a card to the internal PCMCIA causes the extra cardbus item to appear, and I think the mini-pci card slots may only appear if a card is inserted (or some combination of disableing in BIOS and removing the card affects how the BIOS responds). Try adding the cards back, enabling, and then switching the new cards back in. Or it may be, as reported elsewher, that the contacts are not clean, and the card may need to be removed and reseated several times to get a good contact.

HTH

 

Ok will give it a go. I did install and remove and reinstall the combo card about 6 times, thinking there may have been a little corrosion, but to no avail.
I would have thought the when the radio was removed and the GPS added, the bios would lighten and disable the feature [enable] [disable] function but is disappeared completely and the GPS [enable] [disable] function appeared.
Strange.....
Will try putting back in the separate Modem/Lan back in and see if it sees in, then remove and reinstall the Combo card.
Rick H...

 

I don't know if this helps but I had the same problem with my combo card.
I'm no computer genius but I did a Windows update connecting through the wireless and then restarted it. It found the combo card, found the driver and installed it. I have no clue how that works but it did.....

 

Well after some swapping combinations of OEM Modem and NIC Mini PCI cards, it appears that I have a dead Mini PCI! The outboard one is not taking anything. Thats the one that the OEM wire harness fits from the side CAT 5 plug, no more no less wire! Right now I am on line with the New Combo card. I had to use the inboard PCI, but wait you say, what about that to short NIC panel hook up???
Fear not, a little hook up wire and magnifier and the old soldering iron, I extended it to reach the inboard PIC Mini slot. Installed the Combo card and right away, windows found it, both the modem and the NIC. And now I am using it.
This puts me in a pickle though....
I got the Combo card so that I could free up a a slot to put the Wireless Lan card in. So in the end, I am not going to have an active on board NIC plug.
I guess thats not the end of the world, wireless at home and about everywhere you go now a days.
In hind site...
When I first got this unit I should have inventoried everything and noted what was working and what was not.
And no the NIC or modem was not disabled in the BIOS. Never even showed up.
After thought...
Is it possible that the GPS took the resources from the outboard Mini PCI?
Again, I should have taken inventory before I started this journey!
Rick H...

 

Is that the one I sent? It's dead?

 

No no no...
That works. Just that I had to put it in the Inboard PCI slot as the OEM hook up wire is too short for the inboard slot. OEM the NIC board goes in the outboard slot. I had to extend the OEM NIC hookup wire to reach the Combo card you sent me cause I had to put it in the inboard slot, the outboard PCI slot as I mentioned appears to be dead. Not the combo card.....
Rick H..

 

Ok, here is an update.
Go the antenna in and the coax ran, thanks TB!
Installed the EnGenies 600 mw wireless card in the PCI slot I thought was dead and windows found it, glad for that. Not sure what was going on with the other cards that led me to think it was dead. Anyway, wireless in and configured but no antenna and it sucks. I have a link sys wireless in the slot and get 35% signal, zip on the EnGenies. I am sure some kind of antenna is required. I am going to go stand by the router and make sure is works for now.
Oh the GPS antenna is great, stepped outside and over the course of about 2 minutes it had 10 sats, too cold to wait any longer.
Rick H...

 

Glad to hear it Rick!!! Keep it up, and yes, the wifi will need an antenna too.. GET TO HACKIN!!!

 

Well duhhhhhh, I did not config the new wifii card! Once tha twas done the card took right off, of course i was standing right next to the router. Once moved upstairs nothing, so yes I will need to install an internal antenna. I want to also to have the option to connect an external as well.
Gonna have to take a few days of I am gonna wear out the screws on this thing opening it up!
Thanks all for the help and if you can recommend an internal antenna and and an external bulkhead connector let me in.
Rick H...