Installed WWAN in a CF-19MKI

This post is to help people wanting to install WWAN in their CF-19MKI. I searched all 101 pages of the Panasonic forum and could not find a definitive answer on how to accomplish this. Hopefully this helps a few people out that want to install AT&T WWAN service into their CF-19.

(FYI...I am not responsible for what happens to your laptop if you attempt this. It was your choice to try this modification. Sorry had to post this as the US is fast becoming a "Sueish" place.)

The WWAN card that I installed in my CF-19 is a mini pci-e card that removed from an AT&T Sierra Wireless AirCard 875U. This is a USB adapter that has a mini pci-e card inside of it. Some people will probably wonder why I used this instead of buying just a mini pci-e card. Well I got the 875U for $35 with free shipping from ebay. This is significantly cheaper than just buying the bare card. Just do a search on ebay for an "att 875U" and you will get a number of hits. The specs can be found here:

ATT Sierra Wireless AirCard 875U

You have to remove the battery lid and remove a couple of screws then pry the case apart. Once the case is pulled apart partly, undo the antenna that is connected to the card. Now you can open the case all the way, remove a couple more screws, then remove the card.

To install the card into my CF-19, I removed the screws which cover the pci-e slot on the bottom back of the case. If you take the cover off and you see the system memory then you took off the wrong cover. Replace that cover and remove the other one.

Once the cover is off, install the card into the pci-e slot that you will see. You will have to find some screws to hold the card down. I had some screws laying around from some netbooks I've taken apart and used those. The screws which hold down the card in the original case for the WWAN card may work but I am not sure. Once you have the card secured to the motherboard you have to connect the antennas. I am not sure about this part as I could find no info on this but I used the u.fl connectors that were plugged into the board next to the pci-e slot. I unplugged them from the board and plugged them into the card. The last thing you have to do before you reinstall the cover is to set the dip switches next to the slot. I turned on switches 1 and 2. Once this is done reinstall the cover. I then installed the SIM card into the SIM slot that is located under the cover of the headphone and mic ports. You have to remove a small steel cover to insert the card. I am not sure if you have to put the cover back on after the SIM card is installed but I did.

Next is the fun part. Turn the laptop on and hope you don't smell smoke lol. Hit F2 and go into your BIOS. Under the Advanced menu you should now have a setting for Wireless WWAN. Enable this then hit F10 to save and exit. Boot into Windows and make sure the wireless switch is turned on. Your computer will detect new hardware. Let it do it's thing. It may or may not install the correct drivers. This will be taken care of when you install the ATT connection manager which can be downloaded here:

ATT Connection Manager

Download and install that software and then reboot once it is complete. When you computer comes back up, fire up the ATT connection manager. Your card should now be detected and a Connect button should show.

This worked for me. I have successfully connected to the ATT network at 3G speeds. If you want GPS capabilities built into it that is NMEA, look for the 881U card. I have yet to test this. You may have to update the firmware to enable this. The firmware can be downloaded at the first link I posted.

Hopefully this helps some people. I've seen others post that they finally got theirs working but as per usual like every other forum, they fail to let everyone know what they did to make it work and are never seen again.

-Tristan

 

Thats a great post Tristan

The forum is not only here to help people troubleshoot problems, but to show and help people modify their Toughbooks

Thats great that you were willing to take some chances with the unknown

I am waiting to see what some of the experts here have to say about the Mod

If you remove your side antenna covers on your lcd lid you should see the antenna wires going into the different antennas on the sides
They are each a different colour, and each antenna is marked to let you know what it is for, so you will be able to trace the wire colour that is connected to the wwan ant and see if it matches the colour on the two wires that you connected



Alex

 

A little bit of time ago, I had installed a Sony-Erricson F3507g PCI-E -card in my CF-19. This HSDPA-Card has also an included GPS-receiver. First I have to found out, which of the antenna-connectors from the card is for GPS and which one for WWAN. After that I installed an small embedded GPS-antenna from an Cellphone (Nokia E75) on the right top side of the lid, because I don't live in the US and I don't have to use the EDVO-US-antenna. For Germany I have to use the brown antenna-cable with the antenna on the bottom left of the lid. I unsoldered the black-antenna-cable from the US-EDVO-antenna and soldered the mobilphone-GPS-antenna on the cable, which I glued on the WWAN-antenna. In an other thread u will find some pics from the location of the antennas ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=360283 ).
The problem with the F3507, also known as Dell 5530: the windows driver will not work on every notebook, also not on the CF-19. The driver itself is locked to special notebooks from Dell, Lenovo and MSI. I wrote an e-mail to sony-erricson, but they are not willing to write or to give a driver to an not certified notebook nor the sourcecode.
But I'm using also ubuntu on my CF-19 and their it is fully working , also the GPS (but the receiption is not so good, like on my CF-29...)
Now I'll hunting for an 875U. Thank u for entry!

...It's good against lost of electrical connection under vibrations....

 

Tristan... Great write-up! Rep to you! Excellent first post!

 

Good bit of scrounging there Tristan! Of course once the leeches find out about that model adapter, they'll prolly double in price overnight!

Just out of curiosity... do you have a mini-pciE SSD laying around? I'd be curious if your old husk could be used to fire one up on a USB port...

mnem<~~~Outside the box.... on the table, and running out the door....~~~<<<

 

Just for fun I tried to install a mini pci-e 64GB RunCore SSD card in the slot I used in my Dell Mini 9. I'm sorry to tell you...It didn't work. I tried all sorts of dip switch combinations and it just wouldn't show up in the BIOS or OS. I was hoping that even though it didn't show in the BIOS it may show up in the OS...sorry dude.

-Tristan

 

Thanks dude! There is so little information when it comes to these specific laptops and every little bit helps in my eyes. Sort of a "pay it forward" type of thing...

 

Yeah, I kindof figured that would be the case. Prolly some BIOS restriction...

*Sigh*

mnem
Always interesting, but never easy...

 

So I had success to get an 875U from the UK. It's a little bit curious, but a good looking construction. Why are they using a battery?
The first thing: I had no luck, to update the firmware. The updater says 'not correct device'. Could u pls provide the link to the exact firmware? Maybee I'm using the wrong version.
Nxt is, there is only one antenna-connector on the pci-e-card MC8775. The second is not on the pcb, but I see the contact-structure, so i'll try to soldering one on the pcb and hopefully with the new firmware and the new connector it will receive the GPS-signal.

Denis.

 

To Denis : you can check this list about your 875U (MC8775)

http://www.sierrawireless.com/product/em_comparison.aspx

 

Denis..Do you mean the watcher software application?
I did not read anything in Tristan's post on firmware

Does your service provider in Germany have the watcher software?
Tristan used ATT software


Alex

 

Tomcat:

----->
th3umbra:

 

Opps, didn't look for it under gps in the end of the post

Here is a link to firmware for the 875 (not U) that might help then
Its stated for ATT so I don't know if it will work for your service provider, or if it would screw your card up!
There was not to many firmware updates available

http://www.sierrawireless.com/support/show_support_and_downloads.aspx?id=4,5,1,1

Edit; And a link to a German distributor of sierrawireless
http://www.hy-line.de/communication


Alex

 

Thank u tomcat, but this firmware is also not working and the German company from ur second link is only supporting devices, which u have bought from them. ... So I'm waiting for the return of th3umbra....

 

Denis-

I hope this helps you:

http://www.free0n.com/how-to-activate-and-use-sierra-aircard-881u-gps/

Also, the wwan card i took out of the 881U had 2 antenna plugs on it. Perhaps they are different in Europe...

-Tristah

PS...the rubberized backlit keyboard sucks lol...just "upgraded" my CF-19 to one and I think I'm going to swap it back to the original one. How the heck do you touch type with this thing???

 

Yes, I wish there was a Emissive Backlit Keyboard like the cf28 to cf30's
I miss not having the backlite on my cf-19 but I don't want smaller keys

Alex

 

Lol...I mis-spelled my own name in my last post because I'm using the rubberized kb!

-T

 

Now I'm really confused...

th3umbra:

th3umbra:

Which one? Which card was inside of the USB-Device? Could u pls help me out?

 

Ooops..sorry Denis. I have both cards and opened both to use in different laptops. I used the 875U in my CF-19 and an 881U in My Dell Mini 9. I mixed up the cards and the NMEA GPS that shows is in my Dell Mini 9 and not on the CF-19. I am going to have to change the original post to reflect this. Also I feel bad that you got the 875U for GPS capabilities. So look for my PM. As far as the antenna connectors, I have both on the version I have. The one I got has the ATT branding on the case...

 

This is MC8780(880U) work on my CF-19 and It's support Qualcomm GPSone.


Don't forget this RF-ID


I connect the build-in antenna(the brown one) but can't recept GPS signal so I maed a custom one.
I don't want to replant the antenna cable because I don't know what kind of damage would happend to waterproof.



GPS reception test of Laptop mode:



GPS reception test of Tablet mode:



Have to know that if without a 3G-enabled SIM card, GPS may not get the coordinates data. And the version R3.1.0.34 Build 2258 of Sierra Wireless Watcher may have some problems with GPS Monitor on XP.

I also check the comparison list on sierra wireless web site.Unfortunately The 875U (MC8775) does not support GPSone.

Hope this post will helpful

PS: The MC8780 offers receive diversity for improved fringe performance in Europe and Asia, while MC8781 offers receive diversity for improved fringe performance on North American networks.

 

Yep, nice pics. Thats nearly the same like I have done with my F3507g card, which is only working under Linux. And thank u very much for the comparsion and clarify, which card is for which field of application.

 

I found some information here http://www.3g.co.ua/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3672 that both Sierra Wireless 881U (MC8781) and 595U (MC5725) work in Ukraine well with their aGPS inside...
I do not know about Germany.

 

You have very nice message. But how it is possible to make a custom GPS-antenna? Can you tel this moment more clearly? Thanks...
And another question: are you from China?

 

As u can see on ur site, it's not a-GPS ( http://keep4u.ru/imgs/b/081102/58/5846ddf227afbc6b84.jpg ). The card got an sat-fix. I used them too in my non coveraged area and got also an sat-fix....

And I made also my own antenna for the sidecover. I used an gps-antenna from an cellphone, as I had described.

 

onirakkiss

I am wondering if a cell phone gps antenna is any good?
Do you loose satellites often?
You have the same sarantel antenna in your cf-29 as I do
How do they compare

Alex

 

I think, the antenna of seal_a5 is very nice. I hope he will reply.

 

Denis
Are you using a cellphone gps antenna in yours



Alex

 

The antenna of the cellphone is doing well, if there is a free view to the satellites, but u can see any tree or cloud in the lost of numbers of satellites, where I only see an small decrease of the signal with my other toughbook and the sarantel-antenna.
I will also trying an integration of the same sarantel-antenna, like I have in my CF-29 to fit in the spare space in the sidecover.

-->

 

It is not so good

 

Mmmhmmm...

I am skeptical of seal_a5's setup there; that antenna looks suspiciously like the built-in WiFi antennas inside my Dell XPS-M1330. I suspect he may be acquiring GPS data exclusively from his cellular connection...

mnem
Where was I?

 

Accordingly to decision of some Ukrainian people here http://www.3g.co.ua/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3672 Sierra Wireless 880U (MC8780) has not a GPS interface.
But Sierra Wireless 881U (MC8781) has this one.
Here is absolutely different information: http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies-archive.cfm/1108594.html

 

-->
http://www.sierrawireless.com/product/em_comparison.aspx


I have this one (MC8781) since a couple of days. th3umbra and I exchanged the cards via mail. t3umbra is an honest person.

 

People, can anybody of you help me to buy this card (MC8781 or 881U)? I have the PayPal with couple of dollars, but I can not buy anything from ebay, because my PayPal account belonged to my USA bank account, but I am in Kazakhstan. Sellers never will send in my case to Kazakhstan accordingly the rules of ebay.

 

Onirakkiss, thanks a lot for the link. So, somebody from the Ukrainian forum has a mistake...

 

Hi~ Alexgromov

Basicly .. This antenna that I bought from China internet market.
This is the link : http://auction1.taobao.com/auction/trade_detail.htm?tradeID=2227720001&itemID=5fcf557b3545e412d90cd86ef4c32c64&xID=0db1
I just changed the antenna cable..
It comes with Multi-bands (869MHz~960MHz；1570~1580MHz;1920MHz~2500MHz) on several PIFAs on a FPC base board and it's not a "active antenna"

No I'm from TAIWAN but work in the China.

When I move my Cf-19 to indoor that will lose the GPS data and satellites so I don't think my data is from cellular connection...
I also take off SIM card to test GPSone then it can get satellites but no data....Maybe like cell pohne no SIM-card no work...

 

It might not be as simple as needing a connection to benefit from the assisted gps

The lack of data that you report could be that the service provider has locked out even the gps data through a software lock tied into the watcher application



Alex

 

U are complete correct!

 

With aGPS, the location information is processed at the tower and sent along with the cellular data; it seems to me that losing the GPS when you disable the broadband card is evidence that it doesn't actually use a satellite connection.

I'd suggest a simpler test; leave the SIM card in place, then block the direct satellite signal with a grounded trash-can lid or something similar. If you LOSE GPS but STILL have wireless broadband, then I'd believe it is using satellite connection... otherwise, I stick by my assertion that his GPS is entirely terrestrial based.

Don't think for one moment that I believe seal_A5 is trying to deceive us here; I just believe that his setup is sophisticated enough to fool him...

mnem
Technology at work, undermining our trust in our own senses...

 

It would clear this up ..Sort of

But the cellular signal has to be reasonable

So a pan with edges might be used to block only satellites ,and still allow wwan internet access

Alex

 

Seal seems like a resourceful sort... I think he could manage it. I know I can kill my Garmin just by moving it from the windshield to the seat, but my iPwn still works in the same spot...

mnem<~~~ STILL iPwned ~~~<<<