What is this?

This came on a TB I just bought on Ebay. It has a model number CF-29CTKGBKM. The "B" indicates GPS.

I don't know what this sled is for. My system properties says it's a Sprint product. What is it??

I'm lost.

 

its a Sprint hsdpa modem

 

Now I'm wondering why those three com ports are labeled NMEA (National Marine Electronics Association)? I'm used to NMEA protocols for depth sounders, radars, GPS, etc. A lot of GPS users here will recognize NEMA 183 as the protocol for GPS. Are they for the now missing internal GPS? I can't see them having anything to do with cellular communications.
Cap.

 

That may be the built-in GPS port on the aircard.

 

So what do I do with it? What can I use it for? The model number says my 29 has GPS (also in BIOS) but I can't get that to work. All the drivers I've tried say "This model is NOT supported".

This 29 does not have a lid antenna or anything.

 

I know that many aircards have GPS built in. I thought that all phones on Verizon and Sprint have GPS built it to support e911. Whether you have access to that feature though a programmable interface is something I would love to know and be able to use.

 

Where is your com 1 port?
Thats a normal port to show up in device manager
( its conected to the 9 pin serial port)
Check you bios settings and enable everything you find there


Cap, where you been?

Alex

 

What you have there is the sled that carries the WWAN modem and/or the OEM GPS unit. The PCB board that you have, is only for the OEM GPS unit. You DO NOT have and Sprint modem installed. When there is no WWAN modem installed, they use a different PCB for the GPS unit. If you had the Sprint installed, the PCB board would be covering the entire sled, with the GPS unit about 1/3 the size of the board you currently have. Since you do not have the PCB for the Sprint card, they provide you with a slightly larger PCB for the GPS unit. If yours is not working you should check under the black end piece by removing the center screw on the edge to verify that there is an antenna there (small white square with a donut looking top). If it is there, remove the screws holding the PCB down and verify the GPS unit is installed. From the GPS unit to the PCB should be a thin 12pin cable that installs shiny side up, not blue side up, on both pieces. There is also another ribbon cable going from where the sled plugs in to CN18 on the laptop mother board (located where the HD is installed; it will be gold/brown in color and snakes under the HD then goes up to and installs on the top front edge of the motherboard). If all that looks good, you can also ohm out the very tiny white fuse on the underside of your GPS PCB (labeled 1amp something) and make sure the fuse is not blown. Also, upon boot up, hit F2 and go to advanced tab and make sure GPS is set to enabled. Other than that, the only other problem I have had is that the CN18 ribbon cable needed to be completely removed at both ends, and left out for a day or two, then re-installed to get the GPS working. Not sure why, but several times I thought the cable had failed and bought new ones only to find out the cable never did fail. By un-installing it and leaving it out for a couple days, my GPS started working again. BTW, it should be said to make sure when you are doing all this to not have AC power, or battery power on! That could blow the fuse. I hope this helps..

 

Wow, that was a great help. Thanks a ton for explaining all that.

I went back into BIOS and enabled some COM ports. This is whats showing now. I guess this does have GPS, which is why I bought it (for $450 in awesome shape for the whole computer)

I don't have GPS in the BIOS however (even though the BIOS model number shows GPS). All the internals are present though, I took the bottom plate off and inspected it when I bought it.

 

It will not show up in device manager where you have pictured. Look under System Devices.. It will show as Panasonic GPS Device.

If it isn't showing up in the BIOS, then:
1. You are not getting power to the sled.
a. Check the CN18 Cable.
b. Check the sled 12pin cable, it could be on backwards. Remember shiny side up.
c. Check the tiny white fuse to see if it is blown.
2. The GPS unit is dead.

Even having/not having the drivers will still cause the BIOS to reflect it as being installed. It just won't work. So, as long as it has power, and is functional, and all cables are installed correctly, it will show up in your BIOS. If you don't have the correct drivers installed, it will not work and probably won't show up under Device Manager>System Devices.

 

Quick question(s)....

Who did you buy this from on ebay? I have seen a few of these on ebay from a certain seller and they trounce out the model number so you'll look it up and see that it has GPS... But they don't advertise that it actually HAS GPS installed. I asked them if GPS was installed and they said, "We don't know what is installed... We just list the model number... We can't guarantee anything however!" So... I never bid on them.

It looks like someone took out the GPS and slid in a Sprint "Wireless ready" sled. I may be wrong but I don't see the GPS antenna wire snaking around and going under the black plastic cap on the end of the sled.

If it doesn't show in the BIOS to be activated or deactivated... Then you either don't have the GPS on the sled or perhaps a wire has been pulled or one of the ribbon cables connecting it is pulled out.... It is worth checking....

Just a few thoughts...

 

I just took it all apart and there is a GPS antenna and a black wire going from it to the GPS board underneath the larger board.

I bought it from a surplus reseller. Here's the auction.

Tomorrow when I get to my office in between calls I'll take it down again and verify all of Doobi's suggestions. I just looked and it IS showing up in BIOS, set to AUTO.

 

gps on the 29 use com3 for data transfer, just fyi. i have not read through the thread but it sounds like your having issues getting the gps working.

 

Install Winfast Navigator
Select Com3 4800 baud rate
See if the gps works

Alex

 

It would be EVDO, not HSDPA, as HSDPA is a technology that is only used by ATT and Tmobile here in the U.S. via GSM networks. This is CDMA... worth a lot and suggested to sell on ebay if you don't need it

 

As I have stated earlier, he has no modem at all! I have both sleds at home, one that has both the modem and GPS; and the other with GPS only. He has the GPS only sled. I am positive of this. Do not let the gold foil fool you, look closely and you will see that it covers nothing! It should be covering the modem, but you wouldn't see that for the PCB the modem plugs into. That PCB would be covering not only the GPS unit, but the whole sled. What he has is the smaller PCB used for the sleds that are not equipped with the modem PCB. I hope this helps...

 

There are no modems installed on the units. The antenna and switches are not there it is just GPS.

I bought one of these units and it indeed does have gps and nothing else.

-James

 

Whooops, maybe I should read every post instead of just every other one

Sorry

 

If you have a MK1 or a 1.2ghz Proc then the GPS com port is default at COM2 not COM3

They changed the com ports at MK2 to the com3.

So if you want the gps to work enable it in the bios and leave it at auto.

Then in windows open Winfast navigator and select com2 and the rate as 4800 and it will fire up.


Best bet is to take it outside for a few mins in the clear open then you will get a good lock and know it is working.


If you have GPS software you will also have to set it up to use com2 and 4800 and then you are ready to go.


-James

 

Slick. Thanks to everyone for their input, I learned a lot about these units. I switched it to COM2 and I'm getting data coming in on the Winfast Development Data View. It's constantly repeating the same data over and over, and it doesn't see any sats, but at least I know the computer is seeing it and it's doing something.

 

Doobi is, of course, correct. There is NO modem on tht board.

SDRSELLERS just sold a friend of mine 25 of those same laptops and all of his (that he has checked so far) have worked fine... So I imagine your will too. Did you install the drivers? (Sorry... Too lazy to go back and read!)

You may also.....

Use the Device Manager to uninstall the following.... All COM ports, wifi and modems... then reboot. Let everything reinstall.

Try it again....

 

You must go outside your house on a clear view to verify if will gonna receive some signal if not check the antena cable if it is connected properly.


ohlip

 

When I first hooked up my OEM GPS, it took almost 4 hours to start getting SAT's. But after that initial time, it took only 20-30 seconds to link. My biggest complaint on the OEM GPS was that the signal would seem to "pulse" up and down causing me to lose connection when driving. Once it had signal, it was in the high 40's to low 50's. With the aftermarket this group has used on the 28's and now 29's and 19's, I get high 30's to low 40's but the signal does not "pulse" and therefore I do not lose signal. Let it run for at least 4 hours, in a good open area as Ohlip suggests and see if you start getting sats.

Good Luck and glad it is at least a working unit. You are almost there!

 

Whew, I finally re-found this thread, it solves my mystery. I saw fstik1's post a couple of days ago about making the active patch antenna work so I dug the beast out that I bought from sdresellers ( i guess I got the 26th one). I have been driving myself crazy trying to find the gps. The reason I can't find it is because it ain't there!

 

Gotta give credit where its due. I contacted SDresellers and told them I didn't get a gps card in my machine. They responded "where did it say in our ad that it had gps"? I told the the "B" in the model number they advertised meant it was equipped with a gps card, and the ones they have been selling the past month had them. There response was "wow, if I'd know that, I'd of advertised the heck out of it". They offered to exchange machines with me.

If you are bidding on any of the 6 they have listed now you might want to have them look- they know what to look for now.

Tim