s10-3 3g mini pci-e slot not working?? [ Edited ]

[tulisan]

 After I successfully unlocked my S10-3T BIOS to receive a third party 3G modem, which I discussed at http://www.netbooks.ph/forums/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=2220, I now tried it on my friend's S10-3. I know it's the same specs as my S10-3T minus the touch screen, it has a different BIOS. When I first tried the third-party 3g modem card to my unhacked S10-3T, it wouldn't boot up because of it. But when I tried the same card to the unhacked S10-3, the booting went though! I was able to boot into windows. However, when searching for the device in the device manager, I couldn't find it. WTH? I re-inserted the card and it's the same. The only thing I can think of is that the mini pci-e slot is disabled. That's why no matter what card I insert there, it will still boot up but won't be recognized in Windows.

Has anyone with S10-3 tried the slot yet?

[mjshelgosh]

I am having the same issue - Device manager does not detect any type of 3G device or card - I have downloaded all of the drivers and ATT software and I still have the same issue - If this can;t be resolved I will return the laptop as this is one of the primary reasons I purchased this product - anyone else have this issue ? 

[tulisan]

whoaa! yours too? It means it really is disabled coz if not, it would detect the cards and will refuse to boot.

One thing I noticed too when I tried to hack the S10-3 BIOS, I couldn't find any traces of VID/PID. I tried looking for all the approved VID/PID and there isn't any. I thought at first that maybe there is no white list in the BIOS (which is next to impossible) that's why I was ecstatic when it first booted up with the card installed, only to find out that it's not recognised.

Thanks for the feedback mjshelgosh. More feedback are still welcome

[mjshelgosh]

Well - I would default to buying an approved card but cant seem to find anywhere to get one - anyone else have that info ? anyone have the " approved " WWAN card list for PNP ? 

[tulisan]

That's the problem. I couldn't find any traces of the "approved" WWAN card list in the S10-3 BIOS, while they are present in the S10-3T BIOS. If the slot is indeed disabled, any "approved" card wouldn't get detected anyway.

[Ender]

Have you tried taping pin 20? http://www.endeer.cz/lenovo/F3507g-mark.jpg

I mean putting a small piece tape on it, to prevent it making electrical contact with the slot. It's radio-disable pin, which for USB miniPCIe devices usually causes complete disappearance.

[tulisan]

I have yet to try that. thanks for the idea.  what can i use to cover it besides a clear tape?

[ELCamino]

tulisan, use electrical tape if you have some.

[tulisan]

got it. thanks ELCamino Will post results after.

[tulisan]

No need to tape the pin 20 of the modem!

I know now why it didn't work the first time I tried it. Because it's not enabled by default! You can just plug in your 3G modem, fire up your netbook,  hit Fn-F5, enable the 3G, and windows 7 will recorgnize it and ask for drivers. The best thing is, it's not BIOS locked! You can practically plug in any card and it might just work!

It puzzles me why Lenovo did this to S10-3 while locking the BIOS of S10-3T.