pci-e wireless card for g530

[sherman]

Hello. I have recently purchased a Lenovo 3000 G530 4446-23U.

I run linux as my main operating system on the machine and everything works fine except the wireless.

The wireless chipset in my machine is a  Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g (rev 01). This chipset is a pain to get running due to the required driver, and it appears that this is one of the only Broadcom chipsets that does not support packet injection.

I began to search for an alternate pci-e wireless adapter for my machine and discovered that Lenovo does not play nice with "non approved" pci-e wireless cards. I read that I must use a card that is whitelisted in the BIOS.

I have been searching for "Lenovo approved" whitelisted wireless pci-e cards and have had no luck.

I see that an ebay search of "lenovo 3000 wireless card" shows several results, but without knowing what cards are whitelisted for my machine there is no way of knowing what card to purchase.

Hopefully someone can help me before I break down and buy a USB wireless adapter.

Thank you.

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

thinkpad cards can also be used.

[sherman]

Thank you for the reply.

Can you please point me to your source stating that thinkpad wireless cards may be used in the 3000 G530 series. I would like to be absolutely sure before ordering the card. I do not doubt your knowledge, I would just like one more source to confirm this.

I have found some cards on ebay with atheros chipsets that I would very much like to have.

An ebay search of " thinkpad wireless atheros" yeilds several favorable results.

Thank you again.

[sherman · Accepted solution]

I am surprised that my google searches did not turn this up earlier.

Here is a short article on 3000 series laptops.

http://www.thinkwiki.org/index.php?title=Category:Lenovo_3000

This article shows that a "ThinkPad 11a/b/g Wireless LAN Mini Express Adapter" can be used on the 3000 series.

Unless this is incorrect, I guess this thread should be marked solved in order to help the next person who comes along.

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

hum.. i guess you found your own answer. 

[sherman]

I have an update. I just received my new wireless card about an hour minutes ago. I purchased the EXACT model of card referenced in the thinkwiki article above. I plug in my new card and fire up the machine only to recieve the "Unauthorized network card" error message instructing me to remove the card.

I am now at a loss of what to do.Suggestions would be swell.

thanks

[sherman]

I just got off the phone with lenovo tech support. I called to ask them for a list of acceptable wireless cards for my machine.

I was told that this machine is a "bottom of the line value machine" with "limited capabilities", and that there are no other wireless cards that will work in the machine other than the one it came with.

Does anyone have any solid information that indicates otherwise?

/ begin rant

I suppose the solution to this was as simple as buying a usb wireless adapter, I just didn't want to mess with the usb adapter.

While looking for a solution to this problem I came across this quote.

 If Asus sold motherboards that were only compatible with Asus graphics cards, people would be less likely to buy Asus hardware. If they placed this information in a small footnote and simultaneously listed an AGP slot in the technical specifications, people who had purchased the hardware with the expectation that they could use their existing graphics card with the same chipset would be justifiably angry. The situation is directly analagous. IBM may feel that US law requires them to implement this restriction in the United States. However, failure to clearly advertise this restriction (especially given that most of the world is not covered by FCC regulations) is unacceptable. — Matthew Garrett

The main reason I chose a Lenovo g530 over other similarly priced options was because most of the material I had read indicated that the quality of Lenovo machines was higher and the support was better. After speaking with customer support I get the idea that this only applies to the more costly machines.

It appears that this model is not particularly supported, has "limited capabilities", and comes crippled directly from the factory.

The fact that this machine is crippled by the manufacturer, and that I am told that there are absolutely no other wireless cards that will work in this machine angers me.  The fact that there is no indication that these machines are crippled really really angers me, and is a complete deal breaker. I feel that I have been deceived in some way.

I know that I can simply just get a usb adapter and everything will be just fine, but i am not going to, I am pissed. There is nothing wrong with this machine other than the fact that is is intentionally crippled by the manufacturer. 

I am now going to sell this machine solely because of the way I feel about a company that will intentionally cripple a product and not obviously indicate it as such. And I do not intend to purchase another Lenovo.

/end rant

If any of the above information is incorrect please let me know.

Thank you.

Note from Moderator:  Removed inappropriate content.

Message Edited by JaneL on 08-17-2009 10:15 PM

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

you probably can hack the bios to get the wireless card working. Is this wireless card from Lenovo??

[sherman]

Hello.

I have the exact same wireless card pictured here.

http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/ThinkPad_11a/b/g_Wireless_LAN_Mini_Express_Adapter

I have also looked at this article and am unsure if any of it can be applied to the g530.

I was going to try to modify the pci-id of the wireless card but that information appears to be missing.

 http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Problem_with_unauthorized_MiniPCI_network_card

Any advice would be exceedingly appreciated. 

[liblamb]

Same problem for the Lenovo G550. Argh!!!