Help fitting new card

[Dangerous_Dave]

Hello all,

With a little help from this forum, I purchased an 'alternative' wireless minicard for my T420 laptop as it was missing one, from a list of compatible cards indicated in the manual. However upon receiving it it turns out it is quite a lot shorter than the originally intended one. While the manual indicated that it will work with the model, it is consequently physically difficult to fit - it cannot be secured by the screw mounting (perhaps not a big issue) but also one of the little wires will not reach.

What would be the advice in this situation? Is it possible to buy extenders for the little minicard connector cables? Should I just abandon the whole project?

Another thing is that one is pink and the other blue. The manual describes yellow and blue. I guess the yellow one is the pink one in mine?

Thanks

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

if it is not from the list of compatible card and not from Lenovo, it won't even work, so there is no point even trying.

Also when you say shorter, how much shorter? brand and make of this card?

and maybe a picture of the card in the slot will help people to advise you on this.

[Dangerous_Dave]

As mentioned above it is on the list of compatible cards in the T420 manual, However it is only about an inch high (although the same width and with the same slot connector) compared with about 2 inches for the original card. This means that one of the wires does not reach (as it is, although if I opened it up it might be possible to free a little more cables to pull through - but I'd rather just buy an extension).

[zoltanthegypsy]

Does is have a Lenovo part/FRU number on it?

What lead_org was getting at (I think) is that just being on the list - as in Intel 5100 for instance - won't get it past the BIOS whitelist.  It needs some Lenovo pixie dust (different device ID or subsystem ID maybe) before it will work.

Z.

[Dangerous_Dave]

Well, I checked last time whether it was on their list of compatible cards, and it was. It's something similar to this

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Intel-Advanced-N-6205-wifi-Wireless-N-Card-Thinkpad-IBM-T420-T520-X220-W52...

And I believe it was previously fitted to a lenovo laptop (not the T420 by the looks of it).

So I have some reasons to believe it would work if plugged in, unless this 'pixie dust' factor comes into it. Can you elaborate on that?

[Dangerous_Dave]

I'm wondering if we're talking across each other here - is there some list apart from the list written in the manual specifically saying which part numbers will work with this laptop (aka the whitelist)

[zoltanthegypsy]

The FRU # indicates the presence of pixie dust.

Sorry I wasn't being clear.  Since you didn't indicate the part number, I was speculating whether it carried a Lenovo part number, or just the original manufacturer's PN.

The point I was trying to make is that (for instance) an Intel 5100 - straight from Intel - wifi card won't pass the white-list test, while a 5100 resold by Lenovo will, since it contains a Lenovo-branded ID that the whitelist recognizes.

If yours has a Lenovo FRU that's on the white list you should be good to go.  Apart from the puzzling mechanical problem.

Z.

[Dangerous_Dave]

Does anybody know if you can purchase extensions for those little cables, or what they're even called?

[Dangerous_Dave]

Anybody?

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

never seen these cables before, and it is not a standard part that Lenovo sells.