Moving MiniPCI Wireless from Westell 327w to Dell Laptop???

My spare Westell 327w wireless router has a mini-pci
wireless-G card with the TI chipset TNETW1130GVF.

My Dell Latitude 600 has a mini-pci slot that's just
begging to have the wireless card installed. Sure would
be nice to be able to pack up the laptop without removing
the protruding cardbus card.

Anybody done this can advise??

First thing I'm gonna need is drivers for windows 2000.
Google has let me down here. Suggestions?

I'm also concerned that the laptop has a board that looks like
it can switch between two internal antennas. The mini-pci
card also has what looks like an antenna switch.
Looks like I need to bypass one of them.
How does the switching work? Since there's no other power source
to the little Dell board,
I'm assuming that the diodes must get switched by positive or negative
bias on the antenna wire???

Ideas?
Thanks, mike

> My spare Westell 327w wireless router has a mini-pci
> wireless-G card with the TI chipset TNETW1130GVF.
>
> My Dell Latitude 600 has a mini-pci slot that's just
> begging to have the wireless card installed. Sure would
> be nice to be able to pack up the laptop without removing
> the protruding cardbus card.
>
> Anybody done this can advise??

Yes, I pulled a card out of a device and put it in a Toshiba. Make sure the
card you're removing has the ability to connect using a cable. Some have
their antenna connections soldered into place. Then make sure there's an
antenna in the Dell and that it uses the same connectors as the card. If
there's already an antenna inside and the card's connectors match up you
should be able to give it a try.

> First thing I'm gonna need is drivers for windows 2000.
> Google has let me down here. Suggestions?

See what the computer thinks the card model is and then google for that. Or
figure out who uses that chipset in one of their cards and try their driver.
For most cards there are windows drivers. For linux it's more difficult.

> I'm also concerned that the laptop has a board that looks like
> it can switch between two internal antennas.

Haven't seen the inside of the Dell but I can tell you the switch on my
Toshiba is software-only. It doesn't actually connect with the antenna
cables or control the power to the mini-PCI slot. But you may want to ask
Dell or visit one of their support forums to ask for more info about it.

> The mini-pci card also has what looks like an antenna switch.
> Looks like I need to bypass one of them.

Hmm, never seen that on the card itself. If your laptop only has a single
antenna connector then use the one on the card marked MAIN (not aux) or tell
the software driver to use whichever one you got connected. As in, if the
only feed that fits your cable is AUX then tell the driver to use that,
assuming the driver will let you, not all do.

> How does the switching work? Since there's no other power source
> to the little Dell board,

It's a mini-PCI slot, that handles the power for the card.

-Bill Kearney

On Sat, 01 Jul 2006 07:27:27 GMT, mike <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
<ztppg.2480$JZ1.1960@trnddc01>:

>My spare Westell 327w wireless router has a mini-pci
>wireless-G card with the TI chipset TNETW1130GVF.
>
>My Dell Latitude 600 has a mini-pci slot that's just
>begging to have the wireless card installed. Sure would
>be nice to be able to pack up the laptop without removing
>the protruding cardbus card.
>
>Anybody done this can advise??

To Bill's advice I add this comment by Jeff Liebermann:

Be advised that current IBM, HP, and possibly Compaq laptops all have
a "feature" which prevents MiniPCI cards that have not been type
certified with the specific laptop from working. The BIOS detects the
card and won't let the machine boot. There are workarounds but most
are no fun.

I can't say if this also applies to Dell or not. The best way to know
for sure is to try it.

Another option is to pick up a Dell mini PCI Wi-Fi card on eBay, where
they often go for under $20.

--
Best regards, FAQ for Wireless Internet: <http://Wireless.wikia.com>
John Navas FAQ for Wi-Fi: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi>
Wi-Fi How To: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_How_To>
Fixes to Wi-Fi Problems: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_Fixes>

On Sat, 01 Jul 2006 17:19:16 GMT, John Navas <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:
: On Sat, 01 Jul 2006 07:27:27 GMT, mike <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
: <ztppg.2480$JZ1.1960@trnddc01>:
:
: >My spare Westell 327w wireless router has a mini-pci
: >wireless-G card with the TI chipset TNETW1130GVF.
: >
: >My Dell Latitude 600 has a mini-pci slot that's just
: >begging to have the wireless card installed. Sure would
: >be nice to be able to pack up the laptop without removing
: >the protruding cardbus card.
: >
: >Anybody done this can advise??
:
: To Bill's advice I add this comment by Jeff Liebermann:
:
: Be advised that current IBM, HP, and possibly Compaq laptops all have
: a "feature" which prevents MiniPCI cards that have not been type
: certified with the specific laptop from working. The BIOS detects the
: card and won't let the machine boot. There are workarounds but most
: are no fun.
:
: I can't say if this also applies to Dell or not. The best way to know
: for sure is to try it.
:
: Another option is to pick up a Dell mini PCI Wi-Fi card on eBay, where
: they often go for under $20.

Even at retail from Dell, they're only about twice that.

I assume it's a C600, not a D600, that's under discussion. The description of
the slot earlier in the thread seems to suggest that.

On a C600, I can think of two potential problems:

- If the computer has a modem/ethernet mini-PCI card, you'll have to remove
it. So if you need those capabilities, you'll have to get them with a PCMCIA
card (which, OTOH, won't stick out like your wireless card does).

- There's a mismatch in the connectors. If you install a Dell wireless card
in, say, a C610, there are two antenna wires waiting to be connected to the
card. A C600 doesn't have those. I don't have a C600 in front of me, but I
believe it has a single connector like the connectors on the card. So you'll
need to supply your own wire with appropriate connectors of the opposite
gender. (YMMV with a 3rd-party card, of course.)

All this has been enough to keep me from upgrading a C600 to built-in
wireless, although I've done it on a fair number of C610s and C640s. I
consider the C600s to be near the end of their useful life anyway (they're
awfully slow running Windows XP), and we don't have very many of them. So
coming up with a satisfactory hack hasn't been worth the trouble.

Robert Coe <(E-Mail Removed)> hath wroth:

>- There's a mismatch in the connectors. If you install a Dell wireless card
>in, say, a C610, there are two antenna wires waiting to be connected to the
>card. A C600 doesn't have those. I don't have a C600 in front of me, but I
>believe it has a single connector like the connectors on the card. So you'll
>need to supply your own wire with appropriate connectors of the opposite
>gender. (YMMV with a 3rd-party card, of course.)

The adapter cable part number is a Dell #37THY. It goes from the
connector labelled "COM" to the "MAIN" connector on the MiniPCI card.
http://www.impactcomputers.com/37thy.html
Also available on eBay.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=330002951715
About $5 to $15ea.

>All this has been enough to keep me from upgrading a C600 to built-in
>wireless, although I've done it on a fair number of C610s and C640s. I
>consider the C600s to be near the end of their useful life anyway (they're
>awfully slow running Windows XP), and we don't have very many of them. So
>coming up with a satisfactory hack hasn't been worth the trouble.

--
Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

Jeff Liebermann wrote:
> Robert Coe <(E-Mail Removed)> hath wroth:
>
>
>>- There's a mismatch in the connectors. If you install a Dell wireless card
>>in, say, a C610, there are two antenna wires waiting to be connected to the
>>card. A C600 doesn't have those. I don't have a C600 in front of me, but I
>>believe it has a single connector like the connectors on the card. So you'll
>>need to supply your own wire with appropriate connectors of the opposite
>>gender. (YMMV with a 3rd-party card, of course.)
>
>
> The adapter cable part number is a Dell #37THY. It goes from the
> connector labelled "COM" to the "MAIN" connector on the MiniPCI card.
> http://www.impactcomputers.com/37thy.html
> Also available on eBay.
> http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=330002951715
> About $5 to $15ea.
>
>
>>All this has been enough to keep me from upgrading a C600 to built-in
>>wireless, although I've done it on a fair number of C610s and C640s. I
>>consider the C600s to be near the end of their useful life anyway (they're
>>awfully slow running Windows XP), and we don't have very many of them. So
>>coming up with a satisfactory hack hasn't been worth the trouble.
>
>
Thanks for the inputs.
I was gonna just do this if I could do it for free.
Neither the laptop nor my motivation is sufficient to actually spend any
money on it.
Yes, it's the Dell C600. It has the antenna switch board shown in the
above link. There's also a diode switch on the PCI card. Don't think
there's any way to make it work without bypassing at least one of them.
But I can handle that. I'll just stick a TDR on the cable splice and
hack on it until it looks good.

The problem is drivers. It's been suggested that XP might just work
with internal drivers, but the expense of upgrading to XP is WAAAAAY
out of my price range. And my XP laptop doesn't have the MINI-PCI slot.
It's always something....
mike