Wireless Card?

Hi,
Just wanted to make sure before I open the package ... I brought home
a very old laptop from school this weekend to change the wireless card. The
old one will not support WPA, which our wireless network uses. The laptop
is an IBM Thinkpad R32. Can I just buy a wireless card off the shelf
without worrying if it is compatible with the Thinkpad? The one I purchased
is a Belkin Wireless G with WPA. Thanks!
Mommio

mommio2 wrote:
> Hi,
> Just wanted to make sure before I open the package ... I brought home
> a very old laptop from school this weekend to change the wireless card. The
> old one will not support WPA, which our wireless network uses. The laptop
> is an IBM Thinkpad R32. Can I just buy a wireless card off the shelf
> without worrying if it is compatible with the Thinkpad? The one I purchased
> is a Belkin Wireless G with WPA. Thanks!
> Mommio
>
>

It depends on what you mean by a "wireless card." If you mean a device
commonly called a PC Card or PCMCIA card, which slips in a slot on the
side of the laptop, the answer is yes.

Is this what you bought:
http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProdu...duct_Id=136500
(ignore the text describing the Belkin F5D7010; it's describing a
different product)

However, before you open the package, you might want to determine if
there is an updated driver for your "old card" that will enable it to
support WPA.

What is the make and model of the old card? Have you looked at the card
manufacturer's site for an updated driver?

If your laptop had built-in wireless, I assume that you are not talking
about replacing its internal card. Again, you could look on the Lenovo
site for an updated driver for an internal wireless card. Look on the
bottom of your laptop, and on the label above the bar code will be the
word "Type" followed by a 4-digit number and 3 place alphanumeric suffix
(e.g., 2659-BA6). Go to the page linked below, put in the information
about your laptop, and see if there is a driver for the wireless adapter.

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/si...testyle=lenovo

--
Lem -- MS-MVP - Networking

To the moon and back with 64 Kbits of RAM and 512 Kbits of ROM.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer

Hi
If you already buy a New card buy one that is capable of WPA2 or WPA-AES,
and not just any WPA.
All Brand name 802.11g standart cardbus would be compatible with your
Laptop.
Security setting for WIFI from the weakest to the Strongest..
No Security
MAC
WEP
WPA-PSK
WPA-AES
WPA2
-------------------------------------------
Wireless Security - http://www.ezlan.net/Wireless_Security.html
WEP, WPA, and the Future - http://www.ezlan.net/wpa_wep.html
The security must be set according to lowest capable Wireless component.
I.e. even most of you Wireless are capable to do WPA2, but one device is
only capable to do WEP, the whole system must be configured to WEP.
Jack (MVP-Networking).

"mommio2" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi,
> Just wanted to make sure before I open the package ... I brought home
> a very old laptop from school this weekend to change the wireless card.
> The old one will not support WPA, which our wireless network uses. The
> laptop is an IBM Thinkpad R32. Can I just buy a wireless card off the
> shelf without worrying if it is compatible with the Thinkpad? The one I
> purchased is a Belkin Wireless G with WPA. Thanks!
> Mommio
>
>

mommio2 <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> Hi,
> Just wanted to make sure before I open the package ... I brought home
> a very old laptop from school this weekend to change the wireless card. The
> old one will not support WPA, which our wireless network uses. The laptop
> is an IBM Thinkpad R32. Can I just buy a wireless card off the shelf
> without worrying if it is compatible with the Thinkpad? The one I purchased
> is a Belkin Wireless G with WPA. Thanks!

<http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/CardBus_slot>

The R32 has a Type III slot. So the Belkin card should be OK. You'll
probably need WZC (and Windows Xp) as the supplicant and not the Belkin
client to get WPA with the card.

Jack (MVP-Networking). <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> Hi
> If you already buy a New card buy one that is capable of WPA2 or WPA-AES,
> and not just any WPA.
> All Brand name 802.11g standart cardbus would be compatible with your
> Laptop.

Yes, but not all clients will provide WPA. The Belkin F5D7010 card is
one exception. The OP will need to use the Windows Xp supplicant, WZC.
Or some other client software (like Buffalo's Clientmanager 2) with W2K.

Thanks, everyone! I did all the possible updates, but the problem did not
go away, so I used the card I had bought, and it worked GREAT! I appreciate
all the help!
Mommio2

"Axel Hammerschmidt" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:1hufd17.qzsi3960u99eN%(E-Mail Removed)...
> mommio2 <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>> Just wanted to make sure before I open the package ... I brought
>> home
>> a very old laptop from school this weekend to change the wireless card.
>> The
>> old one will not support WPA, which our wireless network uses. The
>> laptop
>> is an IBM Thinkpad R32. Can I just buy a wireless card off the shelf
>> without worrying if it is compatible with the Thinkpad? The one I
>> purchased
>> is a Belkin Wireless G with WPA. Thanks!
>
> <http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/CardBus_slot>
>
> The R32 has a Type III slot. So the Belkin card should be OK. You'll
> probably need WZC (and Windows Xp) as the supplicant and not the Belkin
> client to get WPA with the card.