Wireless help?

Womble · 10 Sep 2006 at 13:41

Need to get a wireless thing for my laptop since we are going wireless in our student house.

I have no idea what to look for or what the get. I know my laptop has no wireless capabilities already so at least that is a start. I have seen USB things and I have pare sockets for those. I also ahve a card slot thing with a 'Smart 16/4 PCMCIA Ringnode MK2' Token ring thing in it. Its my dad's old work laptop and it came with it and I have just left it in there. There is another slot below it though.

Think that is everything that I can possible use for add-ons.

What should I get to mke me be able to go wireless? What stuff do you recommend? Budget is around up to £20-£30, maybe more becasue I have no idea on how much these things cost

Cybermyk · 10 Sep 2006 at 15:15

I think you would need more like a £65 budget. £25 would buy you a wireless card for your laptop but you would still need a wireless access point or router.

benjo plz. · 10 Sep 2006 at 15:20

Cybermyk said:
I think you would need more like a £65 budget. £25 would buy you a wireless card for your laptop but you would still need a wireless access point or router.

Nah I think they've already got the ap, he just needs to sort his laptop out. What laptop is it? and what operating system's on it?

gooner_47 · 10 Sep 2006 at 15:21

From the sounds of it, the router's being sorted by someone else.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Wireless_PCI_Adapters.html

Belkin 5th one down is in your budget.

Womble · 10 Sep 2006 at 17:47

Phnom_Penh said:
Nah I think they've already got the ap, he just needs to sort his laptop out. What laptop is it? and what operating system's on it?

Yea, thats right. I just need my laptop to be capable of using wireless. The other equipment is all there (router and phoneline and stuff)

Its an IBM thinkpad, 1.6Ghz 256RAM and 30GB mem. Using windows 2k.

benjo plz. · 10 Sep 2006 at 17:59

You got a model number or name for it?

Cybermyk · 10 Sep 2006 at 19:14

Oops misread the line, thought he said he needed to set up the whole kit. The belkin as mentioned should work OK.

Check the laptop doesn't already have a built in WiFi adapter first though. It may be disabled for power saving.

Womble · 12 Sep 2006 at 11:47

Phnom_Penh said:
You got a model number or name for it?

Its a IBM Thinkpad T30

Looked under the device manager and I see:
Agere Systems AC'97 Modem
Texas Instruments PCI-1520 CardBus Controller x2
2 USB ports

So nothing wireless but some ports for stuff

benjo plz. · 12 Sep 2006 at 14:58

According to the ibm website, it has a mpci slot, which will be better to use than a pccard slot.

Womble · 12 Sep 2006 at 18:57

Phnom_Penh said:
According to the ibm website, it has a mpci slot, which will be better to use than a pccard slot.

What is that and what does it look like? There are 2 slots for cards - is that it though?

benjo plz. · 12 Sep 2006 at 19:03

Womble said:
What is that and what does it look like? There are 2 slots for cards - is that it though?

It looks like this, you got a camera? It'll look like this, just don't confuse it with the memory slot

.

Womble · 12 Sep 2006 at 21:02

Phnom_Penh said:
It looks like this, you got a camera? It'll look like this, just don't confuse it with the memory slot .

Ok, I have never opened my laptop to see the motherboard but I am guessing tis the white thing.

There are two open slots on the side of my laptop with blue buttons to eject a card. The card in one of them at the moment is about 5x8cm (just guessing, no ruler) Is that the kind of thing I am looking for?

benjo plz. · 12 Sep 2006 at 21:10

Nope.

The access to it'll probably be via a panel on the bottom. Get a photo or two of it if you can.

Womble · 13 Sep 2006 at 14:59

Phnom_Penh said:
Nope. The access to it'll probably be via a panel on the bottom. Get a photo or two of it if you can.

Ok, took some pics

This is the only slot on the base of it

This is the whole base of it, there are some panels but have no idea what I am doing if I have to open them up

Finally the slots on the side, are these any good for anything. I have seen cards on this site - would they go in these slots?

benjo plz. · 13 Sep 2006 at 15:09

I was typing a reply to this and somehow managed to close firefox :\. Anyways, the slot it probably under one of the two screw down panels, if you want to take the covers of and photo them too

. You can use the pc card (slot on the side) but the end of the card sticks out, and probably won't have as good reception, whereas the internal card's inside and doesn't get in the way etc and also links into the laptops internal antenna, so will give a better signal strength.

Womble · 13 Sep 2006 at 17:23

Ok - undid the stuff on the bottom. Had a battery in one, and here are the others:

This looks like a RAM slot or something, the left one is empty and the right one has something in that looks like RAM

This has an open slot at the top, the white thing seems to be attached to the MB and there is a fan in the lower right corner. The orange thing in the top right is a sticker on something.

benjo plz. · 13 Sep 2006 at 18:07

It's the bottom one, it also appears to have internal antenna, (the black and white wires) but what's that covering them? Also check what wireless you have, a router name or number will be usefull.

Womble · 13 Sep 2006 at 18:26

The white stuff is plastic coating around the wires. I tried to lift it up but it seems to be attached. Are these what I am looking for:

Belkin F5D7000UK 802.11g Wireless PCI Adapter (NW-007-BE)
or
Belkin F5D7001UK 125Mbps Wireless-G PCI Network Card (NW-019-BE)

They have an ariel attached and metal plate but I cant see how any of that will fit.

benjo plz. · 13 Sep 2006 at 18:31

Nah, what you want is an minipci adapter, something like an Intel 2200BG or 2915ABG, or depending on what type of wireless you have, a Gigabyte Wiag020. All of them can be had for about £20.