Older laptop - need advice

Joss

Joss

Joined
Nov 20, 2001
Messages
7,353
Hi,

I have a 3-yr old Thinkpad laptop. It's an A31 - 2652-XYX, originally made by IBM (the brand is now owned & managed by Lenovo).

I want to buy 2 cards for this laptop:

1) A USB II card (the laptop only has USB 1 ports)

2) A WiFi card for my girlfriend's wifi network.

Could some of the computer savvy people here help me? I'd like to understand what I should look for in my computer documentation to decide the compatibility of the cards.

Thanks!

Joss
 
I have a Thinkpad A21. 800mghz, 256mb ram.
It's more than capable of running the Belkin Wireless G network card, as I do at home. If you go wired, get a Type II compatible network card. As for the USB II cards, not sure how they would fare as I have never used them. I wouldn't worry so much about being 2.0 speed compliant as I would getting a USB Type II compatible card.

The other option would be a USB hub type of device. You can branch off the one onboard slot into 4-6 more slots on the device. That would also alleviate the possibility of 2 odd shaped cards not fitting in both slots simultaneously should that be an issue.

G3
 
G3,

Thanks.

G3 said:
I have a Thinkpad A21. 800mghz, 256mb ram.
It's more than capable of running the Belkin Wireless G network card, as I do at home. If you go wired, get a Type II compatible network card.

As for the USB II cards, not sure how they would fare as I have never used them. I wouldn't worry so much about being 2.0 speed compliant as I would getting a USB Type II compatible card.
Click to expand...
Hm... OK - what's type II and I? (See what I meant? ;) )


The other option would be a USB hub type of device. You can branch off the one onboard slot into 4-6 more slots on the device. That would also alleviate the possibility of 2 odd shaped cards not fitting in both slots simultaneously should that be an issue.
Click to expand...
Interesting idea, but this isn't an issue as I don't need to run both at the same time.
 
Type II are the more common slot types from the past 5-6 years. Newer laptops are coming out with a new type called PCI -E(xpress). Type II devices are more common than PCI-e at the moment but that is changing.

I am 99% positive your notebook has a type2 slot. Slot types offer different databit/speed increments. I think type2 is 16/32mb compatible. Type one may have been 8/16 but I rarely come across them nowadays anyway.

If both cards don't need to run simultaneously then it won't matter in your case.
To make it less confusing, I would walk into the store and get a Belkin wireless 802.11a/b/g compatible type2 card. If you know of a USB card that's 2.0 and will work then go for it. If the box labels it as a type2 than I don't see why it shouldn't function.
 
Joss said:
Hi,

I have a 3-yr old Thinkpad laptop. It's an A31 - 2652-XYX, originally made by IBM (the brand is now owned & managed by Lenovo).

I want to buy 2 cards for this laptop:

1) A USB II card (the laptop only has USB 1 ports)

2) A WiFi card for my girlfriend's wifi network.

Could some of the computer savvy people here help me? I'd like to understand what I should look for in my computer documentation to decide the compatibility of the cards.

Thanks!

Joss
Click to expand...


It looks like your laptop has 2 type 3 pcmcia slots - by type 3 it means it can take either a type 1 or a type 2 card in each slot. Check your documentation and verify that's the case. If it is, you don't have to worry about whether you need a type 1 card or a type 2 card. Otherwise, look for the type matching what's available in your laptop.
I like newegg.com for computer parts - not only are the prices usually relatively low, but they also have a good amount of user reviews for most of their products, and they ship fast. Here's a link to their usb pcmcia cards.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...on=usb+2+card&srchInDesc=&minPrice=&maxPrice=

and as far as wireless network adapters go, same thing for matching the card type, but also match the network speed & type that your girlfriend's router uses ... 802.11 b or g or whatever. Sometimes it's best to match the brand, as some brands have a special proprietary scheme to increase the throughput if you use a matched wireless card they make for their router. For example, my sister has a netgear wireless router. I don't remember the model, but they also make a special wireless card to use with it that increases the throughput noticeably. Irregardless, when her son is home from college he can access the internet through her netgear router with his generic linksys wireless card, just not with quite as quick throughput.
Here's a link to their pcmcia network cards. Click on the subcategory that says Type to pick the cards that match the type of network protocol your girlfriend's router uses and it'll pull a list up for you. Once again, make sure you also match the pcmcia card type..... if you need type 1 or type 2, match the card type as well as the type of network.

http://www.newegg.com/ProductSort/SubCategory.asp?SubCategory=34

Another place to check out is tigerdirect.com. I think newegg.com usually has better prices & product info, but sometimes tiger direct has some pretty good specials.
 
Thanks for the great info!

jerrinfla said:
It looks like your laptop has 2 type 3 pcmcia slots - by type 3 it means it can take either a type 1 or a type 2 card in each slot.
Click to expand...

I'll check but where did you get that info? The IBM documentation says "one type-III or two type-II" (here, on p.46). Just curious...
 
The Belkin cards work flawlessly on all different routers I've tried. Netgears, Belkins, Linksys, and SMC.
 
Joss, are you looking for an 802.11b (11Mbit/s) or an 802.11g (54Mbit/s) card for your Laptop?

I have a 3Com PMCIA (802.11b) card that I had on my old A21p and its supported in WinXP without any need for drivers. [MODEL 3CRWE73796B]

PM me if you want it.
 
A word on the USB hubs , at work they have given us nothing but problems.
Do some searching before you invest your dough. :)
 
I am typing with a IBM Thinkpad 600 thats at least five years old and probably more. I'd have to look. Its been reconditioned but it works fine for my cableone wireless card. Its got a 64 mb ram, 300 megaHz processor and still uses the W-98 SE operating system. I only use it for checking my email and these forums mostly but it browses just fine and does all I need. I've only got 5GB for space on the C drive but its more than adequate for what I use it for.

I got this one from USANotebook.com for just over $200 with a six month warranty. Its the best money I've ever spent on any computer so far. I plan to buy another when this one dies and then another and then another so long as they sell one that cheap and it does the job whether it be an IBM or not.

When I first got introduced to computers I went the high dollar route and bought what was supposed to be 'the good stuff'. Now I have gone full circle. I got 14 good reliable months of use out my new Sony Vaio notebook and it was over 3100 bucks. I figure if this one lasts six months and dies right after the warranty its still better spent money than the loss that POS Sony was.

STR
 
Joss said:
Thanks for the great info!



I'll check but where did you get that info? The IBM documentation says "one type-III or two type-II" (here, on p.46). Just curious...
Click to expand...

I did an internet search using thinkpad A31 - 2652 and get several pages of hits. I looked through the specs described on a few of them. After a couple that said simply "2 pcmcia slots", I looked at one that described them as type 3.
Bear in mind, though, you really want to double check your specs, even information from official oem websites can be wrong.
There's a plus to buying locally, cause if you make sure the return policy is good, you can return a defective card or one that won't work in your computer within 30 days without a hassle. I'd check the internet prices from reliable vendors and then check prices locally. DO check the internet prices before you shop the stores iin your area, though. I was going to buy a usb 2.0 card to install in my sister's older desktop computer, but the prices locally were so high that I ordered a new motherboard altogether from newegg for pretty close to the price the usb card would have cost me locally.
 
Joss said:
Thanks for the great info!



I'll check but where did you get that info? The IBM documentation says "one type-III or two type-II" (here, on p.46). Just curious...
Click to expand...


Oh, your manual is definitely what to go by. So that's saying that you can fit 2 type II cards in at the same time. I've never seen a type III card myself, I guess they are twice as thick as a type II card though.
 
G3 said:
The Belkin cards work flawlessly on all different routers I've tried. Netgears, Belkins, Linksys, and SMC.
Click to expand...

I am having trouble with mine, I bought both at the same time Wireless G router and a wireless card. The card logs on to the router (the icon turns green on the taskbar) but it will not access the internet.

Solo 2300 with two pcmcia slots and winME, is there some sort of firewall or network configuration that needs to be adjusted? The router is on a XP machine.
 
fixer27 said:
I am having trouble with mine, I bought both at the same time Wireless G router and a wireless card. The card logs on to the router (the icon turns green on the taskbar) but it will not access the internet.

Solo 2300 with two pcmcia slots and winME, is there some sort of firewall or network configuration that needs to be adjusted? The router is on a XP machine.
Click to expand...

It shouldn't matter which pc is directly connected to the router. Assuming the XP machine is working, the problem is more than likely with WinME. I had nothing but trouble getting it configured. I had better luck with 98se wireless.

You should use the start/run/winipcfg tool to see if your actually obtaining an address. It could be false. If you are, check the firewall on ME and also make sure the wifi settings in MEs wifi service are set correctly. I think there may have been an update from MS addressing something with wifi on ME.
 
So I ran the hardware check, and it tells me:

"Your computer has two PC Card slots: an upper slot and a lower slot. They support the following cards:

Physical characteristics:
- PC Card Type I, II, or III

Electrical characteristics:
- 16-bit PC Card
- CardBus Card"

So I suppose it means I can just buy any card.

I also have a "free" ultrabay I never used for anything. Hm... Maybe I should use it for something...
 
G3 said:
It shouldn't matter which pc is directly connected to the router. Assuming the XP machine is working, the problem is more than likely with WinME. I had nothing but trouble getting it configured. I had better luck with 98se wireless.

You should use the start/run/winipcfg tool to see if your actually obtaining an address. It could be false. If you are, check the firewall on ME and also make sure the wifi settings in MEs wifi service are set correctly. I think there may have been an update from MS addressing something with wifi on ME.
Click to expand...

I got ME to work after a call to Belkin, there was a conflict with the encryption that I had selected so i had to go to the router program and reset the thing which was interesting.

Strangely my 98se laptop refused to accept the card, it caused errors all over the place on the poor bugger.

Thanks for the help G3.
 
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