Installing wireless card on laptop
I have an old DELL latitude C610 laptop which is no longer in use because I bought new a year ago. However , one day I decided to use it for testing a small network but there was no wireless card installed , which made my task very difficult and the only way to finish my work was to install one.
After some searching in Google I found out that there are several possible types of cards to install and below I will try to give you some tips that will help you to choose the right type of wireless card for your laptop.
1. Wireless USB adapter (probably the easiest option) This adapter requires a free usb port.
2. Wireless PC Card (also known as PCMCIA cards). Most of the old laptops have such (PCMCIA) slot.
Note: In the newer laptops PC Card interface is replaced by Express card interface so if you planning to buy wireless card note that the ExpressCard interface is not compatible with PCMCIA devices. I recommend you to check your laptop manual and to see what types of cards are supported.
3. Wireless Mini PCI card. This is the most convenient way for using Wi-Fi because whole device is located inside the laptop and there is no risk of damage to the card when transporting (not like USB and PC Card devices which have parts of them standing outside the laptop ). Note that as the PC Card standard is replaced by Express card in some newer laptops Mini PCI standard is also replaced by Mini PCI Express .
Note: Mini PCI cards and Mini PCI Express cards are not interchangeable so be careful when shopping. Also before buying such card ensure that there are antenna cables near the Mini PCI slot because these cards are sold without antenna cables and if they are missing your card will be useless.
After I saw the differences between cards and slots I bought an Intel Pro 2200 Mini PCI card.
The procedure for installing the card and drivers takes less than 10 minutes. On Latitude C610 the Mini PCI slot is located near the two memory slots. Just remove the metal cover located on the underside which is attached to the case by three small screws.
Place the card in slot at an angle of about 45 degrees and carefully press it down until the metal clips are locked.
Don’t forget to connect the antenna cables because without them you will have a bad signal.
March 12th, 2009 at 2:02
Is There a Graphics Card For Mini PCI?
Or Is It posible to Install A Graphics Card On a Gateway One
(GZ7108TV)<— That’s The Model Name/Number
March 13th, 2009 at 12:13
Mini PCI standard is intended primarily for use in laptops.
I think there are no MiniPCI video cards but even if you find such one there is no warranty that it will be possible to mount it in your computer because of the specific connectors and cables which are different on every laptop.