Vaio TX wireless card - is it minipci?

[speculatrix]

I have a Sony Vaio TX2/XP, and was wondering whether I could upgrade the wireless lan from 802.11b/g to 802.11a/b/g?

Is the wireless module inside the TX a miniPCI card, because if so I could simply swap out the adaptor!

Has anyone opened up a TX to see inside? I've not been able to find any pictures online via Google.

Any ideas or thoughts would be gratefully appreciated!

thanks

[oORusHOo]

I'm 90% sure it is.
I havn't pop'ed the lid of my vaio, but i have with my Dell which also has the same IPW3945ABG and that's MiniPCI.

To tell you the truth mate, that is a very nice internal wireless card.
Granted, it's not *that* powerful nor does it have native packet injection (Probibly why your swapping =P) but it does do ABG and the Intel software could save you from Rouge AP's, MAC hijacking, and all sorts of other nasties.

If i were you, i'd do your stuff on a wireless PCI *with* your IPW3945ABG as the reciever.

Sorry, i've just taken a random shot in the dark as to why anyone would want to change that card, and packet injection is the only thing i could think of [:P]

EDIT: Sorry sorry, just re-read your post and i must have mis read it the first time.
You don't have a IPW3945ABG, but you want one.
I'm still pretty sure that you could buy the above card from eBay and install it..... but i'd still recommend you buy a PCMI card to stick in your slot, and then use both for your wireless networking.

[speculatrix]

Hi,
the TX2 is just a 2200 card, i.e. only 802.11 b/g, whereas at home I want to migrate to 802.11a because of congestion in my area.

I've successfully installed suse10.1 (dual-booted with windows - deleted all the chaff that Sony's recovery installs, and used partition magic to resize WinXP!) and applied the patch to the ipw2200 driver so it will work in monitor mode, and so kismet wireless sniffer works very well.

But yes, you correctly identified my desire to upgrade to a 2915 or better 39xx card for performance.

I didn't think about using a PCMCIA card, but the thing I love about the TX is that you don't need to carry a thing as it's all built in (unlike previous Sony ultraportables) - not even power supply unless you're going away.

if you do pop your lid, do let us all know!!

[speculatrix]

has anyone found any pictures of the TX dismantled by any chance? That would reveal how the wifi is installed.

[philfree]

Check here, it's in chinese but pictures are OK http://www.sundigi.com/article/prepage.asp?ga_id=9546
Wireless card is miniPCI and 3945ABG will then work (that's what's installed in TX3)

[speculatrix]

Check here, it's in chinese but pictures are OK http://www.sundigi.com/article/prepage.asp?ga_id=9546
Wireless card is miniPCI and 3945ABG will then work (that's what's installed in TX3)

thanks ever so much for that - it's JUST what I needed... shows it IS a minipci card, and shows what size it is.

hmmm, ebay search 3945 here I come!!!

[speculatrix]

ah, the 3945 is a miniPCIe card, and is a totally different fitting to the 2200 and 2915.

now I have seen how easy it is to open the TX, I shall lift the keyboard and see what type of card my TX2 takes.

this way I can run my wlan at home in 802.11a mode (as my linux firewall has a 2915abg card in it, as has wife's c610 latitude - which used to be mine), and avoid the congestion of the 802.11b/g band.

[philfree]

The keyboard should be held by one unique screw (center screw closer to the battery) considering the location of the unique plastic post on the picture but there should also be some restraints on the top. Please tell us how easy it is to get the keyboard out.

You are right that 3945 use miniPCIe which makes your upgrade route through 2915 not 3945 sorry.

BTW, bought one here, great price, great service http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190048375452&fromMakeTrack=true

[speculatrix]

The keyboard should be held by one unique screw (center screw closer to the battery) considering the location of the unique plastic post on the picture but there should also be some restraints on the top. Please tell us how easy it is to get the keyboard out.

You are right that 3945 use miniPCIe which makes your upgrade route through 2915 not 3945 sorry.

BTW, bought one here, great price, great service http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190048375452&fromMakeTrack=true

I will take a photo before/after and post it to my website.

3945? I had assumed it was just simply a better 2915, it wasn't out when I bought the 2915's. Funny you should quote that ebay seller, that's whom I bought my 2915s from, a colleague and I bought four!

[philfree]

It was you that first stated 3945 was a different beast and I agree, miniPCIe (miniPcI Express) and miniPCI use different connector so you can upgrade 2200 to 2915 not 3945.

I bought 2 cards myself on 2 different occasions and was delighted with price and everything else.Received them in 5 days total eventhough they shipped from the US to my place in France, a lot faster than anything else I order from within my own country... Also, very informative ebay page for anything they sell.