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36 Responses to “IBM T23 wireless Internal Antenna Installation Instruction”

1. Carlos Marti Says:
   December 1st, 2005 at 18:00

   Hi!

   How did the t-23 work after when i install the card and the antennas on the screen on mine and i have problem with the signal it’s always low or poor any advice on that? Does it happen to you?

   Thanks.. Carlos

2. Stephen Lau Says:
   December 5th, 2005 at 10:20

   my signal quality was average. it seemed to be about a bar or so lower than what i achieve with a PCMCIA card - but that’s not surprising given a PCMCIA card has an external antenna that doesn’t have an shielding inhibiting it.

3. Brian Says:
   February 1st, 2006 at 03:28

   What mini-pci card did you use? I am go with an internal solution, but do not want to purchase a non-whitelisted one.

4. Stephen Lau Says:
   February 1st, 2006 at 06:15

   hey brian - I salvaged the Broadcom mini-PCI card out of my Ferrari 4000 laptop. I believe this is a bcm4318 device (802.11b/g).

5. Sami Says:
   May 31st, 2006 at 16:44

   What type of antenna did you use? On ebay there are those copper colored hitachi ones, the regular long ones with the flat heads, and some others. I got a short hitachi one, but it is only detecting 2 networks while my pcmcia card is getting 41! I am a little disappointed.

   thanks

6. Rich Says:
   June 3rd, 2006 at 20:23

   I purchased an Intel mini pci card and the original IBM antenna assebly (found it on ebay). I hooked it all up temporarily and let the two antenna wires dangle from the laptop and the reception was a fair amount better than my PCMCIA card so I was optimistic.

   So then I opened up the little guy and installed the antenna wires underneath the keyboard. I was really tempted to take apart the screen but I didn’t. I decided not to more because I thought it wouldn’t be necessary (lazy) than because I was afraid.

   The stupid wire was way longer than I needed it to be (naturally since I’m installing it differently than intended) and the metal ends were so big that they were a problem to find a place to put them in the cramped quarters.

   I ended up stuffing a good amount of the black (main) wire into one small spot (along with the big metal end). I then had to tear the metal end off of the grey (aux) antenna to find enough room for the second wire (which I don’t even think is necessary).

   After I put the whole thing back together I was very disappointed with the outcome. My reception is now a fair bit worse than the PCMCIA card…it doesn’t even work everywhere inside my house let alone anywhere outside now.

   So now I think I’m going to try to spread out the black wire a little bit more underneath my keyboard and see if it performs any better. If it doesn’t I’m going to solder the big metal end back onto the grey wire and install the darn thing in the LCD like it’s supposed to be. I’ll try to remember to post the results here for any future people.

7. Alastair Gregg Says:
   September 28th, 2006 at 02:11

   i’ve also done this and had problems with the signal.

   I used some antennas off ebay which were the flat square kind (i think they were advertised as being by hitachi). The signal is aweful, and the only way i could get it to work was to tape one of them to the bottom of the pcmcia area. unless i am next to the access point i get low or very low for my singal strength.

   can anyone recommend any other types of antennas. ?

   Also looking at the ibm manuals i got the impression the iffical ibm antennas require a specail screen casing designed to take them (different from the normal one). just woundering if anyone knows if this is the case or wether i wrongly inferred this. as i would consider getting one if it would help

8. Eugene Says:
   January 27th, 2007 at 02:55

   Hi Stephen! I didn’t understand where the wires of the antenna were attached…

9. Laika99 Says:
   June 7th, 2007 at 19:13

   I am having a similar problem with a Thinpad T23. I get great reception when I let the ebay-purchased (flat square) antennas dangle outside the laptop. The reception drops to very-low, or drops off completely when I install them inside the LCD casing, or under the keyboard. I am using an Atheros-based mini-pci adapter (GL2454MP-0a). If any one has found a way to resolve this, I would appreciate your feedback. Thanks !

10. eric Says:
    August 12th, 2007 at 22:00

    How do you know if your t23 has these things installed?

11. Laika99 Says:
    August 13th, 2007 at 19:33

    Solved my problem by giving up on the built-in antennas. Added external antenna by drilling a hole next to the video connector and installing a 10in U.FL male SMA Pigtail for Mini PCI Wireless Card, and a Linksys RP-SMA wireless 802.11b/g Antenna. All parts available on eBay for $20-$30. Reception is stellar now. It looks like the case material on the T23’s without factory wireless capability prevents transmission and reception.

    If you have an internal antenna installed, I would think that they would be visible when you open the network card/modem compartment under the laptop. You should see two wires with small connectors (not the flat cables connected to the modem and network card). You have to remove the modem to install the wireless card.

12. Neil Says:
    September 13th, 2007 at 02:01

    I have an IBM T23, and I think the effort for installing an internal antenna isnt worth the hassle for the degradation of signal. Is the PCMCIA card that bad ? I have bought a PCMCIA WiFi card for my wife’s T41 because its internal antenna is so bad. My work T42 is awful too. They wont let me use my own PCMCIA WiFi card in it. I dont see why internal antennas are so bad given the area they can occupy is larger than the PCMCIA card.

13. Laika99 Says:
    September 13th, 2007 at 04:09

    You are right when you say that it is a hassle. You may even damage the laptop if you are not careful. The only advantage of the internal antenna is that it cannot be broken. The laptop I installed it on was used by kids, and they broke the PCMCIA card (protruding antenna), which created a short and blew the motherboard. This would also be a problem with a USB wireless adapter, since the USB connector is not very robust. Since performance was so poor with the internal antenna, I did the next best thing, and installed an external antenna where is is more difficult to break (see above post) and will not cause a short if abused.

14. Richard Budd Says:
    December 1st, 2007 at 13:33

    For those tinkering with their T20-23 laptops, go to http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-4UYM3F for the hardware repair manual. Excellent step-by-step instructions for anything you need to do to it. Best yet - IT’S FREE! Kudos to IBM/Lenovo for that!

15. Bill Jones Says:
    January 19th, 2008 at 12:26

    The Thinkpad must have a metal case blocking the RF signal. Perhaps installing the wires externally under plastic tape would be better. Clear packing tape should be durable enough although may not be aesthetically pleasing. In the installation the two antennas are routed side by side effectively making one antenna. I am installing antennas into a Compaq laptop. I think I might try external with tape first since I get great signal with wires outside the laptop. I will post my results after I do it.

16. Bill Jones Says:
    January 19th, 2008 at 14:38

    CONTINUATION OF ABOVE. I installed the antenna out a notch in the miniPCI cover over the left hinge and up to the top edge of the top, then left and right, then looped down to the bottom of the top. Without the antenna my connection was good. Now it is excellent and the antenna is protected from snagging under the clear packing tape. Quick and easy and looks OK to me.

17. MK Says:
    January 25th, 2008 at 13:17

    I’ve been playing around with my T23 and internal antennas for the last couple of years. I too have had disappionting results with the antenna buried under the keyboard and I’ve tried the tape it to the bottom approach with limited success.

    My best solution so far has been to lead the black main wire out through the space around the hinge on the right side (you need to have the laptop disassembled to lay the wire across the space) and then affix the metal plate at the end of the wire over the parrallel port (which I don’t use) and attach it in place with a small screw in one of the holes on each side of the port. This results in the antenna end being outside while still looking integrated. Being in contact with the metal of the port may also help. In any event, the lid opens and closes without making contact with the wire which is barely visible. I route the second wire into the PCMCIA slot as described above and with a bit of fiddling, you can position it so that both slots can still be used. With this setup I’ve been able to get reception pretty much on par with a PCMCIA card.

    Still it’s nothing compared to the reception that I’m getting with the “XO laptop” that I just received. With it’s extendable “rabbit ears” I’m picking up networks from within my house that are several blocks away.

18. D. Mata Says:
    January 30th, 2008 at 21:39

    When installing a new Mini PCI Wireless card, do you have to upgrade the BIOS? And also, I want to install a new WD 250gb hardrive also in my T23, do you think I would have any problems?

19. laika99 Says:
    January 31st, 2008 at 17:16

    The IBM site shows max 60GB (http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-4YTG43#notes), but I am not sure if this is the max supported, or the max capacity that was shipped with the laptop. This forum (http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=28770&highlight=) says it can take any PATA drive capacity. Can’t locate anything official from IBM or Lenovo.

    I’m not sure if you need to update your BIOS. On the computer I was working on, I did not update the BIOS, but I would get an error message stating that I have 2 network cards on boot-up. I could nevertheless continue booting after pressing Escape key. Wireless worked without problems. If you are having a problem, here is something that I found a while ago (but did not need to use it):

    In recent IBM thinkpad systems, there is a limit to allowed MiniPCI wireless cards. When an unauthorized card is plugged in, the system doesn’t boot and halt with an error message like:

    ERROR 1802: Unauthorized network card is plugged in Power off and remove the miniPCI network card.

    I met this 1802 error problem one year ago, and since then my wifi card was used in a very clumsy and inconvenient way. I used to boot to LILO menu or Windows system first, then suspend and plug in the card. After that, when the system is awake, the card is working.

    Recently, I learned two solutions to attack this problem. One is to crack the BIOS by modifying the PCI_ID list of allowed cards in the BIOS, as suggested by Paul Sladen and Matthew Garrett. Reference: http://www.paul.sladen.org/thinkpad-r31/wifi-card-pci-ids.html

    The other way is unbelievably simple. There is a byte in CMOS which controls whether an “unauthorized” card is allowed or not. That’s 0×6a, actually only the bit 0×80. The program to unlock is like:

    MOV DX,0070 MOV AL,6A OUT DX,AL MOV DX,0071 IN AL,DX OR AL,80 OUT DX,AL MOV AX,4C00 INT 21

    The program can be downloaded from:

    http://www.heartyit.com/ebay/drivers/no-1802.com

    To use this program, you need to boot to DOS.

    The CMOS solution is safe, but I’m not sure that it works for all recent thinkpads and all cards. The BIOS crack sure does, however that is difficult and dangerous.

20. Richard Budd Says:
    January 31st, 2008 at 20:39

    Don’t know about the WIFI & BIOS but I have a Seagate 100gb in my T23 and it works fine under OS/2 and Windoze. Just my 2cents here: Over the decades I’ve had about a dozen hard drives in my systems. Of those, only 2 died - and they were both from Western Digital, all the others I just outgrew. In my book, the WD drives are the lowest priced ones for a reason - they don’t last. Because of that, I will never buy another one from them.

21. Richard Budd Says:
    January 31st, 2008 at 20:40

    Oops - sorry about the double post… Cheers!

22. Sean Sellars Says:
    February 3rd, 2008 at 11:57

    Had An Idea for creating a simple external antenna, since we are no longer using modem any way to take the 2 pin modem connector and connect that to minipci wireless card and than you have a simple 2 pin external port to connect an antenna to?

23. Joe Says:
    February 24th, 2008 at 19:07

    I’m planning on installing a minipci card and antennas in a Thinkpad R31. I tried installing an atheros card out of a friend’s laptop for a short while. I applied the no-1802 BIOS patch and it picked up the card without a problem. I only got 2 bars 14 feet away from the router, however, and it refused to connect even right next to the router. I installed two antennas I hacked out of a different laptop into this one and taped them behind the LCD on the metal, so I’m surprised at the weak signal. I still plan to buy another card and tinker with the antennas to see what I can get them to do. Any suggestions on routing the antennas through an R31? I ran them through the minipci slot, under the keyboard, and up through the panel taped on the back. I don’t understand why the signal is so bad.

24. Bill Jones Says:
    February 24th, 2008 at 20:12

    Are the two antennas separated as far as possible to opposite edges of the LCD? That is how I installed mine(signal is excellent at 10ft). I moved about 30ft from my router through a wall and the signal is very good. I tried to block the signal using a steel cookie pan and the signal went to excellent with the pan near the laptop. I have read that RF can act in strange ways. I guess the pan is acting to concentrate the RF instead of block it.

25. rob Says:
    March 10th, 2008 at 22:07

    I cannot access the instructions. anybody know the procedure on how to do this?

26. Doctor Bloomquist Says:
    May 23rd, 2008 at 06:44

    To Bill Jones, I’ve recently bought a t23 and as a born fiddler will definitely ignore all the good advice above, and go down the hassle laden internal route.

    Could you post what card and what antennaes you are using?

    Also has anyone tried putting 1 antenna under the keyboard and the other up the screen, sort of catering to horizontal and vertical polarity?

27. alg Says:
    May 23rd, 2008 at 09:26

    in terms of the signal and horizontal/vertical antenna positions. Thats not even the major problem.(althougth it may help a little bit)

    The real problem is that the case of the T23 blocks the wifi signal

28. Doctor Bloomquist Says:
    May 24th, 2008 at 13:13

    Still, I’d be very interested in what kit Bill Jones is using to get his results.

29. Bill Jones Says:
    May 25th, 2008 at 05:47

    I used an Atheros card and two generic Taiwanese antennas I bought on Ebay. I can’t remember the model number and don’t have access to that computer just now. It is a Super-G card, about $22 if I remember. I bought the Atheros because of the Linux compatibility. If you have ever tried to make Linux work with the Broadcom card you know what frustration is. Why a manufacturer would not support an operating system is beyond me.

30. Doctor Bloomquist Says:
    May 25th, 2008 at 06:35

    Thanks Bill - any idea of the seller’s ebay ID? maybe you left feedback for the buyer or vice versa.

    I was giving this some thought the other day, the t23 came with a 13 or 14 lcd.

    When I replaced my dad’s T21 lid latches a while back, the lcd was 13 inches, and the plastic lcd bezel was over a centimetre wide, from the ege of the surround to the LCD.

    If Bill’s t23 was a 13 inch lcd model, and he mounted his aerials up the edges of the LCD instead of behind, then (depending which way it was pointed!) the signal would only have to pass through the plastic LCD surround instead of the metal case and through the back of the LCD…

    Sorry if I’ve been rambling and for all the ‘ifs’!

    Im defo trying this, when the t23 arrives - tho it should be a 14inch model

31. Bill Jones Says:
    May 25th, 2008 at 13:35

    I’m sorry, in my original post I mentioned that I was installing a mini PCI in a Compaq laptop. I could not figure out how to get the laptop open so I routed the antennas externally. This was the only link where people were trying to do this so I posted here in hopes it might help others. It is working great but the Compaq has a 2.4G processor and overtemps and shutsdown. A program called XP speedswitch seems to help with the overheating.

32. Doctor Bloomquist Says:
    June 20th, 2008 at 15:41

    So I finally received the T23 and eventually bought an intel 2200bg card + 2 antennae from ebay.

    I used these nice, clear instructions: http://www.rkawakami.net/ibmt2x/t23wireless/

    The antenna i got from ebay (justopeshop) just fit and no more in the ultraport cavity, I had to shave the rubber blanking cap a bit thinner with a craft knife.

    Went to my uni library to test it, no wifi at home and the laptop’s for uni anyway. Signal varied from ‘excellent’ in the upper floors to ‘very good’ in the basement. Watched Croatia v Turkey live, no juddering or buffering. Best signal was -83 db in netstumbler if I read it right.

    Netstubler found 13 APs though, may have helped matters! Ethernet daughtercard is still working too.

33. Doctor Bloomquist Says:
    June 20th, 2008 at 15:43

    sorry, instructions url was http://www.rkawakami.net/ibmt2x/t23wireless/

    seems not to like the underscores when I pasted it?

34. Doctor Bloomquist Says:
    June 20th, 2008 at 15:45

    Blast!

    http://www.rkawakami.net/ibmunderscoret2x/t23underscorewireless/

35. JUAN DAVID Says:
    July 7th, 2008 at 20:57

    ACTIBAR WIRELESS

36. r2d2 Says:
    July 8th, 2008 at 09:14

    http://www.rkawakami.net/ibmt2x/t23wireless/

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