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Wireless antenna on Inspiron 2200
I 'm dickering with a fellow about his Inspiron 2200 (Pentium M 1.7 GHz; 512 RAM; 60 Gb HD; Combo drive; XP Pro).
He insists that there is no wireless antenna in the display; that there is no cable attached to the wireless card and that the wireless antenna is beneath the keyboard and inside the ethernet port. He points out that in wireless mode there is an orange light blinking in the ethernet port.
I've checked the service manuals for the 2200 and it shows an antenna cable in the display. Can someone throw some light on the subject? Is he right?
Thanks.
tester25
626 Posts
1
January 18th, 2010 13:00
When an ethernet cable is not attached to the RJ45 network jack, the network LED's will indicate wireless network activity. If the orange light is blinking when there is not an ethernet cable attached to the RJ45 network jack, then that means that the wireless adapter is passing traffic.
The wireless card is under the keyboard but the antenna is routed up into the display.
tester25
626 Posts
1
January 18th, 2010 13:00
Sorry but I don't have a way to confirm that all the 2200s that went out with wireless capability had their antennas routed to the display. But maybe take a look at the pictures here:
http://h-online.co.uk/ebaypics/2200screen/
There's a part on that webpage that mentions the wireless antenna wire:
"
This is the fiddliest bit (assuming your laptop has a wireless card, that is)
Gently pull the tiny gold connector from the little socket on the wireless card"
p0rtia
6 Posts
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January 18th, 2010 13:00
Thanks tester25. The info about the orange blinking light helps a lot. He insists that there wass no antenna or antenna cable going to the display, and that the manual is wrong. I think he detached the antenna when he took the display off (cracked LCD, etc.), and forgot about it. I'm pretty green on this issue, but I reckoned it was possible a different build had the antenna in the guts of the laptop. If you can confirm that all the 2200s that went out with wireless capability had their antennas routed to the display, that settles it for me.
p0rtia
6 Posts
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January 18th, 2010 14:00
Many thanks. Those pix are great. They back up the pix in the service manual. Everthing points to the antenna cable in the diplay, for sure.
tester25
626 Posts
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January 18th, 2010 14:00
Excellent. Can you mark this thread as solved by me?
p0rtia
6 Posts
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January 18th, 2010 15:00
Absolutely. In fact, was just going to. :emotion-1: As soon as I figure out how. ???
p0rtia
6 Posts
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January 18th, 2010 15:00
I think I got it right this time. Newbie genes showing. :emotion-10:
tester25
626 Posts
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January 18th, 2010 15:00
haha. Thanks. :emotion-2:
tester25
626 Posts
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January 18th, 2010 15:00
haha. Why did you choose your answer as the solution? :emotion-4:
tester25
626 Posts
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January 19th, 2010 14:00
Fantastic. :emotion-2: Thanks for the followup.
p0rtia
6 Posts
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January 19th, 2010 14:00
Hey Tester25 -- Just wanted to let you know that, thanks to your response, and particularly thanks to the link with the piccy showing the antenna cable connection on the wireless card, I finally got the guy I've been dickering with to actually _look_ at the lid (didn't realize he still had it until then) and lo and behold, the antenna cable was right there, sticking out of it! So I'm looking smart right now, and got the price I wanted, too.