Compaq - Express WiFi card vs PCMCIA

Our nephew's girlfriend had a problem with her internal WiFi card on her Compaq V6000 laptop. We all went to Best Buy and bought a Linksys PCMCIA card. The store didn't have any internal mini-pci type cards, guess the install would be too hard for mainstream buyers.

After she got home, she discovered that her Compaq V6000 has the "Express" slot vs the "PCMCIA" slot. She went back and bought a USB WiFi just to get running.

SO - are there any WiFi cards made in the Express slot format ? I haven't really seen any....

The Compaq V6000 has a known problem with internal cards. Maybe I'll just have to get a mini-pci card and install it for them...

Reply to
ps56k
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ps56k wrote on Sat, 6 Sep 2008 10:39:18 -0500:

Yes they do sell WiFi cards in ExpressCard format. But they are harder to find. I personally won't buy a laptop with a ExpressCard, because I don't see them catching on very well. Plus I already have lots of PCMCIA cards anyway and I don't feel like buying harder to find ExpressCards. They are generally more expensive too. So why bother?

If you go the mini-PCI route, there are three wire and two wire antennas. And if there isn't an antenna already in the laptop, I don't think I would go that route. As wiring usually requires lots of disassembly to route it through the laptop. More work then what it is worth. I would go the USB or the ExpressCard to be honest with you.

Reply to
BillW50

What is the Compaq internal card? You should open a terminal, execute the command '/sbin/lspci -nnv' and post the first two lines of the output THAT DESCRIBE THE WIRELESS INTERFACE. Excuse me for shouting like that, but the last two people I have asked to do this have posted the first two lines of the output - these describe some bridge on the bus, which is of no interest.

Larry

Reply to
Larry Finger

what makes you think that the system is Linux based ? it's your standard Compaq laptop with Windows/XP -

Reply to
ps56k

Re: "We all went to Best Buy and bought a Linksys PCMCIA card"

The correct term is "PC Card" not "PCMCIA Card" [or slot].

Go on E-Bay and buy an Intel 2200 mini-PCI WiFi card. Should cost about $10 and is likely just what you need. I am sure that there are Express Card WiFi cards, but it's not really the right solution if you can get an internal card to work (which you should be able to do).

ps56k wrote:

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Reply to
Barry Watzman

I agree - but they are not local to my area.

I've not seen the laptop in person to open the bottom take a look at what card is in there, and maybe try one of the cards installed in my laptop....

Reply to
ps56k

BTW - it looks like the Compaq V6000 takes a new & different internal wifi card... Mini-PCI - "EXPRESS" - vs just a "mini-pci"

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Reply to
ps56k

hmmmm - not sure which card it takes - will have to ask them to take a look under the panel

which card does it look like - notice the orientation of the edge connector "mini-pci express" ?

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vs just "mini-pci" ?
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Reply to
ps56k

ps56k wrote on Sun, 7 Sep 2008 00:00:08 -0500:

Weird! Both those links crash IE6 and Maxthon browsers. Opens fine in Firefox though. Maybe something is wrong with my setup. I never seen that happen before. And now FireFox keeps downloading version 3 when I already have version 3. Geez!

Anyway those mini-PCI Express is what Asus EEE PCs use too for WiFi cards. Some models also another mini-PCI Express slot to hold the SSD (solid state drive) too. Like the 702 model. Which I like a lot as I can swap the SSD out very easy through the trap door.

Reply to
BillW50

BillW50 wrote on Sun, 07 Sep 2008 07:01:01 -0500:

Works fine under Maxthon on this machine. Ah... always something to fix.

Reply to
BillW50

Nope. As I recall, there is an external Express PCI slot externally, but the internal wireless card is Mini-PCI. I have two (dead) V6000 laptops in the office. However, be advised that the Compaq V6000 and a few others are lemons. See:

The symptoms do not indicate the cause, but basically it's an overheating issue on the Nvidia video card, and/or badly soldered BGA chips on the motherboard. Worse, the problems may be intermittent. If your display flashes when you bend the motherboard or pound on the keyboard, it's time for a warranty repair. The only fix is a motherboard replacement.

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

I guess that depends on your industry association loyalties now doesn't it? Historical revisionism is always suspect and even more so in technical matters. Just like 'WiFi', 'PC Card' is a marketing term and the original nomenclature is certainly accurate and acceptable to describe the technology.

Michael

Reply to
msg

No, actually, it does not depend on anything.

The terms are trademarked and the are owned by a trade organization.

PCMCIA is properly used to refer to the organization

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PC Card is the correct name for the cards. PERIOD. At one time (in the early 1990's) they WERE called "PCMCIA Cards", but in February of 1995, the organization changed the name of the cards from "PCMCIA cards" to "PC Cards". But a lot of people still call them PCMCIA card [wrongly, however].

When it comes to names, the owner of the name gets to decide the name, the spelling and the pronunciation. In this case, the names are legal trademarks, and the change occured more than a decade ago.

From the FAQ at

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"The term "PC Card" referes to the credit card-size peripherals that add memory, mass storage, and I/O capabilities to computers in a rugged, compact form factor. The term "PCMCIA" (Personal Computer Memory Card International Association) refers to the non-profit trade association and standards body that promotes PC Card and ExpressCard technology by defining technical standards and educating the market. In the past, cards were known as "PCMCIA Cards", but the industry now refers to products based on the technology as "PC Cards," "PC Card Hosts" and "PC Card Software," and refers only to the association as PCMCIA."

msg wrote:

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Reply to
Barry Watzman

From urbandictionary

Irregardless

Used by people who ignorantly mean to say regardless.

A word used by uneducated people intending to sound intelligent.

[Disclaimer - the above comment was posted in a humorus vein]
Reply to
DTC

You're right, but so what? Everyone knows what it means, there's no confusion. Nit-picking is a form of laziness -- all that pointing out of other people's "mistakes" means you never have to come up with an original thought. Irregardless.

Reply to
Warren Oates

History makes good comedy, especially when dealing with electronics industry organizations and consortia.

Yep. It's morphed from PCMCIA (People Cant Memorize Confusing Industry Acronyms) to CardBus. Then that was deemed too confusing, it went to PCCARD, which nobody could recall if there were was one C or two C's. So, it became PC Card, which a few Neanderthals from the PCMCIA era are calling PC CARD (which is incorrect because it's not an acronym). The PCMCIA Association then had to buy the rights to the PC Card name from IBM. Meanwhile, some creative marketing person decided to conglomerate USB, Firewire, and CardBus into what they called Card Bay. I'm not sure of the current status but I know it's not recognized by the PCMCIA Organization.

No sooner had things settled down, someone decided that we needed to add Express to everything. They invented a truly contorted form factor but a decent PCI bus interface spec, and called it PCI Express. No sooner had the ink dried on the specs, someone (I think it was IBM) invented ExpressCard which adds USB 2.0 but ignores Firewire.

Note the lack of a space between words. That's specifically because Googling for "PC Card" would usually return a mess of hits, few of which had anything to do with the technology.

Please note that the winner in the PC biz is whomever ends up owning the trademarks, service marks, buzz words, and acronyms.

Revisionist swine. The winner also gets to rewrite history.

Also, please note that it's NOT called wifi. It's Wi-Fi in accordance to the trademarks of the Wi-Fi Alliance, which has gone through considerable effort to change the names and confuse the innocent.

For example, everyone calls encryption WPA-PSK (pre-shared key) and WPA-RADIUS. Not the Wi-Fi Alliance. They prefer WPA-Personal and WPA-Enterprise. Of course, the standard joke is that much of the Wi-Fi technology is Sci-Fi.

Wi-Fight it?

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

Re: "Yep. It's morphed from PCMCIA (People Cant Memorize Confusing Industry Acronyms) to CardBus."

NO !!

There are 2 kinds of PC Cards (both kinds correctly called PC Cards):

  1. 16-bit PC Cards. These are the laptop equivalent of an ISA card.

  1. 32-bit PC Cards. These are the laptop equivalent of a PCI card.

"Cardbus" is a trademarked name for 32-bit PC Cards. All PC Cards are not Cardbus cards, however, and Cardbus is not synonymous with PC Card since some PC Cards are NOT Cardbus cards.

And "Express Card" is not just a new name. It's the laptop version of a PCI Express Card (as found in a desktop).

Jeff Liebermann wrote:

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Reply to
Barry Watzman

x-posting to compaq/hp

hmmmm - not sure which card it takes - will have to ask them to take a look under the panel

which card does it look like - notice the orientation of the edge connector "mini-pci express" ?

formatting link
vs just "mini-pci" ?
formatting link

Reply to
ps56k

Only found one Expresscard. Here's the link:

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Seems 99% of laptops with the newer Expresscard slots have Wi-Fi as standard equipment.

HH

Reply to
HH

OK, a couple of years ago some manufacturer(s) decided to change the terminology. Does that mean we should all adopt it? Everyone knows what we mean by PCMCIA card. Similarly, Microsoft and a couple of others decided to change the newsgroup standard to top-posting.

I will continue to say PCMCIA rather than PC Card. I think it's far clearer. PC Card can mean just about anything. But PCMCIA is completely unambiguous. I will also continue to bottom post.

I will also continue to use the term "wireless" to mean a radio receiver (shows my age).

Reply to
Salvador Freemanson

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