Hello, i'm tinkering with an old Fujitsu Siemens Amilo La 1703 laptop. it has a hideous SiS USB WLan card (driver: sis163u) (it says D2301 WLAN on the chip) which I am trying to replace with either an intel (512AN_MW WiFi Link 5100) or azure (atheros) card from other old latops. both replacement cards can be replaced/exchanged in another laptop. the amilo boots fine with the "wrong" card, there's no errors/warnings, and no settings concerning the wlan card in the bios. it simply does not see the card, as if the slot was empty. i am working on a linux system, but i'm pretty sure this is not operating system specific. i am suspecting the amilo's bios to be blocking unknown cards. any ideas? i know it's really old hardware, but i'm under pressure to prove to my colleagues that Linux can breathe new life into this otherwise useless piece of &%#$. alternatively, i'd be happy about some advice how to get that original SiS card working better on linux. right now it's a nightmare of ndiswrapper loading half-working winXP drivers... freezes the system every now and then... have to press Fn+F2 after every boot...
I have the same issue with my HP laptop, they have a whitelist in the BIOS that only allows certain Wireless cards to be installed, which is a PITA because the N card I wanted to replace my G card with works 100% if I hotswap it just after post Check this thread here, they mod BIOSs and remove the whitelist for laptops, might already have the correct BIOS waiting for you http://forums.mydigitallife.info/th...s-to-break-hardware-restrictions-mod-requests
it would seem the logical explanation. i've been searching a similar webiste (bios-mods.com) and the web, but right now i cannot get confirmation that amilo bioses used whitelisting at all - all the mods seem to be for hp & lenovo... i will repeat my searches with your link. meanwhile, can somebody confirm or deny this theory (that the wifi card is not recognized because amilo's phoenix bios has some sort of whitelist)?
Ive tried asking for mine to be modded at bios-mods.com but after about a year, numerous bumps and about 3 threads, I never even got one reply MDL forums gave me a modded BIOS but unfortunately although it accepted the card once flashed, it didn't work once into windows, which was weird as it worked 100% with original BIOS and hotswapping trick, but couldn't be bothered doing that every time I wanted to use the laptop
there does not seem to be a non-whitelist bios mod for amilo la 1703. not on mydigitallife, not anywhere. just for troubleshooting: how "hot" can the swap be? i tried this: 1. Remove existing wireless card from laptop, leave the access cover off. 2. Boot laptop and enter boot selection screen. Press F8 therefore. 3. Install new card (whilst laptop is running), no need connect antenna wires. 4. Boot into windows and new card will appear as unknown device. 5. Now you can obtain exact ven, dev & subsys id's from device properties but the card still remains seemingly non-existent, just like before. could i perform the swap even with a running operating system? i did find a lot of bioses for my amilo model that have some "SLIC" modification - not quite sure what that is, could that help? i have flashed the bios to the newest mainstream version (phoenix 8.8). the version shows up, but no change otherwise. ======================================== the question still remains, maybe my problem is not about whitelisting but something else. thoughts: - of the 3 wifi cards i have, the original sis/amilo seems to be the oldest. - although all cards go into the same slot, only the SiS card lists as a usb device - the other 2 list as pci devices (checked with the other testing laptop, not the amilo).
You'll need to request the BIOS Mode on MDL in that thread if there is not already one posted, follow 1st post instructions on how to lay out your request For me I had to power on the laptop with no wireless card in, then after POST and before windows loaded, very quickly install the new one Never tried doing it while windows is running, doubt that would work, for me the laptop won't boot with a non whitelisted card installed which was why I hotswapped it just after POST EDIT- SLIC mod is to activate Windows without purchasing the license iirc, windows thinks it came with the laptop and activates as OEM
i tried to plug the intel card in while linux was already starting up - so, definitely after the bios - but the result is exactly the same: nothing. i can't even see it as unknown hardware. when i plug the sis card the same way, all is fine, i can even connect to the internet. :sigh: so in my logic it can't really be a problem with bios whitelisting, or?
Sorry, I missed the Linux part, maybe it is the OS I only tinker with Linux, not an expert by any means Try Windows on another partition and see if it sees it, that'll give you your answer
i'm not talking about drivers or actually connecting to the internet, just the hardware. it's not operating system specific. it's the equivalent of the little yellow warning triangle youget in the device manager (unknown device). i should be able to see the hardware listed somewhere. especially since i tried the same with another laptop (also linux) and i could always see the hardware (3 different wifi cards!). i still have windows on my desktop computer, but i don't think i can put the card in there.
I know, I mean make a partition on the machine in question, install windows, see if it sees the card or not, then you can completely rule out Linux being the issue and concentrate on BIOS / Hardware But yea you're right, Id expect the OS to at least see it, even if it can not install drivers
i booted from a rescue cd with "mini windows XP" and it's just as i suspected - the intel card does NOT show up in the device manager, not even with a yellow warning sign. everything else shows up as expected (ethernet card...). the original SiS wifi card shows up as "Fujitsu Siemens WLAN 802.11b/g D1705/D1706". there were some windows tools for my purpose on mydigitallife forums, but the site is down atm, you happen to know of alternative links? maybe i can get more info from that.
Alternative links for .... ? MDL is up for me, but booting from a mini XP isn't the best way to test it imo, likely has a lot of things stripped out of it But is starting to sound like its more of a hardware issue
...for andy's phoenix tool. but i got it now. mdl is up again and my bios mod request went unanswered so far...
You can replace the SIS 163U card with mini pcie to USB adapter and mini wifi dongle. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Min...luetooth-Adapter-Reader-Drop/32686614542.html https://www.aliexpress.com/item/300...k-Adapter-300M-Realtek-8192CU/1520255808.html Tested on Amilo LA 1703.
