Toughbook CF 30 wlan adapter card

[Outrigger]

Got a quick question regarding the CF 30's wlan card. It comes with the Intel 3495 ABG and I'm assuming its the mini pci express connection type?

If thats the case, how easy would it be to swap an IBM mini pci express wlan adapter card? I have only done this with a Thinkpad in the past.

I'm looking to do this as I have had much better experience with the Atheros based card rather than the Intel one.

[Toughbook]

I prefer the Atheros based cards too. I have no experience with the CF-30 (Unfortunately... I'd love to get one.) but I imagine it's similar to the CF-28 & 29... It should be a walk in the park!

[Outrigger]

I also would imagine it to be similar to the 28s. Is there a guide somewhere that would show me how to open it up to get to the innards of the mini pci express adapter card? I couldn't find anything while searching.

EDIT:
Actually, how would one go about just opening up the keyboard?

[Outrigger]

bump
anyone?

[DJACID]

is there another cover on the bottom of the toughbook next to ur ram cover...........

[Outrigger]

I actually opened the entire underside panel revealing the motherboard and CPU. Not sure how the other toughbooks' mobos are arranged, but I don't see the mini-pci express where the wifi card sits. I believe its on the other side of the mobo connected by a daughter card which means I might see it if I pop out the keyboard. but my question is how do you guys take out the keyboard?

[DJACID]

the keyboard for the cf-28 is taken by removing 2 screws from the back of the lcd panel which conects to the keyboard part and then the 4 screws on the top of the keyboard.........
i ask my mate about the cf-30 and he never changed his card also so doesnt know where to get to it from........

[Outrigger]

Ok, I bought the Thinkpad AGB card which is the Atheros card and popped it in. Loaded the driver, however, I'm not able to use it. As if the wifi isn't switched on even though the wifi switch is on and the green light is on.

I did a fresh install of Vista premium on the hdd. I lost the ability to use the program to switch bluetooth and wifi on. any ideas?

[Modly]

This is just a guess, not fact, but perhaps the thinkpad card is bios locked or otherwise locked to the thinkpad hardware. Some hardware designers do stupid things like that.

Other than that, just for the hell of trying, pop into the BIOS on the toughbook and see if perhaps it has an option that is now disabled.

[Outrigger]

thats an interesting theory, I'll have to check up on that, but I have been through the bios many times but the only option is to enable or disable wlan and that option is enabled as of right now.

when I uninstall the atheros driver, upon reboot, it finds new hardware and asks for driver installation, so I know it knows that its there. I just can't seem to even get windows to recognize that its there. It keeps saying you're not connected because you need to switch your wifi on even though its already on.