Compaq Laptop wireless/BIOS issues

[Dood]

I just installed a D-Link DWL-G630 wireless cardbuss adapter in my Compaq Presario 2100 laptop, running WinXPsp2. The only way the card will work is if I eject it after windows is running and then plug it back in. Then it seems to work fine. However, each time I boot I get the message that windows has found new hardware, a PCMCIA-MTD-0002.
After doing a search I found this:
" This problem was found on some Compaq laptops using the Phoenix BIOS, which creates a hardware conflict problem. To resolve this issue, disable the Sound Blaster setting in the Phoenix BIOS, but do not disable Onboard PCI Audio in the Phoenix BIOS."
http://www.ndclan.com/Support/FAQs/nwh61003.htm
The problem is, when I go into the BIOS I don't have that option, in fact I have very few options compared to most BIOS's I've dealt with. I thought maybe there was some "admin" setting or something, but the admin password in the bios is marked "disabled" and the passwords are clear. I flashed to the newest BIOS and nothing changed. Don't know if it's relevant, but all instructions tell me to press f1 or f10 to get into the BIOS, but f2 is what actually works on this computer. Any thoughts?

ps. I haven't been here in a while and the new forum looks great!

[DanceMan]

If you've flashed a new bios, you've probably checked the HP/Compaq site for any help.
Laptop bios are always more limited than desktops and oem bios for either are generally limited.
Since this is a hardware resource conflict, I wonder if you could go into Device Manager and resolve it there? The risk is that Win will redetect the Soundblaster at every reboot and reinstall it. However, if there is an IRQ free, perhaps you can reassign to solve this.

[Dood]

Yeah, no help at HP/Compaq site. There is no "sound blaster" in device manager, I'm assuming they mean a legacy Sound Blaster setting in the BIOS.
The thing is, in the read me for the Phoenix BIOS, they show many more settings than are available.
After some more searching it looks as if there are major issues with this card and compaq laptops:
"The D-Link DWL-G630 wireless card wasn't recognized by my Compaq Presario 2170US laptop with WindowsXP, being displayed as "PCMCIA MTD-0002". I had to flash the BIOS, (risky for a novice?), instructions are at http://h18000.www1.hp.com/ , click on Product Support Information, and search for "Compaq Presario 2170US BIOS". Even after doing this, I still have to pop-out the card, and pop-it back everytime XP is restarted for the card to be recognized. Good Luck!"

and more at:
http://mehmet.com/cgi-bin/amazon/index.cgi?Operation=ItemLookup&myOperation=CustomerReviews&ItemId=B0001PFO3C&ReviewPage=2

I haven't given up yet, but it's not looking good.

[DanceMan]

This is a long shot, because it sounds like you've checked everything out thoroughly, but you're sure there isn't anywhere in the bios that you can get to a sub-page of advanced settings that might have the Soundbaster switch?

[Dood]

That's what I've been looking for. If it's there I haven't found it.
This is my 3rd go at wireless cards, on 2 different computers, and it's never gone smoothly. grrrrrr

[ibdunn]

d-link wireless card which was working just fine--all of a sudden no longer seen. Nothing inserted in Pcmcia slot is recognised althouhg the computer says device itself working fine. i've tried a USB hub as well as the d-link aircard.

Did a clean install of windows xp first with sp2 (which is what i had on it) then i formatted again and did a clean install of xp-sp1. Added the compaq drivers, flashed the bios with latest version --still pcmcia device (one slot) seen by computer to be working fine -

today i had a completely new msg and one which i'm hoping will shed some light on where to turn...



"the device pci-1410 cardbus controller
has detected a cardbus in its slot
but the firmware on this system
is not configured to
run in the cardbus mode
the op syst will currently accept on" that's all the msg diplayed


so does anyone know how to configure the firmware to "run in cardbus mode"

i've gone in the very limited bios--looked as other poster for some way to turn of the soundblaster thing..nothing--very limited bios indeed..but there must be an answer out there...anybody??

[DanceMan]

This probably is of no help, but I just had a problem with a LAN card in a pc card slot. It had been previously installed and a driver found, but I got a msg about a missing file on a subsequent boot. I had the LAN card in a different pc card slot. Moving it to the other slot solved the problem.

[ibdunn]

unfortunately only one pcmcia slot on computer

[Hoyle]

I've had similar issues on a couple of computers recognizing hot-swap USB-2 devices... The best I could come up with was that doing complete Windows updates for a few days eventually fished better USB drivers from the MS website.

In this case, it does seem like a firmware issue, but I've not encountered this one before.

[DVS65]

Dood,

Did you ever resolve this problem? I have exactly the same problem and cannot find a fix.

[Dood]

I stopped watching this thread a while back, sorry I didn't see your question sooner.
If you're still looking the answer is "no". I just used it and ejected and reinserted each time. Seems the Compaqs just have this problem with this and some other cards.

[sirblackjack]

I had exactly the same problem with a Presario 2100 laptop and my wireless card. I had to eject and plug back the card everytime I booted into Windows.

I searched in google day and night for a solution with no avail.

I figured out that if you disable/enable the O2Micro Controller under "PCMCIA adapters" on the device manager, it also works. So I found a way to do this automatically =)

So...this is not really a fix but rather a workaround (but it works!)

1. First make sure you have installed the PCMCIA drivers. They didn't install automatically when I re-installed Windows.
2. You can download them from here (http://ftp.us.dell.com/Security/R144793.EXE)
3. Extract the download file, run the setup.exe file and restart
4. Download DevCon package from Microsoft.com by clicking here (http://download.microsoft.com/download/1/1/f/11f7dd10-272d-4cd2-896f-9ce67f3e0240/devcon.exe) and extract the package and copy the appropriate version (file in I386 folder for 32 bit Windows or file in Ia64 folder for 64 bit windows) to the C:\windows\system32\ folder.
7. Click start and right click on “My Computer” and select “Properties”.
8. Click the “Hardware” tab at the top.
9. Click on the “Device Manager” button.
10. Click on "PCMCIA adapters"
11. Right click on "O2Micro Controller" and Select "Propierties".
12. Click the "Details" tab at the top.
13. Look in for the device name of the O2Micro Controller, for example
PCI\VEN_1217&DEV_6972&SUBSYS_00000000&REV_00\3&61AAA01&0&50
In the above line the device instance ID is "DEV_6972"
14. Right click on your desktop
15. Click on new -> Text document
16. Open the new document
17. Write the following:

@echo off
c:\windows\system32\devcon disable *DEV_6972*
c:\windows\system32\devcon enable *DEV_6972*

18. Click on "File" -> "Save as"
19. Under "File name" write restart.bat and click on save
20. Now you will have an icon on your desktop named restart. You can click it everytime you reboot, or you can drag it to "Start" -> "All programs" -> "Startup". And it will run automatically each time you boot into Windows.

Hope it helps!!

[RyanMeray]

Sirblackjack, you, sir, are awesome. You not only introduced a useful little applet, but also solved the very same problem I was having elegantly and simply.

Thanks!