Sunday, February 26th, 2006 at 6:24 PM
Of all the laptops I’ve worked on, IBM ThinkPads are by far the easiest to disassemble and fix. They’re also pretty tough machines, as they survive substantially more damage than most of the Dell laptops I’ve seen. If I were a full time Windows user (and I’m not, despite the recent number of PC related posts), I would probably consider purchasing a ThinkPad. If it weren’t for one tiny problem, that is…
Most newer ThinkPad models have a Mini-PCI slot and antennae, ready to be equipped with a standard wireless card. Mini-PCI may be unfamiliar to Mac users reading this blog, just as it was to me several months ago. Think of Mini-PCI as an AirPort Extreme sized connector, but standardized such that any manufacturer can create a compatible communications card. While the slot is standardized, IBM insists on crippling it via software to only accept “IBM brand” wireless cards — which are really just OEM cards made by Philips and others. Upon booting a machine with a non-IBM card installed, the following POST error will be displayed:
1802: Unauthorized network card is plugged in
Power off and remove the miniPCI network card.
What a sneaky way to lock people into buying an expensive wireless card, when others can be bought for much much lower prices. (I suppose I can’t complain, though, as AirPort Extreme is even more proprietary. Although, I’ve never had the need to use a different wireless card in my PowerBook — I just bought the “whole widget” from Apple and that was that.) Luckily for ThinkPad owners, there exists a small fix for this “1802″ error: a DOS program which will flip a single bit in the CMOS and allow use of any Mini-PCI wireless card. The program, no-1802.com by Tisheng Chen, can be found here. To make running this program easier for myself and others, though, I’ve prepared a floppy disk image as well as a bootable CD.
Both files will require unzipping before use (use the free 7-Zip or WinZip). Once unzipped, the CD version (.iso file) can be burned with Disk Utility or Toast on the Mac, or ImgBurn or Nero on the PC. The floppy disk version can be written with Floppy Image for Windows, or dd if=no1802.img of=/dev/fd0 in a *nix environment. The floppy image is a bit-for-bit copy of what I actually had on disk, and the CD version boots and loads the very same floppy into RAM, using a highly customized Ultimate Boot CD. Hopefully this will allow ThinkPad owners to use any wireless cards, and not just those offered by IBM.
If Asus sold motherboards that were only compatible with Asus graphics cards, people would be less likely to buy Asus hardware. If they placed this information in a small footnote and simultaneously listed an AGP slot in the technical specifications, people who had purchased the hardware with the expectation that they could use their existing graphics card with the same chipset would be justifiably angry. The situation is directly analagous. IBM may feel that US law requires them to implement this restriction in the United States. However, failure to clearly advertise this restriction (especially given that most of the world is not covered by FCC regulations) is unacceptable. — Matthew Garrett
5/17/06 Update
I’m glad to see that people are having success with my pre-made wireless card fix. A list of some of the models affected by IBM’s decision can be found here, thanks to Matthew Garrett. He also has few pages with useful technical details on this topic, as well.
8/30/06 Update
For future reference: IBM “high rate” wireless+56K modem combo cards with FRUs 12P3637, 12P3863, 26P8472 and 91P7661 require separate modem drivers (that aren’t part of the “high rate” package). The cards are made by Actiontec, but the the modem portion is made by Agere/Lucent, and the drivers can be found in IBM’s list of downloads for the R32.
9/10/06 Update
This page was linked to at ThinkWiki, where you’ll find even more information on the 1802 error.
6/7/07 Update
Here’s a list of all the known working an not working Thinkpad models gathered from the comments to date.
NOT Working
- R32, R60
- T60
- Z60t
- X41 2525-6NH
Confirmed Working
- A31, A31 2652-Q3U, A31p, A31p 2653-CU5, A31p 2653-R3U
- R40 2682-HU2, R40 2682-K2G, R40 2681, R40 2896-GZU, R51
- T30, T30 2637, T40, T40 2373, T40 2373-8CU, T40 2373-94G, T40 2374-GG2, T41, T41 2374-7JG, T42, T42 2373-BX9, T42p
- X24, X30, X31, X31 2672-U31
This entry was posted on Sunday, February 26th, 2006 at 6:24 pm and is filed under Hacks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Thank you for the images. This was extremely easy to do compared to the other instructions!!
Did this with your image in less than 5 minutes in all.
Thanks again.
Thanks for the wireless card fix for my R51 ThinkPad. I would have never figured it out on my own although your information was so complete that I now understand what the problem was. Thank You, -Thomas
HELP! This looked awesome in one little file but I’m not good with this stuff- I unzipped, and burned a bootable cd in Nero 6. Am I supposed to mess with the advanced settings? If anyone can help, I’ll give you a HUGE $5 paypal payment!
My guess is that you’re choosing Bootable CD and adding the ISO, as opposed to just burning the ISO outright. While this option is good for burning a bootable CD with existing files, the ISO offered here is an image of the CD ready to be burned as-is. With Nero Burning ROM open, choose “Recorder”, “Burn Image…”, pick the ISO file, and burn. (If you choose bootable CD and add the ISO to the compilation, you’ll actually end up with a bootable CD with an image of another bootable CD inside it…and that won’t work, as you’ve seen.)
Thanks a lot for the floppy image, really! I was vey uppset after a whole day installing the antennas and wifi card when found the 1802 error and thanks to you the day had a happy ending, thanks from Spain!
Hi
Used your CD. Seemed to work fine on my IBM T30. “Found new hardware” but was “unable to install” Tried to use Device Manager to look at the Intel 2915abg but keep getting the Pop up Window “Microsoft Management Controls” with the message MMC cannot open the file C:\WINDOWS\system32\devmgmt.msc
It sounds like the CD was able to disable the check, but you might not have the right drivers. Try searching IBM’s site for the card’s FRU and see if you can get the correct driver package.
Thank alot! I was successful with IBM T30
Thanks for all the info and the utilities provided. Before using it I do have one question: how dangerous is it to use this utility? can I cause an irreversible damage to my machine? what should I do if the fix does not work? is it reversible (if so, how)? — Thanks again!
The “no-1802″ software flips a bit in your computer’s CMOS, where your BIOS settings and current real-time clock data are stored.
If it does cause a problem, the changes are not permanent and can be erased by removing your CMOS battery and all other power sources (power adapter and battery). In some ThinkPad models, the tiny quarter-sized battery is under the keyboard, and in others it’s hidden behind a panel on the underside of the laptop. Guides for replacing this battery can be obtained from IBM’s support website, and it is advisable to print out the relevant portions prior to performing the hack if you don’t have another computer handy. Your other preferences such as boot order and current time will be reset if you do this.
In short, though, the change “no-1802″ makes is not permanent and can be undone by removing *all* sources of power.
Thanks again for the detailed reply, sounds like its safe to use. I’ll try it on my X30 and let you know how it works. BTW, does anyone have any experience with the no-1802 on the X30?
So far it seems to be working fine on X30. Thanks!
You da man - it worked straight forward. I got a x31 with an intel 2200bg card. it booted fine and installed the drivers and i was up and running before you could say shananagans! :-) Thanks again!
This is very interesting info. I just purchased a refurbished IBM T30 that has no wireless card. I was wondering why all the ones I saw for sale had ‘b’ cards instead of ‘g’. Would you recommend a good wireless card for me to get, I would like to try the hack with it? Is it something you run once, or on every boot up?
Thanks.
Just about any MiniPCI wireless card will work. Personally, I like the Intel ones and avoid the Cisco ones, but only because of the more straightforward driver set up and usage.
You run this software once, and only ever need to repeat it if you replace the CMOS battery (which often outlasts the notebook itself).
omg thank you sooooo much for this!!!!! my god i wish i would have stumbled upon this much earlier before ripping through my room to find a floppy drive and tearing apart my comp before to put it in. this was really nice and easy, and stupid me for not finding it earlier!!!!
THANK YOU SOOO MUCH!!!!!!
Do you have to remove the network card to run the boot cd? I keep getting the 1802 message.
Thanks,
/scott
Can confirm works on my R40 2682-HU2 with
Intel® PRO/Wireless
2200BG Network
Connection
Drivers from Intel website
http://support.intel.com/support/wireless/wlan/sb/CS-010623.htm
Excellent job.
Thank you
NICE!
I confirm that this works on T41 2374-7JG. I replaced the Cisco 802.11b card wuth an Intel 2915ABG card (.11,abg)
Make sure you download latest 2915ABG card software
http://support.intel.com/support/wireless/wlan/pro2915abg/index.htm
Excellent!!
Thanks.
Excellent Image. Though it does NOT work with my R32 an Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG. :(
I can’t seem to get your file to boot. I’ve copied all the file to a disk, made a bootable disk, copied just the boot “file” contents to a disk. I have even downloaded Image burn, and tried to burn the image to disk. But Nero and Image Burn both tell me that it is an “invalid or unsupported image file format”. Can you PLEASE..help me….
If you’ve copied all the boot disk files to a disk, it sounds like you’re opening the floppy image with the wrong program.
ImgBurn and Nero are for burning the CD ISO image, and the Floppy Image program is for copying the floppy image directly to a floppy disk. With the two options provided, there should be no need to open either of the files unless you’re curious how they work.
Try downloading the CD ISO, unzipping it, then opening the unzipped “.iso” file with ImgBurn, and clicking Burn. Doing so will load the image right onto a CD, bootable and all.
Essentially, the two files above are file-based copies of the CD and floppy I made. There should be no need to make your own bootable CD; Just load the bits provided onto the medium you prefer.
Thanks for the info. What had happened is that after I un-zipped the file, it came up as a WinRar file so I un-zipped it again. Not realizing that it was an ISO file. I can get the cd to boot now but I get an error that says “no valid Fat32 file system on the drive. I’m running Win Xp with a NTFS format. Please tell me that you fix will work for me!! Once again thanks for the help….Scott Oh IBM T30 1.6g p4m
Please disreguard my last question. I found a similar program that will run from Windows.
Or download at http://www.congenio.de/infos/no1802.com
PS. buffalo G54 on IBM T30 working great
That filesystem error is very odd, as none of the software provided touches the disk, let alone determines any formatting. I think you may still have burned it incorrectly by accident…
Doesn’t work on a Thinkpad X41 (2525-6NH)
great stuff with that ready cd image. good job. worked great on my T41
Thanks for the excellent info. I tried installing my Dell-branded 1450 b/g Broadcom mini pci wireless card into my T30 and got the 1802 error.
WTF I thought. A quick search got me here and I think the boot disk image and easy to follow directions are awesome!
Worked like a charm the 1st time and the card now works great in the T30. Very useful and clear, THANKS!
Works perfect. The card now is 100% functional and working at full 54mbs.
works perfect on T42 with Atheros a/b/g .took one minute or less.Somehow if I plugged the card when Windows XP was in Hibernate modemafter wake-up detected the card without bios modification(maybe helpfull).Choose Atheros 150feet from router still excellent link on 108 Mbps- 9 USD on Ebay.
Isn’t cool?
burnt to cd and works a treat on T30 with IBM intel pro 2100 download driver from IBM many thanks and thanks to original author too !
I have run the no-1802 utility before on a t30 and it works beautifully. However on this R32, it doesnt seem to set the bit no matter what I do. What is wrong?
I keep getting the error!
Thanks.
I ran the iso file on cd on the Lenovo Thinkpad R60, the error message still persist. Could you help me? this is needed for a test enrinvoment where we will test different wireless cards.
-Thanks, Chris
This does NOT work on my Thinkpad Z60t. Anyway I don’t get that 1802 error, but other things happen:
If I boot with the “wrong” network adaptor installed, a PXE boot sequence comes up at boot time, displayed overlapping with the lock symbol for entering my bootup-password. Even if I don’t enter a password it continues to boot with grub, where I can’t use my keyboard. Linux then boots, but there’s no wireless adapter in lspci. Any ideas/help?
This seems like a simple solution - I’m having a problem still though - the T30 won’t even get to the boot disk CD. I set the 1st boot device to the CD but I get the error before it can even boot. Anyone have any ideas?
Hi,
I am trying to get the no-1802 but the link does not work. Can someone point me to the right link?
Thanks,
Scott
http://jcnp.pku.edu.cn/~shadow/1802/ for scott, go to this link of simply type “1802 error” into google and presto.
Guys In regards to my earlier problem:
I ran the iso file on cd on the Lenovo Thinkpad R60, the error message still persist. Could you help me? this is needed for a test enrinvoment where we will test different wireless cards.
Is there a solution for this I ran the ISO file from a bootable CD and it went into the DOS prompt to type “no-1802″ and I did then rebooted soonafter, the card is still not accepting. Any guesses to help me solve this problem, I need to resolve this for my test department at work, help please! :)
Thanks Chris
I use the link and it has the following:
[DIR] Parent Directory -
[ ] 1802.com 13-Jun-2004 15:13 18
[TXT] 1802.txt 21-Jun-2004 14:52 1.4K
[ ] no-1802.com 13-Jun-2004 15:13 18
When I click on no-1802.com it doesn’t let me download anything. I am not very tech oriented so please be a little forgiving if I am doing something wrong. It took me forever to even find this page.
Thanks again,
Scott
Please disregard my above post, I just figured it out.
Thanks,
Scott
HELP!! I wasn’t sure if I needed to boot the laptop with the CD to run the program, It didn’t seem to do anything so I explorer the CD in Windows and when I reboot the computer will not do anything no error or anything just the fan turns on. I have a T30 and I tried to install an Intel 2200 wireless card.
Please help!
Thanks for great solution to avoid annoying error!
Worked with my T40 and Intel Pro Wireless 2200bg (+latest drivers).
Still there are minor side effects - the wireless network blue light on the bottom of display seems not to function - may be related to Think Vantage software that does not support the 2200bg card on T40. But the signal is strong and even stronger than new R50 I was able to use at the same time.
It’s worth to mention that I got one confusing error during cd boot but you shouldnt fall into that, during the next power on the 1802 error message was gone ;)
Thanks!
Little more info how I got the result:
power on -> press F1 to bios menu, set the cd drive to #1 in boot list (actually it was already #1 by default), disable wireless network card on mpci.
power on -> to confirm the 1802 error does not appear as the wireless card is disabled, then insert the bootable cd, shut down.
power on -> let the pc boot the cd, if A:/ appears, then just power off (thats the place I got some error regarding FAT but I ignored it)
power on -> F1 to bios menu, enable wireless network card on mpci.
power on -> the card should be accepted and XP prompts to found new hardware wizard, install the latest drivers from manufacturer and thats it.
This is just for information what worked for me.
I used the no-1802 trick on an R40 and a $19 Atheros a/b/g card I bought off of ebay with great success. The signal is 100% in my bedroom now, whereas it was 42% and reception had been on and off with the Belkin PCMCIA card I was using at that location! The only question is, can this be reversed? Can I just install a bios update and be back to square one?
A BIOS update may well clear out the fix, and so would removing all sources of power from your machine. To do that, unplug the power cord, eject the battery, and unplug the small CMOS battery inside the notebook (often under the keyboard or a panel on the underside of the machine). Tap the power button once or twice to drain all power, and then plug everything back in.
Well once again the world wide web comes to the rescue :-)
I’ve got an IBM T40 2373 rev 14g Installed an PRO/Wireless 2200BG which, funnily is the card IBM told me to get, although I guess they meant their version. For anyone with the same. Here is the events I went through.
Made the CD boot disk, removed the Network card I had just installed. Pressed F1 to go into the BIOS, wierdly this didn’t boot from the CD despite it being the first boot up device, I tried an XP disk to see if it was the disk image; anyway still no joy, so back in the BIOS I disabled all other boot devices except the Cd/DVD rom device, rebooted with the CD image and it ran happily. After I got to the DOS prompt (Flashing Cursor for those of you not techy) and typed exactly as it said on the screen. and it was done. For those of you not used to this you may think it will take some time, but it is virtually instant.
I then powered off, installed the controller card and then rebooted back to windows. and installed the drivers. Works fien and dandy :-)
To answer the question some of you have asked, yes I had to remove the wireless device before I could get to the boot screen.
Many thanks to all for this, and to the person who wrote the BIOS edit and then to this site owner for being kind enough to make the CD image.
Regards
Glad to hear people are having successful WiFi card instllations :-)
The no-1802 trick doesn’t work on my Thinpad R32. Now the only option I have is learn how to hack BIOS.
I have an hp/compaq nx5000 notebook with a whitelist and a broadcom minipci card to replace the intel card who’s breakdown.
I have error “104 ,Unsupported wireless network device detected. System halted. Remove device and restart ”
My intel pro 2200 have id=”PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_4220&SUBSYS_12F6103C”
My broadcom 54G have id=”PCI\VEN_14E4&DEV_4320&SUBSYS_12FA103C”
the backup of my bios with uniflash
http://defdevil.free.fr/pages/upload/BIOSBQCK.zip
you can upload the modded bios on
http://defdevil.free.fr/pages/fup.php
Thanks a lot
Caroline
The NO1802.COM solution works with older ThinkPad BIOS that are wired to require an IBM MPCI adapter (and only those MPCI will control the WiFi LED on the cover, BTW). The newer, larger BIOS systems (Z60, T60 et al) require a different patch, which as of yet I have not found.
Hi guys, Hey i cant seem to get my t30 to accept an intel 2915 abg card. I have gone to ibm, downloaded the latest bios update, then applied the no-1802 bios flash. Installed the newest drivers for the 2915 abg card and the latest version of the intel wireless pro set software. The device installs but the pro/set software will not fully install. I get a page fault in a nonpaged area and it fails to finish. Ive tried many times. Im wondering if any of you have a similar problem and if you have gotten the 2915 abg wireless card to install on the ibm t30. Please let me know if its possible and what the solution is. Thanks in advance.. rick
update… i have gotten the software to install but there is still aproblem. the intel proset cannot find a compatable device… device manager shows the wnic as a 2915abg ( which is correct ) but the device has an error code of 10 ( the device has faild to start ).. hope theres a quick fix.. ill keep working and thanks again in advance to any who can help.
anyone found a workaround for z60 series Thinkpads???
Could you confirm that no-1802 will work on an ibm r40e 2684 L8g i cant find any reference to this particular model thank you .
[...] WiFi upgrade Min efterhÃ¥nden godt brugte (men meget stabile) IBM X31 bærbare er født med et 802.11b trÃ¥dløst netkort i mini-PCI format. Jeg købte glad et 802.11b/g kort for at opgraderet maskinen. Den var lidt sløv i overførslen nÃ¥r jeg nu har investeret i en NAS. Men desværre har IBM lÃ¥st BIOS til en (reletivt lille) række netkort og bryder derfor strakts ud en fejl: “1802: Unauthorized network card is plugged in - Power off and remove the miniPCI network card”. Jeg havde egentlig opgivet men tog sÃ¥ problemet op igen. Siden sidst er der kommet en del mere information pÃ¥ nettet. En løsning har vist hele tiden været at ændre lidt i bios og sÃ¥ prøve at flashe maskinen med den mod’ede bios. Ikke lige min kop te - lyder lidt for risky. Nu fandt jeg heldigvis en mulighed for at flippe en bit i CMOS som beskrevet her. Der fandt jeg heldigvis ogsÃ¥ en ISO som kunne bruges da man skal gøre det i real-dos mode. En X31 er som bekendt ikke født med diskette drev (har aldrig savnet det) eller cdrom, men bootede fint med USB cdrom drev. Det var en ganske harmløs operation, man skal dog huske ikke at køre programmet 2 gange, for sÃ¥ er man tilbage til start. SÃ¥ nu kører jeg med mit Intel PROset/Wireless 802.11b/g som jeg fik for kun 200,- istedet for det officielle IBM kort som er pÃ¥ den forkerte side af de 700,- [...]
I bought an atheros/philips abg card , i guess is similar with the one ibm sells.Installed it in a r40 2681 L7U and of course i got the 1802 . Followed the instructions here , had to boot once with the normal windows after aplying the cd patch and then reboot.Windows detected the card normally but i had to download the latest wi-fi abg drivers from ibm/lenovo website to make it work.Led is working ok and after aplying the latest hotkey driver from the ibm/lenovo website as well Fn+F5 is also working!
Thanks for the info , my only remark is that you most likely will need the new drivers to make it work.
I just wanted to say thanks to you and the writer of this hack (hack being a good thing mind you) for making this available to the online community. It is a service to us all. (as opposed to the dis-service that manufacturers like IBM/Lenovo and HP do to us by forcing us to buy their shit) We…the online community…thank you!
Absolute magic, bought two very cheap Cisco 350 mini PCI cards on eBay and both now working well and accepted as standard IBM/Cisco cards on 2 Thinkpad T30s. “no-1802″ worked flawlessly and drivers downloaded easily from ibm.com.
Many thanks to the author / CD image builder!
WOW - thanks! I bought a T40 and an Intel 2200BG card, which is on the IBM ‘approved’ list, and STILL got the $%#@$%#@ 1802 error. By chance (well, Google really) found your site, made a boot CD, ran it, and am computing happily. Many many thanks!
Applied this on an r40 2681 with an Atheros 5212 card and it worked flawlessly, thanks!
Perfect!!! I have an IBM Thinkpad X31 (2672-U31) and the no-1802 method got my Intel 2915ABG miniPCI card connected in minutes! Thanks to everyone that has researched and helped solve this problem.
Hello, I own a X30 and (2672-4HA) I would like to upgrade my minPCI card to support wireless G and A if possable via the 2915abg wireless card. I noticed that Lenovo just released an upgraded BIOS Vr 1.09 (June 26, 2006) which, the only changes listed is “Support for IBM 11bg Wireless LAN Mini PCI Adapter”. Does anyone have experence with this? Will this get rid of the “NO1802″ issue? I cant find a listing on the lenovo site that ref which spicific cards are now suppored 2200bg or 2915abg, or both?
[...] Step 4: Nasty surprise from IBM with 1802 ERROR!It appears that IBM has locked the user out from being able to add their choice of miniPCI adapters. I found the solution on Command-Tab which talks about an assembler program called no-1802.com. Command-Tab even has pre-made boot images ready to go so you can make your own boot floppy or boot CD. I had to remove the Intel miniPCI card first to get the system to even come up but you should run this procedure before you attempt the upgrade to begin with. Once you boot the CD or floppy, just type no-1802 and it will modify a CMOS setting that you can’t change any other way. It’s interesting to note that no-1802.com is written in Assembler and only takes up 18 bytes of space. Once you remove the 1802 restriction on your IBM ThinkPad, you can put any miniPCI card in. The affected models are listed here. [...]
Installed a Broadcom BCM94309MP (marketed as a Dell Truemobile 1450) on my IBM Thinkpad T42p. The 1802 “error” is yet another disappointment with my beloved ThinkPads (stealing GigaBytes of my HDD so IBM doesn’t have to send out media?!?!?! Changing the form factor of the T series rather than starting a new series? And now going the way of Apple, locking me out of my computer’s PCI slot?!?!?!)
no-1802.com combined with Dell’s drivers did the trick. No more blinking LED but, 54Mbps, OSx86 compatibility, and 3x times the range I had with the Intel WM3B2100.
Too Easy! Buffalo WLI-MPCI-G54 802.11b/g mini pci card in Thinkpad T30 (2637).
..
Only thing I can add is that IBM website states to use 802.11G you have to upgrade BIOS to latest version ( & upgrade embedded controller)- that took 5 mins.
…. Also, run “no-1802″ before you install your new card. I ran it with old card still in and it worked fine. Then I removed old card and put new one in.
Has anyone placed an Intel 2915abg into an X30 and get it to work? Need to know if I should just get the 2200 or go for the 2915??
Help!!
I recently bought an Intel Pro 2915abg for my Toshiba Satllate A15-S127. I downloaded the latest driver from INTEL. the card shows “error code 10 and not able to run” at device magager. OS is XP.
Please advise.
Absolutely brilliant, Thankyou so much.
I would have been lost with this one!
IBM T30 now working a treat.
Bournemouth UK is now happy, Cheers
Thanks for sorting this out, took me longer to find this page (through my normal recursive google search technique) than actually fixing the problem using your image. The image part is really useful, took the scary factor out of reflashing the bios!
My T30 now working like a dream!
MANY thanks! Just downloaded this and installed and I could of held my breath the time it took for it to work. Thought it was too good to be true, its not, works GREAT! I’ve got a Thinkpad T30 and bought a 2200BG off ebay for $9.. 13 shipped.. works EXCELLENT!! Thanks again!!!
Hi there,
thank you very much for this elegant and easy solution.
After waiting a few years for fast internet access, my customer would have killed me for buying the “wrong” wireless adapter.
It´s kind of funny: the ThinkPad R40 has no “Centrino” label because no WLAN-Adapter installed. After inserting the Intel “Centrino”-labeled 2200BG MiniPCI-Card, it doesn´t work. I would really like to know, which MiniPCI-Card is built into centrino-laptops from IBM when the genuine Centrino-WLAN is “unauthorized”.
Well.. no-1802 worked fine, the Boot-CD is brillant. Thank you, once again!
GREEEAAAAAAT!
Been fiddeling for about 5-6 hours before I stumbled upon this site. If I can only get my ethernet to stop saying “cable not connected”, I’ll be fully satisfied with my purchase.
Once again GREEEAAAAAAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hi to everybody, I have an r-40 2681-q5u, I try to install an Intel 2200 b/g I recieve the 1802 message, I take out the card run the no-1802 program and put the card again, and I saw the 1802 again, when i see the directory of the cd only appears no-1802.img, I try with the dos version only a black screen, and the same 1802, where is the problem, really I preffer the internal cards than the pcmcia, they have more antenna then transmit and recieve better ??,
Helps are greated.
thanks.
YOU R THE MASTER!!!!!
Can’t Thankyou Enough! CD ISO Worked great on T30 with the cheap card I got for $9 (Dell)Intel 802.11 B/G
WM3A2200BG and generic intel driver found here.
http://www.intel.com/support/wireless/wlan/sb/cs-010623.htm
You are genius. Thanks for the image file (.iso). Your method is very easy.
I have IBM Thinkpad R40 2682-K2G and recently I bought expensive Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2915ABG mini PCI card and after connected to my laptop got the same error 1802 at startup…I was shocked at that time but thanks your website came on Google search and I followed your simple steps and now I’m using my SKY wireless broadband on my machine:).
Anyone has sucess in instalation on a R32? exists another way to do this?
thanks to all.
YES - ThinkPad R40 Type 2681 and Intel PRO/Wireless 3B 2100 Mini PCI card (WM3B2100NA)and XP Pro - had ERROR 1802 - ran No-1802 and loaded drivers - IT WORKS - WELL DONE!!!! and THANKS
Thank You for the help!!!!!!!!!!!!! TP40 2374-GG2 and IBM 11b/g Wireless Lan…it works now. Good not to have done a Bios Update!!!!
Thumbs up & kudos! Worked like a charm. Sincere thanks, you’ve saved me from a lot of pain and frustration.
Imaging. Takes so little time to get IBM T30 and intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG working in the wireless mode. I’m very happy ;-) thank you, thank you.
I ran it on my A31 while I’m waiting to get my Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG. After you type “no-1802″ at the dos prompt, is it successful as long as you get the “A:\” back? I don’t have the card yet, so I can’t test. I want to make sure its fine before I install the new card.
Just an update, it worked. My A31 now has the Intel 2200bg
Thanks for the utility, but doesn’t work with my R32. Any suggestions?
hello there, the programme worked surprisely, really grateful.but now the wireless is working but not the ethernet. any idea?
mine is t30
cheers…
Aeon
What a great service you’ve provided, making this CMOS patch available (and going to the trouble of making a bootable CD of it available). Many thanks from someone who’s saved many hours as a result of your work.
A31p here…used the Intel 2200 B/G card. Booted off the CD, ran the patch. Installed the card, Windows booted just fine. Installed the drivers that came with the card and was browsing away inside of a minute. Great stuff; thanks for posting a iso image!
I tried this with my T40 running UBUNTU and it worked first time though I was confused as there seems to be no BIOS command for enabling Wireless. But many thanks for the help.
YESS - Worked on an T42 model: 2373 - BX9
works like a charm.
thanks for the bootable img. Saves me a lot of time. (Less argue with the woman)
Greetings from Amsterdam, Holland, Europe.
This worked great on my daughters R40, but It does not on My R32. Has anyone found a way to disable 1802 on the R32 model???
Worked flawlessly on a T30 (2.0GHz P4/512MB RAM/20GB/etc.). Thank you for such a valuable service to help out “non power users” like myself. I’m a Mac person mainly and we don’t have to do these kinds of DOS hacks, but I was glad this one was there! Tried this with two different mini-PCI cards. Thank you thank you!
Great img. 1802 error went away, but cant seem
to find the right driver. T30,intel 2915abg mini wireless card. Anyone have any ideas.
Have you tried plugging in an ethernet cable to the built in network adapter and then running Microsoft update to check for Hardware updates?
Earlyer in this forum “peter ” mentioned a link to Intels driver page
Mayby you can find it there.
http://support.intel.com/support/wireless/wlan/pro2915abg/index.htm
Thanks, packaging of the simple tool was super and worked as advertised.
Hello I’m fighting with 1802 problem about one month already. no-1802 doesn’t work on t60. Any suggestions?
The img worked fine.
Tried all intel drivers for this card (intel 2915abg mini wireless card). All i get is
!This device cannot start (code 10)
Any other ideas on how to get this card working.
TMc
thanks no restriction more.
when i start the laptop i get a warning that i am using two ethernet adapters (01c9 more than one …)
the card i am using is gigabyte gn-wi01 ht.
is there a way to make this tool work on the more recent thinkpads, like T60,R60 etc. would it be too complicated?
works great on IBM T41. the wifi card is Broadcom DW1350 B/G The model is BCM94306MPSG. thanks
One more!
I just successfully used it on an A31p (2653-R3U) to enable an Intel a/b/g card (FRU 27K9936).
I just downloaded the no-1802.com file to my desktop in XP Pro. Thinking it was a text file, I double clicked on it. Of course, I now know it was an executable file and it ran, bringing up the DOS window within Windows for a brief moment.
It didn’t change my CMOS to exclude the 1802 error message, but now it takes my computer 90 seconds to begin to load the taskbar and desktop icons after the desktop image loads. Then it works normally. Any suggestions as to how to fix the 90 second delay? PC Doctor and a full virus scan produced nothing.
Tim
For future reference, the no-1802.com file as well as the floppy and CD images I put together are all intended to be used outside of Windows, as the low-level access necessary isn’t available within today’s multi-tasking systems.
You’re best off just downloading and burning the CD image and following the onscreen instructions instead of running the no-1802.com file yourself. The images I’ve prepared are really quite straightforward :-)
Thank you for helping others
My problem is different, I have a T30 2366 and bought the cisco card. My problem is that on my computer I have spanish language and the instructions on the lenovo site to install the driver are in english. Anyway they are very complicated for my computer knowledge. I downloaded the driver and have it on my hard disk but Its very dificult to fallow the instructions because I can’t match the names, please help
It doesn’t appear to work on an HP pavilion zt3000. I booted to the disk, and executed the program, still get the error. Tried it with and without the Intel card in there. No luck.
To my knowledge, the disks are only designed to work with ThinkPad CMOS settings. I’m not sure if other manufacturers use the same memory layout or not.
Thank you very much for this great share. But it is not useful for R32 user. Cause it is not applicable on R32’s. I have one and tried this method. I’m still getting the 1802 err message.
Incredible.
Just used this on a T30 with an Intel 2200BG Pro card. Many thanks. So simple and quick I didn’t believe it until I rebooted. Many thanks.
Thanks, best advice i’ve found and the iso worked great. YOU ROCK…….
Has anyone ever got a Intel 2915abg working in a T30?
Yes I have done the 1802 fix.
i am not able to download the cdrom iso image. it stops downloading at 84%, can someone email it to me.thanks
Thanks so much. I purchased a Broadcom card from eBay and installed it on my R40 2896-GZU. Your download worked perfectly and my internet connection is so much better and faster now than with the external Linksys card. I am so pleased wit the end result hat I am purchasing another one for my wife’s X30 although installation will not be as easy as it did not come with a built-in antenna. Again, thanks a lot.
Thank you so very much! Everything worked like a charm and took less than 5 minutes!!! Great job!
It worked great for me. I have the Thinkpad A31 (2652-Q3U). The only problem I have, which I’m still searching for a solution, is the error 10 - This device cannot start message. I tried the clean install of Windows XP Pro with no success.
I have an IBM T42 and tried installing an Intel WM3B2200BGMWXF IEEE 802.11b/g Mini PCI Wireless Network Connection card using The iso image here and resultant disk seemed to get stuck in the booting process. I waited a good 10 minutes then lost my patience. Here’s what I did to make it work though. Make sure you leave the original 802.11b card in place so that you can boot into dos with no problems.
1.Install latest BIOS file from Lenovo and execute then Get file no-1802.com from this web site or anywhere else you can find it. http://jcnp.pku.edu.cn/~shadow/1802/no-1802.com
2. Copy it to the root of your C:\ drive
3. Boot into DOS with bootable diskette , CD or flash drive. (Make sure you set the bios to boot from that device first, My T42 was already set to boot from CD)
I used the UBCD Ultimate boot CD but any bootable that can get you to a dos prompt will do.
4 Once at DOS prompt, E: or F: or whatever then type C:\ enter to switch to the root of c: where we put the no-1802 file a couple of steps back. C:\
5. At C:\ prompt type no-1802 and enter (this runs no-1802.com , very quickly I might add.
6. Now take out the old card b card and put in the new one.( Hopefully you already had a b card in there otherwise running the antenna wires is a bit of a pain.(Lenovos) website has service manual that can show you how.
7. Boot normally off of internal hard drive.
8. Windows found a new device as soon as I booted (also didn’t get the annoying 1802 error:
9. I went into control panel and did add new hardware.
Intel wireless card was in the list so I installed the drivers from the included CD.
10. Rebooted and was able to connect to my wireless network. Seems to have great range and speed.
I got the card from Newegg.com for 28.99. Newegg is awesome!
Thank you very much. You did a great job to gave us very clean instruction. My T30 work great with Intel 2200G now. Agian thank so much
Downloaded the .ISO image, started up the computer, updated the BIOS, and it worked like a charm. Thanks for this great tool!!!
Has anyone found a solution for the IBM R32 yet?
If you do please e-mail me at jlrobins@pacifier.com
I was lucky to find this site!!!Your program worked perfectly with my IBM T40 (2373-94G) and a Gigabyte GN-WI01HT (Atheros 5006XS a/b/g card) !!!!
The only thing I needed was the bootcd to run the no1802.com ….. (i didn`t have the 01c9 error fortunately!!!)
I bought the card for 23€ here in Greece , so all I can say is a big THANK YOU!!!!
I was very disappointed when I saw the message on the schreen of my T40
Did not accept my new Gigabyte GN-WI01HT as an authorized device.
So I typed the error message in google and there was the solution.
Burning the bootable dos cdrom succeeded the second time.
So Manny thanks for your work to make thinks easy for persons like me.
Fred from the Ntherlands.
IBM’s behavior is more pernicious even than you guys think. I took my wireless card from an IBM R40 that had died (card worked perfectly) and transplanted it to a newly purchased refurbished T23. Got the error message. Does IBM seriously expect us to believe that the FCC would be up in arms because a card that worked in an R40 would also work in a T23? If IBM were still in business, this would make a great class-action lawsuit. Anyway, haven’t tried the hack yet, but will as soon as I get back from the day’s grind. Thanks for the great and helpful (I hope! :-) post.
OK, they are still in business though Lenovo now sells their laptops. Unfortunately I need a “victim” to agree to be a plaintiff before a suit can be filed (as I bought mine secondhand). Any takers?
Thanks for your work on this issue. Please do you know why a non- IBM hard drive will not work on T42 even the same model # as that of IBM?
Thanks.
The trick does not work with my R32.
It worked with a X24 and a R40.
If someone found a solution for the R32,
I would be happy.
Short of some odd-ball compatibility reason, any standard laptop drive should work with the T42.
I distinctly recall installing Seagate and Hitachi drives in T42s in the past, and they worked identically to the IBM-branded Hitachi drives.
Perhaps the particular hard drive you’re attempting to use has a problem?
I have used a bootable floppy version (USB floppy drive) of no-1802 several times on T40/41/42. I just make sure there is no mini-PCI card in the slot until after it has been run. It works with every type of B and BG card I have tried. The only thing is, I have never had the little WiFi flickering light working with an “unauthorised” card. Any ideas?
Regarding a hard drive not working in a T42. I have found that on T41 and T42 it is very tricky to exactly position the hard drive. This could be due to the difference built into them to allow for the “Active Protection” system. The female socket that the HDD pins go into appears to be on some sort of flexible mounting. Try putting the HDD in without the caddy. (You will maybe need to stick a bit of tape to it to pull it back out)
Worked on a T30.
Thank you.
It worked on my t40 but i can’t get the wireless light to turn on. Any suggetions?
[...] Command-Tab Unauthorized Wireless CardsTechnology and Mac geekery. One part exuberance, two parts obsession. Of all the laptops I ve worked on, IBM ThinkPads are by far the easiest to disassemble and fix. [...]
Thanks so much for the ISO image. Worked great on my T40 2373-8cu. I was able to successfully install the Intel PRO 2200BG card (which is ironically sold by IBM with their “magical” version - which is exactly the same). Thanks again - I owe you one!
Worked a treat on my T41 after buying a so called “authorised” card from ebay. Well done!
Works great !!!!!
IBM R40
– Thanks –
hello m8s,
thanks to the anonymous programmer. The cd-iso to solve the no1802 problem on my ibm-thinkpad t40 works fine.
best regards
Joerg
I got a problem with my T-22 from ibm. Suddenly the screen is frozen. By reboot all LEDs are blincing rhythmical. Has anyone an idea what the reason is? The backup battery is ok!
I Just wanted to extend a thank you for taking the time to publish a working solution to fix this particular problem.
In my opinion, IBM’s abhorrent tactics of squeezing “yet another dollar” from the consumer under the guise of “maintaining quality by limiting use of non IBM products” is disgusting. Delighted to say that bootable CD image worked perfectly for me. I am now running on both XP and Ubuntu Linux 7.04 on my Thinkpad X31.
Just wanted to say thanks for the program.
Tried installing the Intel 2200 B/G from my Thinkpad X31 into my A31p 2653-CU5 model. Got the 1802 error. Removed the card from the A31p.
Downloaded and booted the floppy disk version on the A31p. Reinstalled the Intel 2200 B/G card. Works like a charm! (Signal kinda low, cause I’ve got no antenna installed in the screen yet, but wanted to make sure the fix worked first before I tore the display apart to do the antenna install.)
Thanks again.
Hi, those who have T40s and T42s, were you able to get your wifi led working after the upgrade? Are there any workarounds to it?
Thanks
Thank you so much for the image of the bootable CD.
I was able to replace the Cisco Aironet card in my T30 with and Intel 2200BG.
Would’ve been much harder without this!
If I can get this hack to work with my X31 and Philips wifi card, will all the Thinkpad wifi stuff work, like the Wifi LED, IBM ThinkVantage utility and wifi switch?? Thanks!
Fixed the problem in 5 mins. had tried a couple other soultuions, but could not get a boot CD to allow me to run no-1802. yours just worked. Thanks
hello ..
i have a question ..
i have a Intel 2915 mini-mci card .. but i need it in my PC Motherboard is Gigabute 7N400 Pro 2.
i Have a Adapter minipci to pci .. but when i install the driver in device manager stay yellow mark “Devuce cennot start.
so .. can i use this image to fix bios or this is only for LapTop users ..
regards
Worked like a charm on my T41p using a Dell Intel 2200 b/g wireless adapter. Many many thanks, Tony
I used a floppy with DOS 6.22 and another floppy with no-1802 on my IBM G40 and it worked. Go to the Phoenix Network.com and download a generic driver for your Atheros mini pci and that’s all there is to it. Oh, the wireless LED under the pc screen doesn’t work but…
I just want to thank you for creating the no-1802 bootable DOS CD. It worked perfectly with the Gigabyte GN-WI01HT I bought for my T40.
Now if I could only get my hands on a program that would make the LED indicators and the F5 function work, I’d be in heaven
Got it to work on a TP T40. Can use any card now. Using MSI G wireless.
You are a lifesaver(not the good-tasting candy). The file worked to perfection. It’s people like you that help the little stick to corporate america. Thanks a bunch.
Many thanks, worked like a charm on my T30 with my intel 2200bg card.
I keep trying to download the CD ISO, but I’m getting a file is invalid or corrupt message. Does anyone have any ideas on what I’m doing wrong. It looks like this process should be pretty simple.
Has anyone tried it on a T43? Any chance it will work?
worked well on my TP X40 2386 -ME DA HAPPY CAMPER NOW 8)
It worked on my TP T40. The 1802 error is gone.
However, can’t have my Wireless card working.
Device manager always is showing a yellow image for the card. What else could I check.?
(I have been to Lenovo website and downloaded the drivers but didn’t work).
Thanks.
Hello,
I have T30 as well but can’t get it to work. The laptop worked fine and just started the error out of nowhere, and it has the same mini pci card it had when I got it. Anyway, I’m pretty sure I burned the cd correctly using imgburn, yet the error still persists.
I notice some had to remove the card totally, and then use the boot disk, but I’m not tech saavy enough to dismantle/put it back together, and I wouldn’t know what it looked like anyway. Is there a way to just disable it. I went into bios and changed the boot order, tried disabling everything else as well but to no avail. What am I doing wrong?
Btw, I’m not completely sure on the specs because this is a used laptop that I won in a raffle, but it did work before and I haven’t changed anything. Any help is appreciated.
K
Bought an x31 ex-lease on eBay, didn’t come with a wireless card so I bought an Intel 2200bg and then I discovered the horror of the 1802 error. Downloaded your iso, burned the disk, booted and ran the little app. “Is that all there is to it?” I wondered. Well, yeah, that’s it. One little bit. Who knew?
BTW, it’s a 2672-C2M with 3.02 bios (fresh) and XP Pro. Life is good again.
Many thanks.
I don’t think the no-1802 patch works on NTFS formatted Thinkpad. On my X30, when trying to apply the patch, it states “no valid FAT32 file system on drive”, then asks me to type in “no 1802″. I’ve put in the new wireless card but to no avail can I get past the 1802 error message. Can anyone confirm that the “no-1802″ will work on a NTFS formatted drive?
It should not matter what filesystem the hard drive is using — the CD and floppy are self-contained images that do not tamper with your hard drive or operating system. You could run either with or without a hard drive installed. A simple reboot might solve the issue.
not sure if the ‘no 1802′ worked or not. i’d been trying to install the drivers for intel 8200 card when the card in my laptop was an 8100. had to take the laptop apart to learn this leason…
either way, this site helped!
thank you!
oops
i wanted to say 2200 and 2100 not 8200 and 8100
Burned and ran the ISO version on a T30 (2366-9FU)…popped in a Dell TrueMobile 1150 MPCI card, Windows XP installed it in 30 seconds.
Beautiful.
Now on to eBay to get a better card. Thanks to all the contributers.
Thanks for the great job, it works fine for X32, 2672-ICB, with an intel 2200BG mini pci, from a Medion laptop.But the light on the botom of the screen when switching by Fn-F5 the card ON/OFF is always off, even if the combination of the keys works, any solution for this. Thanks.
I used the floppy image to remove the 1802 code on my A31 2653-CU3 and A31p 2653-R8U to install a generic Intel 2200BG card, and it worked flawlessly and painlessly. It also worked on the A31p without a hard drive installed. Thanks!
Is there any work around for thinkpad T60?
Fighting this problem on a T60, is there anyone who knows about a solution to get rid of the 1802 message on a T60??
Please help!!!!
I have several questions.
1.) Does anyone know if the Lenovo 3000 series has this Bios Check?
2.) If so, does anyone know if the bios layout is one that is compatible with the no-1802 bios mod?
I have a couple questions. I burned the .iso file to a bootable disc and popped in in my T30 and it seemed to run, the screen ran so fast i could not read everything. And then it automatically rebooted. i popped the disc out and shut down the computer and installed the wireless card inside the cover underneath and when i booted the computer it still gave me the 1802 error. can you please help me. Is there something i have to do once i have ran the iso file?? Thank you for any assistance.
Question:
Does anyone know how to install the antenna wires to
a wireless minipc card? I found a card, ran the fix,
but could’nt find the wires to connect to it. It won’t
work without them. I get a “missing connection” error.
Im using an IBM R40e and it didn’t originally have a card in it.
Hey, thanks for the solution. I have a Thinkpad T41 and the CD ISO solution worked great. IBM should be ashamed of themselves. Thanks to guys like you, we aren’t the lemmings they want us to be. Great JOB!!
T60 Please!!!
WOW!!!! I MEAN.. WOW!!! YOU ROCK!!!! Bow down to you. You turned my frown upside down! I thought my R40 had no hope until you showed me that it can be done. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!
The iso-cd version worked fine on my X30, 2672-4BU. I was shortly in doubt, though, because I got the failure code “no valid FAT-system detected”, when I ran the program.
This was of course because I have a NTFS-formatted harddisk with XP. But the “no-1802″ program does not touch the harddisk, so the failure can be disregarded.
Another thing is that the “no-1802″ program is done so fast, that you think it has not run, but it did.
I found a wireless pci-card, pro/wireless 2915abg, and it works now.
One funny thing, though, is that the Thinkvantage Access Connection program does not work afte