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802.11b/g WLAN card for Latitude LM P/166
I want to install a wireless LAN card (802.11b/g) into a Dell Latitiude LM Pentium MMX 166MHz notebook PC with 40MB RAM running Windows 98. So far it looks like I will need to upgrade the memory to 200MB in order to meet specs on the PCMCIA cards I have seen. My questions are:
1. What's the minimum memory really needed to run 802.11b or g?
2. Where can I get memory for an upgrade on this notebook?
3. Will Windows98 be able to support all of this?
4. Are there any PCMCIA cards I should stay away from?
I stumbled onto the fact that the Latitude LM p/166 will only take older PCMCIA cards; specifically of the 5V variety as opposed to the newer 3.5V type like the one you bought from Dell. The newer cards have a slightly fatter ridge which prevents them from fitting in this notebook. Tech Support and sales people are clueless, I had to hit the streets and do my own searching.
If you want wireless networking you will need to look for one of these older cards which are not available off the shelf in regular PC stores.
I lucked out and found someone with old Samsung cards that fit, but the driver is very unpredictable - sometimes it works, otherwise I have to re-boot several times and hope for the best.
Good luck!!
- I also lucked out... I think-I found a "used computer" place locally and the guy there dug into an old bin and came out with a 3COM combo card with 56K modem AND 10/100 ethernet capability- for only $15! Since I don't have a dial-up access I can't tell how functional it is, but at least the computer recognizes it and IT FITS!Oh BTW- after that 1/2 spent on the phone with Dell Support they promised to have DHL come pick up the offending PCMCIA card. Waited all the next day for a pickup before calling up both DHL and DELL and finding out that NOTHING had been scheduled! The day after that when DHL finally showed up the driver had NOT been given a pre-printed address label as I had been told he would.
GoToDehl
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Posted February 7th, 2005 20:00