Updated: 31/05/2008: I read two people having the same problem in one of a local forum. Seems to be a quite common defect in manufacturing.
Most of you would get a good working product usually, that unfortunately doesn’t apply to me. My new Thinkpad X61 has been plagued with problems: Unable to create recovery disc, error in restoring to factory default setting and the recent one was a very weak signal using WAN Modem (3G, HSDPA).
After a number of calls to Starhub and Lenovo, I decided to try repair it myself using some logics. I couldn’t find similar article or fixes in the internet, I hope this would help others having the same problem in the future.
Problem
When connecting to a mobile operator / mobile broadband with access connection, you’d get failed connection often or a very weak signal 0-15% in a well covered area. One simple way is to use your mobile phone or other WAN Modem e.g. Huawei USB Sticks E170 or E220 to check on the network coverage. If you get a discrepancy that is significant enough, most likely you have a faulty WAN Adapter (Sierra MC8775 in my case).
What could have gone wrong
There are plenty of possible causes, here are some:
- Really bad network coverage in the area. Eliminate this possibilty by testing the coverage quality with other devices e.g. mobile phone, other similar laptop with WAN network adapter or broadband modem such as HuaWei or Vodafone datacards
- Faulty hardware. Eliminate this possibility by checking if SIM card can be accessed e.g. request for PIN, search for available network, attempt to connect to a network, normal status in device manager
- Faulty connection
- Faulty antennae
Resolution
- Familiarize yourself with Thinkpad removal and installation of Mini PCI cards from Lenovo/IBM website. Read more here. The movie and instructions are easy to follow.
- Open the laptop until the network card is exposed
- Look for the card with ‘Sierra’ label, in my case it is in right side. There is a red cable that connects to the left pin. Ensure that connector is securely pinned into pin from the card. You should feel a click when pushing (gently) the cable pin into mini card’s pin.
- Trace visually to see if the cables are routed correctly to right metal hinge just below the LCD.
- Inspect visually (with torch light) on the WAN Antennae that nothing is broken.
In my case, I found that the red cable pin was touching the pin from WAN Modem Mini card but was not securely clicked. I simply push the pin and ensure they are connected securely and re-assemble the covers. Voila!!!! The software now reports 50-70% of signal strength, similar with what another X61 notebook reported.
This fault must be coming from factory where the assembly workforce may be ‘forgotten’ to ensure good contacts and diagnostics didn’t cover checking of such functionality. Well, I’m glad that I can solve this on my own. It was very frustating calling Lenovo call centre. I share same sentiments from some forum threads that I read, the customer service agents are unsympathetic and makes you do unnecessary things ( I was told to re-image my laptop, reinstall drivers, run diagnostic, etc ). Even a non-technician as myself can deduce logically that this must be hardware-related issue and any software reinstallation won’t fix the issue.
Disclaimer: By opening your unit, you may void your warranty and damage your system from static charges and other possibility. Do this at your own risk and I won’t accept any liabilities of damages from your repair.
Kudos to Starhub customer care agent, she went an extra mile to help me do a few elimination although we both agreed that this is hardware issue on laptop side and not on Starhub’s networks or its network adapter. One point down for Lenovo (IBM?) customer service.
Practical Advice
- Try to do simple troubleshooting
- Eliminate potential issue by logical deduction or experiment (careful of what you’re doing, it may damage the system).
- Converse smart with the call centre agent, they need your guidance sometimes to take appropriate action.
- Google around for similar article, who knows someone has a fix for your problem.
Tags: coverage, IBM, lenovo, mini adapter, modem, sierra, signal, thinkpad, WAN, weak, x61
