Dell Latitude E4200 Info

It may not show up in the bios until it's installed.


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Thanks Alex - a glimmer of hope then!

 

Oh dear.....

I installed a Sandisk mSATA ssd Ultra II 256GB in the WWAN slot but nothing - no "found new hardware", no appearance in Disk Management, nothing.

Anyone any suggestions?

 

I have done some more reading…..

mSATA SSD card slots and mPCIe card slots are the same size but are electrically different; both cards will fit in each other’s slots.

mPCIe slots are commonly used for WWAN cards. Inserting an mSATA SSD into an mPCIe slot may or may not result in the SSD being recognised – mSATA SSDs will almost certainly not work in older mPCIe. I suspect that the E4200 mPCIe slot is the older type – putting an mSATA SSD in it is a waste of time.

There are a small number of mPCIe SSDs which will work in the mPCIe slot of the E4200.

Some newer laptops have mPCIe slots which will electrically accept both types of cards but the E4200 does not.

HTH someone else.

 

mSATA SSD Up and running now!

I am on holiday in Japan. I bought a Sandisk 256GB mSATA SSD from Amazon Japan for 67.98 GBP expecting it to work in the WWAN slot. After finding that it would not work in the WWAN slot, I did some research for an mSATA to uSATA adapter and came across an adapter entitled: SOL305A-2 on yahoo.jp auction site. There are a number of proxy bid sites for non Japanese speakers and I used buyee.jp – if you want to see what I bought open the site, click the auction tab and search for SOL305A-2. Their buying fee was waived for me as a special offer so the delivered price to my Japanese hotel was 2,390 Yen – about 16.96 GBP.

Total price for both was 84.94 GBP - about 127 USD.

The adapter came with 2 screws to hold the mSATA in place. As you can see from the images on the website, the adapter does not come with a black uSATA connector but the pcb is thicker than the original Samsung SSD and fits snugly into the E4200 connector.

After installation and replacement of the E4200 cover, the top of the SSD appears to touch the inside of the cover but, after some fiddling, the cover installed correctly. I now have an mSATA SSD which powers the E4200 – see the attached image for confirmation.

Dell’s UK site quotes 222.78 GBP for an Origin 256 GB SSD which includes an mSATA SSD and adapter specially made for the E4200.

A search of the web for an Origin SSD with the same part number shows prices from around 184 GBP. Interestingly, the same model offered for sale on Amazon UK is offered in an enclosure.
A further search on Origin’s own website shows that they offer a 128 and 256GB, MLC Mini Card PCIe SATA designed for a WWAN slot.

If I had known that the mSATA would not work in the E4200’s WWAN slot I think I would have bought the 128 GB MPCIe card. On the other hand, what would I have done with an mPCIe card when the E4200 eventually goes to laptop heaven?

 

I have been in contact with Origin support and they state that their mini-PCI-e card will NOT work in the E4200 WWAN slot.