Toshiba Satellite 1130-S155 laptop wireless issues

I installed an Intel Pro Wireless 2200 bg card and the drivers and software. It shows up on the device manager, and properties says the device is working properly with no conflicts. The switch on the side of the laptop is turned on, but the led light is not on, and the Intel wireless configuration software says the hardware switch is not on. I hooked up the antenna wires to the card when installing it with the white wire on the main, and the black on the auxiliary, but I'm wondering how to check if these wires are connected properly to the switch, or if there's another problem I'm not aware of about turning the wireless hardware on.
Also, I tried a linksys usb wireless card before installing the internal card. It worked fine when I first installed it, but if I rebooted the laptop, or shut it down, when it came back up, I had to reinstall completely to get it to work. The computer would freeze if I tried to use it without re-installing it. I used it with my Dell laptop without any problems, so it's not the card.

 

The card didn't come w/ instructions on the wiring?

Did u enable the card from the Network Connections folder? You can access that via Control Panel?

 

Yes, the wireless connection is enabled. Everything about the software works, and the wiring to the card is correct. My problem is the software is saying the hardware isn't turned on, and the switch on the laptop is set to the "on" position, but the led light doesn't come on, and although I have a wireless router with a signal that clearly shows up on my other laptop and my desktop, it's not showing up on the available wireless networks on the Toshiba with the new card.
So, I'm thinking maybe the wiring inside the laptop that goes to the switch has come loose, or the switch is broken somehow, but don't know exactly how to check that. I see instructions on how to disassemble some models of Toshiba laptops, but when I removed the keyboard, my laptop didn't look the same as the ones I've seen online and I couldn't figure how to remove the metal cover that is covering the system board, so I just put it back together.

 

hmm..ok...well u have three things u can do. The card is probably installed correctly as u say it says this device is working properly in device manager; but it might be disabled in the BIOS. You should go into the BIOS of the computer when it starts up and check to see if the BIOS detects it and that it's enabled in there.

If it's enabled in there then maybe the wiring is wrong....If it's not enabled or not showing up at all, then I suggest u go into device manager, right click the wireless card and select uninstall to uninstall it; then Restart the computer. When it starts back up the computer should detect it and reinstall the drivers etc. And make sure in the properties of the card in device manager that it is not set to turn off the device to save power.

If none of those work, the wiring may be wrong and u should go back in the laptop and check the cables, the card's termination, and all the wiring to check everything is okay. Some folks in the Toshiba section of this forum might be able to provide more help also!

Good Luck!

 

I checked the BIOS. It's lame; doesn't show any of the peripherals or much other info. So I guess going into the wiring is my other choice.
I did find out that this model of Toshiba can take twice as much RAM as it has, and so I have ordered some more. Do you think that might be why it wouldn't run the Linsys USB wireless card? It worked fine when I initially installed it until a reboot and then it would freeze on the boot-up with it installed. If I went into safe-mode and uninstalled the USB card from the device manager, then it would boot up. If I reinstalled the card after boot-up, it would work again until I shut down or restarted, then freeze up again.
It's frustrating because I really like this little Toshiba. For an older laptop, it's got a fast processor and other than the wireless issues, it works beautifully. But without the wireless, it's crap since I need it for traveling.
Anyway, thanks for your help. If I can find a disassembly tutorial on this model, I'll try checking the wiring all the way through to the switch.

 

Take a look at this solution. I tried this and it works! If you ever get this question again, you can pass this on:
This was written by Marturian on the Techspot forum.

I had the exact same problem with my intel pro 2200bg mini pci card and Toshiba Satellite 1135. I foun a solution that worked for me: (note, you may need to scroll down a bit, the workaround has to do with covering pins 11 and 13 on your m-pci card)

(oops, can i not put a link here?) Since i guess i can't place a link, i'll just write out the solution:

After completing this, the hardware (and Fn key) seem to have no effect on the state of the wireless. (the LED doesn't light up either, so don't get discouraged if you don't see a green glow) at least the card finally does, it seems to have something to do with how Toshiba uses pins 11 and 13, i wonder if there is a jumper inside the laptop that could be switched insead of covering those? Right now i'm just glad it works. Pass this on to as many people as possible, perhaps we can save a few man-hours.

Solution: Cover pins 11 and 13 on your m-pci wireless card (even pins are on the bottom side, the odd are on the top. For orientation, the "top" of the card is where you plug the two antenna in.

While facing the "top" of the card count to pin 11 and 13. (from the "cut" in the card over, don't forget to count the lone pin as well "1,2") cover both pins 11 and 13 with tape (or as suggested in the post, finger nail polish) Place card back, start laptop, and you should be able to configure it from there.

| |||||||||||||~<- (pin 11,13 bold)

hope this helps!

 

I know this post is long dead (1 year), but it just helped me, so I thought I would add my comments.

I have a Toshiba Satellite 1130 that I wanted to install a Mini PCI Wireless card. I took the card from a broken Toshiba laptop (Tecra S2).

I put the card in the MiniPCI slot, attached the black antenna to Aux, and the White antenna to primary. Restarted computer, which saw new hardware.

Searched the web using my LAN Ethernet for drivers for the Intel MiniPCI card. No problem, found them and installed them.

Next, I ran into the same problem as dustystings: Computer said everything was fine with the wireless, it is working properly, but it wouldn't find any wireless networks. Everything was running fine, device was on, laptop wireless switch was on, but no wireless light. Windows kept reporting no wireless networks to connect to (which was wrong).

Saw this post, and tried dusty's final post, using scotch tape. I put the SMALLEST SLIVER of tape over pins 11 and 13 (which are directly beside eachother) on the MiniPCI card and gently reinstalled the card into the laptop.

As soon as Windows XP started up, boom: Wireless networks detected.

It seems like these pins disable the radio by default, and when you flick the wireless switch it disables those pins. However, this laptop was not designed for wireless (but has the antennas... go figure), so there was no way to disable the pins (and therefore ENABLE the wireless radio).

Thanks Dusty, you are a lifesaver.

Scott

 

Hello,

everyone. I just wanted to thank "dustystrings" and "OneTimePost" for their solution to the Toshiba Satellite 1130-S155 wireless issue.

It is June 2012 and covering pins 11 and 13 with tape still works. Be aware, top of the card has the odd numbered pins.

Moderators, -please- do not remove that thread. It solved the issue I was working on.

Link to original message;
http://forum.notebookreview.com/net...tellite-1130-s155-laptop-wireless-issues.html

Again, thank you Dusty and OneTime. *great big hugs !*

Female Tech in KS