ThinkPad 11a/b/g Wireless LAN Mini Express Adapter

This is a WiFi Adapter that is installed in a Mini-PCI Express slot

Features

Chipset: Atheros AR5006EX (As printed on card AR5BXB6) or AR5212
Integrated Mac Processor and Radio Chip: Atheros 5423
IEEE Standards: 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g
PCI ID: 168c:1014

Atheros mini-PCIe WiFi Adapter

IBM Partnumbers

IBM Option PN (US): 40Y7026

Linux WiFi driver

Use the Madwifi driver. This driver has support for Atheros rev 0x0024 support since svn revision 2360.

OR (not recommended)

get the driver from http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-52527 and use ndiswrapper

Hardware switch

Some ThinkPads have a hardware switch that must be in the on position for the radio to work, regardless of driver state:

(Note: This may not always be the case. On at least one T60, model 2007-62U with Atheros AR5212, using Ubuntu Edgy, Feisty, and Debian Testing, with the MadWifi driver, the wireless switch has no effect. Wireless operates with the switch in either position. But there's an experimental patch which adds support of the switch to ibm-acpi.)

T60 WiFi LED

Problem: The WiFi LED on the T60 isn't enabled by default on bootup.

Solution: As root edit /etc/rc.local by adding the following command at the bottom:

echo -n 1 > /proc/sys/dev/wifi0/ledpin;

Save your changes, afterwards on every boot up the WiFi LED will be enabled.

Note:This has been verified on a T60 1953-D7U running Fedora 7 Linux, however this should work on most Laptop-OS configurations.

X61 WiFi LED blink on transfer

Howto make the wifi led blink when there is network traffic. I've only tested this on an X61 with AR5212 802.11abg - AR5BXB6 on Debian/Ubuntu

sysctl -w dev.wifi0.ledpin=1
sysctl -w dev.wifi0.softled=1 //change the 1 to anything 1-9 for a more responsive blink

If you would like for this to occur on boot, add

dev.wifi0.ledpin=1
dev.wifi0.softled=1

to

/etc/sysctl.conf

ThinkPad 11a/b/g Wireless LAN Mini Express Adapter