Wireless network card on a laptop

[Norcent]

I just bought an Alienware Area 51M and the battery is shot which I will replace soon. Anyway the network card kept working and then the power would just stop. Right now the network card isn't recieving any power at all. Its a Zonet cardbus card. I allready tried another cardbus card but that didn't work either. Could that be from the battery? The battery will not hold a charge at all. The new battery is $140.00 which is why I didn't buy it yet.

I think I also need a new keyboard for my laptop.

The L.?F1 and escape keys don't work. I would like to know if I need a new keyboard or not?

The escape key worked yesterday but it won't work today.

 

[murdocsvan]

sounds like a problem with NGO

 

[Norcent]

whats that?

Also every time I restart the laptop it clears the Cmos. Is that the battery's fault too?

oh and about the battery. I e-mailed alienware and they gave me a link to a battery with 4400mAH which the current battery inside of this laptop has 4000mAH so will that 4400mAH battery work fine?

I just contacted geeksquad and the person I was talking to said that if I replace the battery everything will work again. Is that person right? I don't really trust geek squad but the support is free unless you go to the store. This support is also free but it takes too long for people to respond.

 

[Ethereal_Dragon]

Did you buy this laptop used from a private party??

I would take the card out, and shine a light into the cardbus slot, and see if the pins are bent. Given the general state of affairs with the rest of the laptop, I would say you bought yourself a lemon..... Hope you at least got it cheap.

 

[CalcProgrammer1]

Clearing the CMOS indicates that the laptop's internal button battery may be dead. Most laptops have two batteries: one small button battery to keep the CMOS and clock alive all the time and the main battery to power the computer. If the CMOS battery dies, then CMOS will clear itself when it can't get power. I'd try to find a replacement CMOS battery for your laptop. They shouldn't be really expensive, but you may have to disassemble the computer to replace it. Some laptops may use standard button batteries like the CR2025 or similar, as many desktop motherboards use those batteries.

 

[Norcent]

yeah I know cmos batteries are cheap but I didn't know that laptops had cmos batteries. Anyway thank you.

Also I did purchase this cheap and used and I did look at the pins in the slot and none are bent.

The cmos reset to January 1st 1988 so does that mean that this laptop is about 20 years old?

Also does it hurt to remove the wireless card while the computer is on?

 

[murdocsvan]

yeah I know cmos batteries are cheap but I didn't know that laptops had cmos batteries. Anyway thank you.

Also I did purchase this cheap and used and I did look at the pins in the slot and none are bent.

The cmos reset to January 1st 1988 so does that mean that this laptop is about 20 years old?

Also does it hurt to remove the wireless card while the computer is on?

yes it means your alienware laptop is 20 years old LOLOL!!! it just resets to 1988 because thats the furthest anyones been back in time, hence there's no point reseting it further.

also, NGO stands for "Norcent Got Owned" because you bought a duff laptop.

ans OMG yes dont even look at it when the laptops on.

 

[Norcent]

Atleast the laptop works other then the keyboard and the battery.

I knew that the battery was shot before I bought the laptop but the keyboard just started going when I turned on the laptop.

Couldn't the cable of gotten loose for the keyboard? I opened up the laptop to look around and the hard drive is missing a screw to hold it in place.

You can tell a laptop is old when the hard drive is located under the floppy drive.

 

[murdocsvan]

did you actually do any shopping around before buying it? or did you just buy an Alienware because of the brand name?

 

[Norcent]

I bought it because of the brand name and because it was cheap.

Today I just took it appart but I couldn't get the whole thing appart.

The cpu's thermal paste was not even on the cpu.

I took some zalman thermal paste and put it on and now the cpu fans don't turn on for about 5 minutes cause the cpu is colder so they don't have to turn on right away. They keep turning on and off now cause I guess there is a setting so when the cpu gets to 49 degrees Celcius the cpu fan shuts off but when it gets above 55 degrees celsius the fan comes on again.