d250 3G/GPS pci-e card install.....

hi, i am Nemo and a few days ago i bought an Acer Aspire One D250. Twin n270's and 1Gb ram. Windows XP. Also has a mini pci-e full height card (i assume that full height is the roughly 25cm by 55ish cm or so, not the 25cm by 30cm). so have seen a 3g/gps Mini Pci-e card on ebay, i bought it. its an OPTION GTM378 card that has 3g support, 3.6 and 7.2 download speed, also A-GPS and S-GPS. So i thought i'd put this up hear and hear what you all think, problems and what-not.

progess:
just ordered the card today. maybe Monday, 25 of May i will get it, its from the other side of the country, (im the USA.)
i know i will need a few items, mostly antenna's, one for the Cell Frequencys and another for the GPS. figured i'll get the Cell Antenna out of an old cell phone, just to get it working. GPS will come later.
the D250 comes with a slot for a SIM card behind the battery, but the model i got has it blocked off, i figure ill just remove that and put in my own. that will require disassmeblying the D250, if any one has any pics of how to do this i would love any links, (the Aspire One D250 is 10.1 inches across)

Still need to get the drivers off the Web.

has anyone had any experince with the OPTION GTM378 or any of its family? it also has voice capibilites and i wonder if i can put a sim card in there and use it as a cell fone? maybe a prepaid SIM card? just a thought i thought i would throw out there. thanks, and i will keep you posted!
Nemo, (El Coco Loco)

 

I am also interested in finding out just how "WWAN Ready" the D250 is.

Ive also ordered one which doesn't come with 3G. I have the following questions:

Are there any antennas preinstalled?
Is there already a sim card holder in there? (just blocked off?)

Pictures would be great

 

Here's my D250 with the panels off..

http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/6572/img3572q.jpg

Looks to me like there's a socket (antenna attached?) next to the mini pci-e slot. I'm a little interested to see how easy this mod is. GPS/3G would be nice, but I don't really want it badly enough to do major mods as I already have bluetooth GPS / 3G.

 

if you mean that screw hole for keeping the mini-PCIe card attached to your netbook then no, it's not an antenna

 

Heh... Oh well... I clearly don't have much experience with laptop mods

 

jerryt just added a sim reader to my d250... look here
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=15922

the d250 does seem ALOT easier to add 3g to.

 

Hi,

has anyone had any experience with the NOVATEL Expedite EU850D.
People that has added PCI Express Mini Card Embedded Module what bios release was used?
i saw that could be some problem with the new bios "http://www.aspireoneuser.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=15922"

Regards
Bremby

 

UPDATE!!!!

Okay, i know it been a while so here se go.....
first off my card is a OPTION GTM378 E card, imei number's first four are 3523. i bought this card first for the gps, but getting that to work is harder than i though. the problem with the GPS is the firmware version and drivers, the card i got off ebay from SUNSUNSUN, (who advertised the card a GPS, even thou the with the 1.11.x firmware is impossible to get working :evil: ) you need firm ware 2.4.2 or above. i got some info on how to get it working from options web site, under the knowdge base and type in GTM 378. or go here http://www.option.com/en/support/knowledge-base/article/articleen-175/ it will give you an artical on how to enable your GPS on the card.
i found this post http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5448652&postcount=1164 that set me on the right path. i got an upgrade to firmware 2.3.3 here http://rapidshare.com/files/1299542...re_Updater_2_3_3d_17_07_2007_1015108.zip.html and aslo got a firmware upgrade to 2.5.3 here http://rapidshare.com/files/138816451/Superfire_Sony_TZ.zip.html. the only problem is the upgrade is for a sony VIAO computer and this is an acer and it will read the card, but when retriving card info it says "cannot upgrade detected device. please insert compatable device" or something like that. as best as i can tell, the 2.3.3 upgrade links from an external file, and if the file can be replace with a 2.5.3 firmware....but i dont know any of that, just a guess. so here i stand, with my 3G card using a generic (i think) 2.3.3 firmware and no GPS.
so from here on out, i am trying to get some kind of serive with at&t in 85364, USA. one of only 2 providers that use GSM in the USA. i am having a problem withe the SIM card, i have one for a cell phone from cingular, now AT&T, and have a pin out for the sim, but there are 9 contacts on the GTM378 card for a sim.......so witch 6 of the 9 do i use? i am not sure, but i am going to try the first 6 from the top and call the top one pin 1 on the sim and just go down from there. i am not going to pay 50 USD to get a sim card reader from Major League Electronics, and instead am going to cannablize a old laptop for a ribbon cable and solder that to a SIM card reader from a motorolla cell phone. if it all works, probably going to mount in where the stupid aspire logo is on the right side of the keyboard.
also having problem finding a gsm antenna, i ran across a guy's site making one for the 850/900 gsm frequency buy not the 1850/1900 frequency. i want an antenna capable of 2100 Mhz. my AA1 D250 an antenna jack attached to the AUX jack on the stock card. i disconnected it and my wireless still works. is this the stock antenna for 3G? and what frequency does 3G work off of?
thanks again, and i hope this helps some one else. i really need an upgrade to firmware 2.4.2 or above, but option does not release them to the public, only major companys. if any body has one please contact me at [email protected]
thanks again!
nemo

P.S. the origonal post for all this is from this site http://www.notebookforum.at/sony-vaio-forum/24381-vgn-tz21-wn-b-wwan-firmware-2.html but its in german, and i cant read it very good. any body read german? might have more information.

 

Has anyone gotten this to work successfully? I also have a D250, and it looks like:

1) the pci-e slot is already there -- need to buy the card -- which ones work? I have been looking at the Option GTM380 and the SIERRA MC8775 (is this what tnkgrl used?) based on what's on ebay... What US carriers do they map to?

2) you need to install a SIM card reader (see previous link):

Used a Molex part number 0475530001 sim reader.

There are seven solder pads on the motherboard, the first one is not used. it is marked "7". The Sim reader is taped in two places to prevent shorts with the motherboard. The Sim reader housing is secured by soldering using the two solder pads in the corner near the sim slot. (Only the right side motherboard solder pad securing the sim reader is visable in the picture, top right side of sim reader).

The 3G card operated fine with an external antenna, and pin 20 of the card taped. It would appear that only bios version 1.02 supported switching the 3G card on and off with the WiFi switch.

3) does the BIOS have to be modded, updated?

4) Which "cards" map to which US Carriers? T-mobile and AT&T for GSM/EDGE, and Verizon for CDMA? Which carrier in the US should I be talking to? do they sell pci-e cards themselves?

5) Which cards are known to work?

6) Has anyone in the US walked into a cell store with a modified D250 and said "I'd like to buy a SIM card and put this on your network with this data plan" successfully? (are the droids set up to do this?)

Issy