A week ago my wireless network card died on my IBM Thinkpad T42. I visited the IBM shopping website to look for the Intel Pro/Wireless 2200BG and found it cost approximately $80 not including taxes and shipping. Knowing the price tag was totally unreasonable, I looked somewhere else, and I ended up getting it at Dell for half the price!
After the network card arrived, I immediately replaced the card and booted up my laptop. Next thing I know, I see an error message:
1802: Unauthorized network card is plugged in
Power off and remove the miniPCI network card.
Apparently IBM insists on only accepting “IBM brand” wireless cards through a restriction set in the BIOS. However, there is a fix available for the 1802 error: a DOS program no-1802.com, which will flip a single bit in the CMOS, allowing use of any Mini-PC wireless card.
I disabled the wireless card through the BIOS, to avoid having to physically remove it. Then follow the steps to apply the fix:
- Download no-1802.com
- Boot the laptop in DOS mode
- Run no-1802.com
Nothing happened after running the command, I rebooted the laptop and re-enable the wireless card from the BIOS. The laptop was able to boot without any issues, and I’m able to use my new wireless card successfully!
For better conveniences, I downloaded bootable CD image which allowed me to boot in DOS. A floppy disk image is also available to download as well.
For more information refer to ThinkPad 1802 Error Fix or Problem with unauthorized MiniPCI network card.
Related posts: