Gigabit network options for older laptop

H

Hardball

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 24, 2002
Messages
175
I have an older Dell laptop (Inspiron 4150: 10+ years old) and it has an onboard 3com 10/100 ethernet adapter. I recently switched to a Doccis 3.0 modem from Comcast and the laptop doesn't seem to get along with it too well. Are there any options for me to be able to get a Gigabit ethernet adapter for this older laptop? As far as the expansion slots go, the laptop has a Cardbus controller (Texas Instruements 1420 Cardbus controller) and as far as the PC Card connectors go, it has 2(supports 2 Type I or II cards or 1 Type III card with the PCMCIA being 16 bits and the Cardbus being 32 bits).

Is there such thing as a Gigabit ethernet pc card that this laptop would support? If not, what other options are there?
 
Xircom used to make the best PCMCIA network cards.
Are you connecting directly to the modem with ethernet?
What about wireless or connecting to a router?
 
I looked a few years back, and the only Gigabit Ethernet cards for laptops that you will find are going to be expresscard. The reason being that the older add-on cards for laptops just don't have the bus speed to push gigabit ethernet.

If anything, you may wan't to look into the other factors that may be slowing it down, such as the amount of ram installed or hard drive speed.
 
Hardball said:
I have an older Dell laptop (Inspiron 4150: 10+ years old) and it has an onboard 3com 10/100 ethernet adapter. I recently switched to a Doccis 3.0 modem from Comcast and the laptop doesn't seem to get along with it too well. Are there any options for me to be able to get a Gigabit ethernet adapter for this older laptop? As far as the expansion slots go, the laptop has a Cardbus controller (Texas Instruements 1420 Cardbus controller) and as far as the PC Card connectors go, it has 2(supports 2 Type I or II cards or 1 Type III card with the PCMCIA being 16 bits and the Cardbus being 32 bits).

Is there such thing as a Gigabit ethernet pc card that this laptop would support? If not, what other options are there?
Click to expand...

If your laptop is 10+ years old, its really time to get a new one, plus going to a gig network card is not going to help, the laptop is going to be slower than the connection..
 
bloodypulp-- I am connecting directly to the modem with ethernet

j-sta-- when I attempted to connect the laptop to the new modem, nothing happened. I previously had a Motorola 5100 cable modem that I could connect to the desktop or laptop without issue. Comcast recently increased speeds in the area and the Moto 5100 was Doccis 2.0 and could not get the new speeds. I swapped that out for a Ubee DDM3513 Doccis 3.0 modem. The desktop worked fine, but when I connected the laptop to it the ethernet light went out on the modem and there was no connection. I tried resetting and power cycling the modem, but no dice. I wondered if it could be the new patch cable that came with the modem. The desktop worked fine with it but maybe not the laptop? I got a different cable yesterday and connected it and got service with the laptop, sort of.

The Ethernet light on the modem is blue when connected to the desktop, but turned green when connected to the laptop. Blue indicates 1000Mbps, green is 10/100Mbps. I get the upgraded speed with the desktop, but not with the laptop. The desktop has onboard Intel gigabit ethernet while the laptop has the onboard 3Com 10/100. I don't know why the patch cable works with the desktop and not the laptop, unless the patch is Cat6 and the laptop doesn't recognize it?? How do you tell Cat6 from Cat5e visually? It seems that gigabit ethernet is needed to accept the newer speeds from Comcast (50Mbps/10Mbps) and the laptop's 3Com 10/100 can't do it?
 
Hardball said:
How do you tell Cat6 from Cat5e visually? It seems that gigabit ethernet is needed to accept the newer speeds from Comcast (50Mbps/10Mbps) and the laptop's 3Com 10/100 can't do it?
Click to expand...

I doub't that laptop will be able to handle a 50/10 and having a cat6 or ca5 wont make a difference either.
 
Yeah, new laptop. It is possible your NIC is borked; any other adaptor including USB-Ethernet can be used to troubleshoot. As stated previously; you won't find a true GbE NIC for your laptop and could not really take advantage of it anyways.
 
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