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Home / Other I-Appliances / Virgin Webplayer mini-pci ethernet how to add ethernet connectors

mini-pci ethernet (modified 0 times) electronlovesproton Profile I had purchased an IBM 10/100 + 56K modem mini-pci lan card fro ~$50. It didn't come with either connections for the ethernet or modem but what all of these mini-pci card do have are molex 2 pin/14 pin panelmate connectors which you can rig up an ethernet connection to. The parts that I used to do this are, grati sof molex (samples): The card connectors are: PanelMate™ 1.25mm (.049") Pitch Ultra Low-Profile, parts # 51146-1400 and # 51146-0200. These connect to the connectors on the card, equivalent part numbers are: PanelMate™ 1.25mm (.049") Pitch Ultra Low-Profile 1.25mm (.049") PanelMate™ Header - Right Angle, SMT Ultra Low Profile, parts # 55063 -1490 and # 55063 -0290 The crimp pins are: PanelMate™ Crimp Terminal 50641, 28-30 AWG, Reel Gold (Au) I connected 4 pair-twisted pair cable to the pins (tinning the wire ends first and then crimped by hand the pins. As for the other end, I didn't want to make a circuit board similar to the modem connector so I instead used a Category 5 Keystone Jackspart # DC-VC5-8-IV-R, you can get them in black which will match better with the side panel of the webplayer, that part number is DC-VC5-8-BK-R. I cut a hole in the side of the webplayer to mount the jack and soldered and crimped everyhing up. For the modem, I pulled out the serial modem and made a cable (just like the ethernet connector) that solderes onto the rj-11 board. THe pin outs on the mini-pci card are reversed 1-LED SEND 2-LED SEND GROUND 3-GROUND 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 - 4 pair for cat 5. 12-BLANK 13-LED LINK GROUND 14-LED LINK 04-13-2002 09:21:38

RE:mini-pci ethernet (modified 0 times) Flatlander Profile Great work!! I've been wondering how I was going to make the card I have work with my Webplayer. Is your unit similar to this item for sale on eBay (which is essentially the same item I have)? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2016700585 If it is, I have a question. How did you do your termination of pins 4-11 on the Cat5 connector? Did pins 4-11 on the card connect to pins 1-8 on the Cat5 connector in sequence (4 to 1, 5 to 2, etc)? or was it different? Also if you have any pics of your mod that you could post or email that would be great too. Thanks again for the great work!!! 04-16-2002 22:54:41

RE:mini-pci ethernet (modified 0 times) jpe_dty Profile Yes, please post how you have the 1-8 twisted pairs connected. There are a lot of us that would like to make use of these boards. 04-18-2002 15:02:00

RE:mini-pci ethernet (modified 0 times) electronlovesproton Profile Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of the mod. I have a diagram which I guess will be helpfull. To connect the cat 5 cable, I stip about 1 mm off the end and tin it with a pen solder gun (cordless works great!). I then crimp by hand the crimp pins onto the ends of the individual wires. The other end of the Cat5 goes to the keystone jack which has crimps on it. The plastic of the jack is cut down so it will fit inside. I carefully cut a hole in the side panel *the grey panel that comes off. I also had to trim plastic on the top and bottom of the case as well as some metal shielding. http://www.geocities.com/snailmail_1999/minipci2.html 04-19-2002 08:58:13

RE:mini-pci ethernet (modified 0 times) jpe_dty Profile Thanks! 04-19-2002 18:31:50

RE:mini-pci ethernet (modified 0 times) MrInquisition Profile Could you go over that again? One post states that the card connectors (part numbers) connect to the connectors on the card (other part numbers). That confuses the heck out of me. How can the connectors on the card connect to the connectors on the card? Could you break it down into "parts to order" and "parts on card". I know it's almost like that now, but the title of the sections are fuzzy. And I am assuming that you ordered these from molex.com? If not, could you let us know where you got the parts from. Any information would be great as I want to hack this puppy. MrInquisition 04-26-2002 16:39:58

RE:mini-pci ethernet (modified 0 times) Flatlander Profile electronlovesproton: I just finished connecting up my mini-pci ethernet card and LEDs and it works great! Thank you so much for all of your work. The hardest part was crimping all those tiny pins and getting them into the connector without shorting out. By the way, I cut a hole in the back panel and mounted a pc-board-mounted CAT5 connector to the aluminum back panel. I wanted to keep all of my cable connections on the rear of the unit. I extended the LEDs to the front and mounted them behind the translucent red plastic. Didn't drill any holes and the LEDs are still very visible through the plastic. I'm not sure if I'll still like that down the road, but so far it's just fine. Anyway, thanks again for the info!! 04-30-2002 07:11:26

RE:mini-pci ethernet (modified 0 times) TheBigDog Profile Flatlander Congrat!!! I am still waiting for the samples from molex. They are sending me like 5 male LAN adapter and a bunch of crimp. :) One question is though, when you hook up LED to the LINK or Traffic pin, do u put any resister in series w/ it? I guess I just want wanna burn the stock LEDs. :) Thanks in advance. 04-30-2002 08:42:59

RE:mini-pci ethernet (modified 0 times) Flatlander Profile TheBigDog: No resistor is required. I did however go to Radio Shack and pick up a couple of LEDs to try it out on first just in case. I figured it was worth $1.99 or whatever it was I paid. Anyway, didn't blow up any LEDs and all is working fine. If memory serves me correctly, I may have had to change polarity on one of the LEDs though. Can't remember exactly. It was several weeks ago and my machine is all buttoned-up now. Anyway, good luck!! 05-27-2002 21:48:20

RE:mini-pci ethernet (modified 0 times) andyl8u Profile I'm new to this webplayer and I just bought one on ubid. I was wondering if I could hook up the Instant Wireless USB Network Adapter by Linksys. 05-31-2002 16:48:50

RE:mini-pci ethernet (modified 0 times) boosted Profile | Email ok, I just got the samples from Molex, here is where I'm at right now. Molex shipped me the connectors, but I don't have my IBM mini pci nic yet, so I don't know if these will fit. But unlike the picture shown on their page, it only has 2 leads on each of the connectors. (pictures showed 4) electronlovesproton, or anyone that has experience in this, perhaps MrInquisition? were your connectors exactly as shown on the page? (4 leads instead of 2) Also, rj45 have 8 wires, the connector has only 4.... how would that work? (A friend did tell me once that I only need the middle 4 wires of the rj45 for ethernet to work... but I can't confirm this.) It looks like I have to make another sample request from molex, these are probably not the right connectors. (even if they are, I only requested 3 pins, I thought they would be 3 strips of pins, but that wasn't the case) -boosted 07-08-2002 16:08:10

RE:mini-pci ethernet (modified 0 times) boosted Profile | Email ok, I just answered my own questions. When I did the search, both part numbers (for 2 pin and 14 pins) showed up with the same page. I thought they are the same part. But I just found out it was a generic picture, I have to order them both, one for rj45 one for rj11. I did tried to order them both, but the 14pin version were out of stock, and still are. Anyone have any suggestions as to any other substitute parts? (for cheap, the $100 connector discussed in another thread would be a bad idea) -boosted (ethernet-less at the moment) 07-08-2002 16:38:20

RE:mini-pci ethernet (modified 0 times) MrInquisition Profile Yes, you need the 14 pin and 2 pin connectors to fit correctly. Somewhere else on this board is a link to an HP part which is the entire cable assembly (RJ11 and RJ45 jacks, wires, LEDs on the RJ45). The cable costs $24.00 and shipping will put it just below $40. It might seem like a lot but it might be easier than making one. I ordered mine just because it will look much nicer after I get it installed (I'm almost finished). If you do still go the cheaper route through Molex, don't believe their "out of stock" claim. They say it will take a month to get the parts in but when I ordered mine, it only took an extra week. I think they just put that month there as the latest it would be delivered. As for the difference in quality of the two, obviously the HP one is better and has the built in LEDs. My self built one still works. I can't tell any difference in speed mostly because the webplayer is too damn slow to notice any difference anyway. Hopefully I will have some pics posted over on Hard Forum within the next couple of days. I finally got my paint and have covered a logo here and there so I should have a nice custom unit in a few days. MrInquisition 07-08-2002 16:54:43

RE:mini-pci ethernet (modified 0 times) boosted Profile | Email thanks for the quick reply MrInquisition. I made another sample request to molex before reading your reply. So I clicked on "accept substitute." After reading the reply. I made yet another sample request, this time, I checked "confirm line item." When requested my first sample, I got a order number, but I didn't get any order number the last 2 times I did. Werid. Maybe on subsequence orders for the same address they do not ship it automatically. (the page after ordering said molex csr will give me a call. I'll give molex a little more time, then maybe I'll get the hp cables. This is supposed to be a cheap mod, but it's getting more and more expensive by the minute. lol. oh btw, anyone know what's the maximum HD size they can take? I ordred a 20gb, then realized that the webplayer might not be able to recognize all of it. Maybe some overlay software will work. -boosted. 07-08-2002 17:20:21

RE:mini-pci ethernet (modified 0 times) boosted Profile | Email MrInquisition, What nick do you post under over at hardforum? I would love to see what you've done to your webplayer. :) -boosted 07-08-2002 18:04:14

RE:mini-pci ethernet (modified 0 times) MrInquisition Profile Boosted: Same nickname. Not much there yet, just a pic of the network card and my molex made adapter. I just got my paint today right before I came into work so I still need to do a bit o work when I get home. Hopefully I can reassemble the webplayer in the morning and get some pics. Oh yea, my idea for a case window is on Hard Forum. I know right now I will probably not have the patience to try it, but it would look awesome. MrInquisition 07-08-2002 18:27:05

RE:mini-pci ethernet (modified 0 times) MrInquisition Profile P.S. My pics are on page 28 about half way down. MrInquisition 07-08-2002 18:36:24

RE:mini-pci ethernet (modified 0 times) boosted Profile | Email Which forums is it under? I looked in cool cases, and it only has 13 pages, so is the case gallery thread. I did a search for your nick, and it showed no result. weird. Hardforums have had problems with the search function for a while though. now if all the parts I've ordered would show up alrady. -boosted 07-08-2002 22:55:03

RE:mini-pci ethernet (modified 1 times) MrInquisition Profile It's in the Cool Cases / Busted Cherry section. Clicky: http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?=&threadid=423068&perpage=15&pagenumber=1 MrInquisition 07-09-2002 12:11:16

RE:mini-pci ethernet (modified 1 times) boosted Profile | Email just the pics that I needed. :) The ups guy just handed me my mini pci nic. And realized that I only need the connector for the crimp to fit into. I didn't need the pcb mounted connector. Hope they get here soon. I noticed you have a film or sticker of sort wrapping the card, is that necessary? I just spent the last 15 min removing the sticker and the glue that it left on my card. Maybe I need to put it back on for insulation. lol -boosted 07-09-2002 19:16:40

RE:mini-pci ethernet (modified 0 times) boosted Profile | Email I just tried to install the software found on ibm's site for the mini-pci ethernet adapter. http://www.pc.ibm.com/qtechinfo/MIGR-4VBJQF.html?lang=en_US&page=brand&brand=IBM+PC&family=&machineType=&doctype=&subtype=All The modem installed just fine, but the ethernet part just won't install. Windows98 (non-SE, I couldn't get a SE version at the moment) keeps telling me this device is not insalled properly. Has anyone had the same problem? Perhaps tried different drivers? -boosted 07-17-2002 22:53:44

RE:mini-pci ethernet (modified 0 times) jpe_dty Profile It is possible you are seeing the problem I have had with these cards on just one of my webplayers: the card is not properly reset on a reboot and is disabled. If you completely power off, though, the card will work. 07-18-2002 06:35:55

RE:mini-pci ethernet (modified 0 times) boosted Profile | Email Holy Virgin Webplayer, that worked!!! Thanks jed_dty!!!! You saved me a lot of hair lol. Now if molex would hurry up with those connectors.... Promise date is showing 7/30.... -_- -boosted 07-18-2002 12:05:19

RE:mini-pci ethernet (modified 0 times) boosted Profile | Email it seem everytime I restart, the ethernet would fail. I have to power it down and power it back up to get it running. minor annoyance, but does anyone have a fix for this? I installed the APM patch to make the backlight come back on when waking up from suspend if that matters. -boosted 07-18-2002 17:39:23

RE:mini-pci ethernet (modified 0 times) jpe_dty Profile I have been looking at the problem with the intel network card not working after a reboot/restart. This does not happen with the original boundless webplayer net card. A newer card with exactly the same chip (but a 1999 date instead of a 1997 date) will fail to work after a reboot - Under Windows 98SE. The same card works just fine after a reboot under both FreeBSD and the Microsoft DOS TCP stack. I have tried three different drivers under windows98SE (including forcing the same driver that works with the early version of the chip) and all fail in the same way after a reboot with the newer chip. Curiously the oldest driver is the only one that will shut off the nic power in suspend mode with wakeonlan turned off. I am out of ideas on this one... 07-20-2002 19:05:48

RE:mini-pci ethernet (modified 0 times) boosted Profile | Email thanks for the reply jpe_dty. It looks like a power button mod is necessary. Unless I can find a 97 card. -boosted 07-20-2002 23:46:35

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