5 ms·

From the link: you could replace the bluetooth/wireless card with a different one. Can you really? Many laptops have whitelists and if a device doesn't

by dmm 12y ago

From the link: you could replace the bluetooth/wireless card with a different one. Can you really? Many laptops have whitelists and if a device doesn't present the correct pci id it won't be enabled by the bios.

nikanj 12y ago
I think the Dell linux team could..
ssprang 12y ago
I replaced the one in mine with an Intel card (7260NGW) and it works fine under Linux.
- dmm 12y ago
  Thanks for the feedback. I've had problems with this in HP and Levovo laptops before.
ch4ch4 12y ago
In my experience, HP and Lenovo are usually the only ones enforcing whitelists.
- jychang 12y ago
  Does Lenovo enforce whitelists on its Thinkpad laptop line too? Or just non-Thinkpad laptops. If they have Thinkpad whitelists, do you remember if IBM did so when they owned the Thinkpad line?
  - Maakuth 12y ago
    They do, and it seems to date back to IBM days. http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Problem_with_unauthorized_MiniPCI_network_card http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Problem_with_unauthorized_Mini...
hippich 12y ago
I would be surprised to see that kind of setup from Dell. From my experience they produce work horses and don't mind people tweaking their laptops. You can disassemble, replace memory, hard drive, clean CPU/GPU fans, assemble it back, and still have valid manufacturer warranty. And yes, I personally replaced wifi and bluetooth cards on my inspiron, precision, xps15 laptops without problems before. So unless they drastically changed their vision, I would expect them to still build product which is hacker-friendly.
- thanksgiving 12y ago
  Probably not Dell (I have no idea) but Lenovo apparently has a white list for these things. I don't mean to pile on the recent carp storm that they are in... I just happen to have a idea pad y510p. (I am contemplating removing everything and installing Windows from scratch.)
  - sk5t 12y ago
    FWIW, I got nothing but grief from the Lenovo Windows 8 / 8.1 installation on my Thinkstation--Windows booting into repair mode for no apparent reason, janky addon software, etc. A clean, fresh install made it all better, although finding the right storage drivers was a chore.
    - thanksgiving 12y ago
      I'm thinking of doing the same for my y510p. Will the reset windows option keep the recovery partition so I can go back to factory state if I need to do so?
      - sk5t 12y ago
        AFAIK the recovery partition is actually somewhat difficult to destroy even during a fresh, non-OEM install (I tried and gave up) but I would never choose to recover to the Lenovo build.
        12y ago
haarts 12y ago
Yup: https://major.io/2015/02/03/linux-support-dell-xps-13-9343-2015-model/#comment-533659 https://major.io/2015/02/03/linux-support-dell-xps-13-9343-2... iFixit gave the laptop quite a good score too: https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Dell+XPS+13+Teardown/36157 https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Dell+XPS+13+Teardown/36157

by dmm 12y ago

nikanj 12y ago

I think the Dell linux team could..

ssprang 12y ago

I replaced the one in mine with an Intel card (7260NGW) and it works fine under Linux.

dmm 12y ago
Thanks for the feedback. I've had problems with this in HP and Levovo laptops before.

ch4ch4 12y ago

In my experience, HP and Lenovo are usually the only ones enforcing whitelists.

jychang 12y ago
Does Lenovo enforce whitelists on its Thinkpad laptop line too? Or just non-Thinkpad laptops. If they have Thinkpad whitelists, do you remember if IBM did so when they owned the Thinkpad line?
- Maakuth 12y ago
  They do, and it seems to date back to IBM days. http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Problem_with_unauthorized_MiniPCI_network_card http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Problem_with_unauthorized_Mini...

hippich 12y ago

I would be surprised to see that kind of setup from Dell. From my experience they produce work horses and don't mind people tweaking their laptops. You can disassemble, replace memory, hard drive, clean CPU/GPU fans, assemble it back, and still have valid manufacturer warranty. And yes, I personally replaced wifi and bluetooth cards on my inspiron, precision, xps15 laptops without problems before. So unless they drastically changed their vision, I would expect them to still build product which is hacker-friendly.

thanksgiving 12y ago
Probably not Dell (I have no idea) but Lenovo apparently has a white list for these things. I don't mean to pile on the recent carp storm that they are in... I just happen to have a idea pad y510p. (I am contemplating removing everything and installing Windows from scratch.)
- sk5t 12y ago
  FWIW, I got nothing but grief from the Lenovo Windows 8 / 8.1 installation on my Thinkstation--Windows booting into repair mode for no apparent reason, janky addon software, etc. A clean, fresh install made it all better, although finding the right storage drivers was a chore.
  - thanksgiving 12y ago
    I'm thinking of doing the same for my y510p. Will the reset windows option keep the recovery partition so I can go back to factory state if I need to do so?
    - sk5t 12y ago
      AFAIK the recovery partition is actually somewhat difficult to destroy even during a fresh, non-OEM install (I tried and gave up) but I would never choose to recover to the Lenovo build.
      - 12y ago

haarts 12y ago

Yup: https://major.io/2015/02/03/linux-support-dell-xps-13-9343-2015-model/#comment-533659 https://major.io/2015/02/03/linux-support-dell-xps-13-9343-2... iFixit gave the laptop quite a good score too: https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Dell+XPS+13+Teardown/36157 https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Dell+XPS+13+Teardown/36157