Group: Hardware/Restrictions/Mini PCIe slot restrictions on wireless cards
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Several laptop manufacturers (including Dell, HP, IBM, Lenovo and Toshiba) restrict which internal WiFi cards can be used. The official excuse for this behavior is the regulation of the wireless spectrum by FCC and other national organizations. | Several laptop manufacturers (including Dell, HP, IBM, Lenovo and Toshiba) restrict which internal WiFi cards can be used. The official excuse for this behavior is the regulation of the wireless spectrum by FCC and other national organizations. | ||
| − | It is technically possible to do | + | == Why is it even possible to do that ? == |
| + | It is technically possible to do it because the boot software they use is nonfree, and internal WiFi cards usually have vendor and product code that enables software to identify them. The vendor and product codes are for instance used in the Linux kernel to use the right driver for the card. | ||
| − | So here, at boot, the nonfree boot software (BIOS, EFI, UEFI) checks if the WiFi card that is installed inside the laptop is in a whitelist of "authorized" cards. If | + | So here, at boot, the nonfree boot software (BIOS, EFI, UEFI) checks if the WiFi card that is installed inside the laptop is in a whitelist of "authorized" cards, which is also located in that nonfree boot software. If the card is not in the list, the boot software will simply refuse to boot and show a scary boot message. |
For instance on a Thinkpad X60 with the stock proprietary boot software it prints: | For instance on a Thinkpad X60 with the stock proprietary boot software it prints: | ||
Revision as of 20:01, 22 January 2019
Contents
Description of the issue
Several laptop manufacturers (including Dell, HP, IBM, Lenovo and Toshiba) restrict which internal WiFi cards can be used. The official excuse for this behavior is the regulation of the wireless spectrum by FCC and other national organizations.
Why is it even possible to do that ?
It is technically possible to do it because the boot software they use is nonfree, and internal WiFi cards usually have vendor and product code that enables software to identify them. The vendor and product codes are for instance used in the Linux kernel to use the right driver for the card.
So here, at boot, the nonfree boot software (BIOS, EFI, UEFI) checks if the WiFi card that is installed inside the laptop is in a whitelist of "authorized" cards, which is also located in that nonfree boot software. If the card is not in the list, the boot software will simply refuse to boot and show a scary boot message.
For instance on a Thinkpad X60 with the stock proprietary boot software it prints:
ERROR 1802: Unauthorized network card is plugged in - Power off and remove the miniPCI network card.
Some laptop will even refuse to boot if you don't have a WiFi card plugged in.
Here are some non exhaustive examples:
| Brand and Model | Software | Restriction |
|---|---|---|
| Thinkpad X60 | Stock nonfree BIOS | The boot software refuses to boot if the internal mPCIe WiFi card is not in the whitelist |
| HP Envy 15 | Stock nonfree BIOS | The boot software refuses to boot with a non-whitelisted card or if the card is removed |
Possible solutions
As the whitelist and the code that implement such behavior is in the nonfree boot software, the best solution is simply to choose a laptop with a free boot software which typically do not implement such restrictions.
Here is some more information on free boot software:
- The Libreboot project supports several laptop and desktop computers
- The article on single board computers has some information on boot software for single board computers
External links
- Description and solutions on Lenovo hardware
- What the error looks like on an HP
