IBM ThinkPad 360C/CSE RS232 Wifi w/ BananaCom \ VOGONS

IBM ThinkPad 360C/CSE RS232 Wifi w/ BananaCom

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First post, by marinelayer

Posted on 2021-10-23, 00:29

marinelayer Offline

Rank Newbie

Rank: Newbie
Posts: 16
Joined: 2021-05-04, 00:52

Hi all,

I've been trying to get an RS232 Wifi module working on my two ThinkPad 360C and 360CSEs with no luck. Im using BananaCom in DOS and it refuses to detect the modem and looking for ways I can troubleshoot.

There are a few things Im thinking:

1. Is the serial port even enabled? There is no semblance of an interactive BIOS on these machines, and their reference disks do not allow for configuring COM ports, etc.
2. BananaCom seems to only allow me to look at COM1. When I use the command to change the port

1Alt+P

nothing happens, the screen just refreshes and the lower right still shows

COM1:9600

3. Ive tried changing the port speed to 1200
2. I've tried writing directly to the com ports a la

1echo ATDT>COM1

and all I get is

Write fault error writing to device COM1

I've also tried Conex. When I try to change ports away from COM1 (like 2, 3 or 4) it complains saying that they are not connected or unusable, however it does not complain with COM1. Still when I try to run any commands with Conex to configure it:

1AT+CONFIG

nothing is returned.

Any suggestions on next steps to troubleshoot would be greatly appreciated.

Reply 1 of 2, by Bondi

Posted on 2021-10-23, 06:26

Bondi Offline

Rank Oldbie

Rank: Oldbie
Posts: 777
Joined: 2019-04-01, 11:45

There is actually a kind of BIOS setup, it's Easy Setup. Keep F1 pressed and turn on power, you'll enter Easy Setup this way.
But it's very basic and does not have many options there.
More advanced setup is done via ps2.exe DOS utility. Here are two diskettes for that. You actually need only one of them, but I don't recall which one.
http://greyghost.mooo.com/pccbbs/mobiles/uttpg101.exe
http://greyghost.mooo.com/pccbbs/mobiles/uttpg201.exe
When installed, just type "ps2 ?" in the resulting "Thinkpad" folder to see the options available.

Edit. Here is the readme for the diskettes http://home.icequake.net/~nemesis/linuxlaptop … 60/uttpgx01.txt
Looks like you need the uttpg101.exe only

PCMCIA Sound Cards chart
archive.org: PCMCIA software, manuals, drivers

Reply 2 of 2, by marinelayer

Posted on 2021-10-23, 15:24

marinelayer Offline

Rank Newbie

Rank: Newbie
Posts: 16
Joined: 2021-05-04, 00:52

Bondi wrote on 2021-10-23, 06:26:
There is actually a kind of BIOS setup, it's Easy Setup. Keep F1 pressed and turn on power, you'll enter Easy Setup this way. Bu […]
Show full quote

There is actually a kind of BIOS setup, it's Easy Setup. Keep F1 pressed and turn on power, you'll enter Easy Setup this way.
But it's very basic and does not have many options there.
More advanced setup is done via ps2.exe DOS utility. Here are two diskettes for that. You actually need only one of them, but I don't recall which one.
http://greyghost.mooo.com/pccbbs/mobiles/uttpg101.exe
http://greyghost.mooo.com/pccbbs/mobiles/uttpg201.exe
When installed, just type "ps2 ?" in the resulting "Thinkpad" folder to see the options available.

Edit. Here is the readme for the diskettes http://home.icequake.net/~nemesis/linuxlaptop … 60/uttpgx01.txt
Looks like you need the uttpg101.exe only

Thanks for that. F1 doesn’t work to enter into a BIOS. The disks did work. When I type in “PS2 ? SE” it shows that the serial port is actually on.

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