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Safe to leave my ethernet PC card in my laptop?

S

Sniper82

Lifer
I just bought a Linksys PC Ethernet card for my laptop and was wondering should I leave the card in the laptop or take it out after used? Also is it safe to add and remove it while the laptop is on? It has WinME on it if that helps? Also how hard would it be to put Win2000Pro on it? Can the power charging,mouse and other apps be d/led?

Thanks
 
You can leave it in after you are finished using it. I wouldn't take it out while it's on even if it says you can, I feel safer by taking precautions. It's best to have it in before you plan to use it too cause it will be detected upon bootup but it shouldn't matter.

If it has a dongle, you can take that off without worry and I would make sure you put it in a safe place so that it doesn't get lost or broken (wires inside can break easily).
 
If it has a dongle, you can take that off without worry and I would make sure you put it in a safe place so that it doesn't get lost or broken (wires inside can break easily).
Click to expand...

My brother's has a dongle. He leaves the network card in all the time and removes the dongle when not in use.. but he has from time to time taken the card out and hasn't had problems wither way. This was on Win95 and then 2k.

As far as installing a new OS. Look up all the specs on your laptop first.. esp. get the info on the BIOS. here's why- My friend bought an Compaq laptop that came win 98 on it and he wanted 2k or XP. He installed only to find out that Compaq actually stored the BIOS on a hidden partition on the HDD. So wiping the HDD clean meant ditching the BIOS. And let me tell you Compaq Tech Support isn't very helpful on matters like this.

On the other hand my brother's Thinkpad reformatted and installed 2k without a 2nd thought.. just know what you're getting into first and you shouldn't have a problem

HTH
ripthesystem


 
I just leave mine in. I have one old P233 Toshiba I have had since whenever those came out and while I dont use it much anymore I have had the same 3COM 10/100 nic in there since I got it. In however many years its been since I got it (I think 3 or more) its been out for maybe a total of two weeks. Never had a prob. I do the same thing with my newer work and personal laptops. I basically only take cards out if I need to put another one in and there are already two PCMCIA cards in the laptop.
 
Yes, you can take them out if you would like but it's not needed if you will use it again soon.
It will not hurt anything, it's just like taking out a pci card and then putting it back in later.
At the very least, take the dongle off if it has one cause it can get lost or broken easily.
 
Do you take out your NIC in your desktop everytime you turn off the desktop? 😉

First laptop eh? 😛

To answer your questions:
Adding/removing the PC card while it's on is safe; use the "Safely remove hardware" utility in the taskbar.

Putting win2k on it is the same as putting it on a desktop, whether upgrading, or fresh install.

As far as drivers go, if w2k doesn't have it, your driver CD that came with the laptop should, and if not, you can definitely dnld it if you can find it.
 
Well when the laptop aint in use it stays in my case. I just figured if the card got jared around in there to much it might break the PC card input or something.

 
Originally posted by: ^Sniper^
Well when the laptop aint in use it stays in my case. I just figured if the card got jared around in there to much it might break the PC card input or something.
Click to expand...

Huh?
 
Originally posted by: ^Sniper^
might break the PC card input or something.
Click to expand...

does "PC card input" = dongle?

That's why people are recommending that you at least remove the dongle when you're not using the card. It is fragile.

 
Yup,

No need to take it out, unless you want to save some battery power on the move!

Installing W2K is no problem, just check first draiver availability for you laptop!!! Very Important!

-DaFinn
 
My old 266 took about a extra minute to boot up if I left my Xircom NIC+Modem in there so I usually just took it out just enough so it didnt make a connection when I didn't need it.
 
I am on my 4th laptop - have never removed the PCMCIA NIC or my Media Reader. When I hit the road, I simply disconnect the toss the dongle in my bag in case I need it elsewhere (like for a broadband hookup at Internet Cafe or something.)
It has no real effect and I never have to worry about reinstalling "new hardware found."
 
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