Error 1802 unauthorized network card is plugged in power off and remove the network card

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You haven’t gotten frustrated enough with your Lenovo if you haven’t come across this weird error. So I have this Lenovo ThinkPad E49 that I bought recently.

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So I realized that I could not connect to any wireless connection. This seemed very easy for me to solve since I was familiar with all the troubleshooting steps of the Wi-Fi adaptor.

So started troubleshooting to discover the possible failures, downloaded new wireless drivers, reset the computer but all didn’t work. So I remembered about the BIOS setup. It definitely has something to do with the failure(thinking in mind as it almost the last resort ).

I jumped into my BIOS settings and landed on the network settings, just to realize that the wireless LAN radios and wireless access port were turned off. Who did this! Well, it all didn’t matter, what mattered is that I had discovered the problem and so I turned on the wireless radios, saved settings, and rebooted.

Now here is the big problem. On booting, all that the screen showed was: 1802: Unauthorized network card is plugged in – power off and remove the card. I realized I had to reverse all the settings I had made, so I rebooted in order to access the BIOS setup and reverse the settings.

As if the error alone was not enough, the BIOS setup could not load with the error displayed, and this is where the problem became bigger. So after some research, I discovered the cause and the solutions to the problem.

Even though Lenovo takes the second largest market share. This error is most common with Lenovo ThinkPad laptops.

During the booting process, the BIOS software performs the power-on self-test (POST) which checks if the hardware components of the system are working as expected. This includes checking the keyboard, RAM, Hard disk, and all the other components.

Unfortunately, The Lenovo BIOS only accepts hardware manufactured by them and so it can not boot with an unauthorized adaptor plugged in. This is accomplished by checking the network card PCI-ID with the white-list in the BIOS. Yes, even after buying your own laptop, Lenovo still governs it with their rules. Not cool.

How to fix the error

A wireless card is a small chip located on the motherboard that gives a computer wireless capabilities.

Removing the wireless card

This the safest and simplest fix for the error. You can then remove and replace the wireless card with the authorized one purchased from Lenovo or you can just remove it and use the computer without it in case you don’t want to spend extra money.

With the wireless card removed, the computer boots and works normally but without the wireless capabilities. This is better than having the error on screen all day.

How to remove the remove the wireless card

Open the back of the computer. Since various computers have different designs, I can’t be specific on the exact location of your wireless card. You can google for your specific model and get the exact location.

Locate the wireless network card and remove it. Replace it with a new one in case you’ve purchased it already. Then finally boot the computer with the error gone.

You can optionally boot normally while the unauthorized network card is plugged in but disabled through the BIOS. Turn off the using the following steps.

Since the BIOS setup can not be accessed with the error in place, you will need to first unplug the wireless card.

Boot the computer and open the BIOS setup and pressing the appropriate key, in most cases F1, F2, or Enter keys.

From the BIOS menu, click on the Config tab to open the configuration settings.

Click on Network and turn off the Wireless LAN radios.

We still need to disable the wireless port access.

Click on the Security tab from the main menu and click on I/O port access.

Disable the Wireless LAN from the list ports.

save the settings and exit.

At this point, you can plug back the wireless card and boot normally but note that this won’t make the card work, the computer will just work normally without wireless capabilities.

Using a modded BIOS to fix the error

Modding a BIOS system involves enhancing the original BIOS in order to support additional previously unsupported hardware components.
This a risky procedure and I do not recommend anyone to use it. This is because a simple mistake can make a system completely unbootable.

However, in case it’s necessary to use this procedure, a skilled person should be employed to perform the operation.

Conclusion

I hope with the above, you were able to get rid of the error.

В некоторых случаях у владельцев ноутбуков появляется необходимость заменить WI-FI адаптер.
Причинами такой замены могут быть:
-нестабильная работа адаптера;
-низкая скорость обмена;
-отсутствие диапазона 5ГГц;
-отсутствие в адаптере дополнительных функций(например WIDI);

-выход штатного адаптера из строя.
Владельцы ноутбуков приобретают новый адаптер, устанавливают его в ноутбук, включают ноутбук.
И тут их поджидает неожиданность.
Ноутбук отказывается загружаться.
На экране ноутбука появляется надпись примерно такого содержания:

«Unauthorized network card is plugged in —
Power off and remove the miniPCI network card.»
(Установлена неавторизованная сетевая карта. Выключите питание и извлеките эту сетевую карту).

Появление данного сообщения свидетельствует о том, что в биосе вашего ноутбука имеется WL(White List), Белый Список.
В WL содержатся идентификаторы WI-FI адаптеров, которые по мнению производителя ноутбука можно устанавливать в данный ноутбук.
Список таких адаптеров можно посмотреть в руководстве по обслуживанию (Hardware Maintenance Manual) вашего ноутбука.

Адаптеры указанные в этом руководстве, зачастую не удовлетворяют тем требованиям, которые предъявляют к ним владельцы ноутбуков, кроме того их трудно найти в продаже.  
Обойти проверку WL можно только путём правки биоса.

В интернете можно найти несколько форумов, на которых производят модификацию биосов с целью отключения проверки WL.

Например:

bios-mods

forums.mydigitallife.info

Процедура модификации биоса обычно состоит из следующих шагов:

-снять дамп биоса;

-разместить файл этого дампа в файлообменнике;

-зарегистрироваться на соответствующем форуме и составить запрос на модификацию биоса;

-получить модифицированный вариант биоса и прошить его в ноутбук.

Предупреждения:

-все манипуляции с биосом владелец ноутбука производит на свой страх и риск:

-категорически не рекомендуется загружать модифицированный биос от чужого ноутбука(большая вероятность получить «кирпич»)

P.S. на одном из форумов я прочёл про «трюк» позволяющий обойти проверку WL:
«Если запустить ноут с родной картой , потом перевести в режим сна заменить модуль ,на желаемый,
 то все драйвера становятся без проблем все функции работают , всё просто супер.!!
Но до первой перезагрузки!!!! После перезагрузки опять просит вынуть карту и вставить старую«.

Способ очень оригинальный. Я не советую пользоваться этим способом.

WI-FI адаптер не относится к числу устройств поддерживающих «горячую замену«(Hot Swap), поэтому есть вероятность сжечь ноутбук.

• Yes, I have run into this…. and each specific Lenovo, only supports the cards that were originally included with the Laptop (in the slot where the wifi is installed).  This means that you need to get a card that Lenovo approved for your particular model. Frustrating and ridiculous.  I am sure they did this to reduce tech support issues.

  
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• 

  I’ve also run into this when trying to use a Lenovo-sourced WWAN card in my Thinkpad X120e. If its not explicitly allowed by the BIOS it will not work. For this work machine, I was not willing to use a hacked BIOS to get the card to work.

  
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• This sounds like a good reason not to buy Lenovo!

  
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• 

  Yeah well I got this message on my personal machine…an X1 carbon from Lenovo.  Only I never replaced any hardware on the machine at all.  I ran the Lenovo system update and apparatnly it blacklisted the card that came with the machine.  Unreal.  Bricked my laptop.  

  
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• 

  Ugh! Contact them and tell them you need a fix ASAP.

  We have X1’s. I hope we arent next!

  
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