TM350 Mod for 600m/D600 - Killing Two Birds with One Stone

This mod fixes the internal bluetooth connection problem that's plaguing the 600m/D600 notebooks by moving the bluetooth module to a different location inside the notebook. Doing so also makes it possible to upgrade to the newer bluetooth card - the TM350.

Background:

The internal bluetooth module (TM300) for 600m/D600/500m/D500 notebooks is installed as follows:



There are two problems with this. First, because the card is positioned vertically and directly under the palmrest, it suffers from wear and tear caused by the user pushing down on the palmrest. The connection will eventually become intermittent or stop working entirely. This is a known design defect that will affect most users sooner or later and you can read more about it here: http://www.notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=54208

Second, with the new line of notebooks (i9300/xps2,D610, M70), Dell has introduced an upgrade to the TM300 (Bluetooth 1.2) - the TM350 (Bluetooth 2.0) - which is not compatible with our four notebooks under discussion. Other older generation notebooks with an internal bluetooth (i8600, i510m, D800), while not officially stated, are able to upgrade to the TM350 because the new card has the same form factor (size, shape, and connects the same way via a cable) as the older TM300. More on this upgrade here: http://vbdotnet.home.comcast.net/BT_2.0_experiment.htm.

The difference between the TM300 card 600m/D600 use (called Type-B card) and the TM300 card notebooks such as i8600/ixps use (called Type-A) is only in the connector. The Type-A card has a connector on the side and connects to the motherboard via a cable:



While the Type-B card has the connector at the back which connects directly to the motherboard:



The circuitry of the TM300 Type-A card and the TM300 Type-B card is exactly the same.

The Mod:


We can solve both problems mentioned above if we use the newer TM350 and move it to a different location inside the notebook. We do that by building a Type-B to Type-A adapter cable.

First, I took off the connector from the Type-B card with pliers:




Soldered the 10 very thin (~30 awg) wires to the tiny pins on the Type-B connector:



Next, I soldered the other ends of the wires to the bluetooth cable that's used to connect the Type-A card to the motherboard and applied epoxy for insulation and a strong physical connection.

Here is what the final adapter cable looks like:



Finally, I routed the adapter through the motherboard and mounted the TM350 with some double-sided sticky tape :



Installed the drivers and it's good to go:

If you're using the official Toshiba drivers this is what you should be seeing in the device manager:



If you're using the hacked WIDCOMM drivers (much better than Toshiba's) you should see this:



This isn't a simple mod, I can't really recommend it just to anyone, and you will not be able to do it with just the information presented here. If you have questions about references, parts/tools I used, specfic procedures, post here.

Mike,the trick is not to use the traditional method of feeding the solder but instead use the tinning method. I first brushed very small amount of liquid flux (rosin) to the pin (with a needle), put a tiny amount of solder on the iron and touched it to the pin for a split second. This will cause the solder to flow towards the flux and coat the pin with solder. I then tinned a short tip of the wire using the same method and finally soldered the wire to the pin by touching the tinned end of the wire to the tinned pin with the iron. I used a regular RadioShack iron with a regular tip.

To give everone an idea how small everything is here is a comparison pic:



Left: TM350 , Top: Cable for Type-A card, Right: TM300 Type-B

^ I'd be interested to know how you did it. The reason why I didn't solder directly is because I want it to be removable and, more importantly, I wanted to move the card to another location where my there was no pressure on the card.

I was under the impression that you already did this. In that case, the space under the keyboard is the only place where the card will fit comfortably. Granted, the keyboard ground above it is not according to BT specs. However, I have not noticed signal loss. I also have not noticed any temerature spikes. In fact, I'd think that the card would be cooler there as opposed to next to the hard drive.

I was going to include it initially in the write up but decided not to include such details. Here it is:

http://www.angelfire.com/jazz/mich43...od/Pinout.html

I got the mapping by tracing the circuitry at the back of the card from type A pins to the type B pins. I verified the trace by performing a continuity test.

whk that's awesome. I suggest you put some epoxy on both the connection to the motherboard and the card. You don't want to find out what happens if the wrong wires meet. And this is one of the reasons I wanted my contraption to be removable and not soldered directly to the board or the card. Once you put the epoxy on anything, it's a hell of a pain to take off and fix. In addition if dell comes up with a better bluetooth card (type A) I can easily switched mine.

yes. d600 has the same internals as 600m.

Majority of the tools I used were from radio shack. Heat gun is too big so I suggest you use a 15w iron. Use the standard 60/40 solder with rosin flux core. It took me a while to find the right wire for the job because it has to be very thin (to fit inside the laptop), flexible (so that it doesn't break) and of quality (copper). I used a 32 AWG stranded wires found in flat ethernet cable here:
http://www.cablewholesale.com/catalo...workcables.htm
Do not use the kynar 30 awg solid core wire sold in radioshack. I'll update the parts list later on.

I can make the cables in my spare time but I have to make a couple of points what's at stake here:

- You will need to give me your old TM300 (type-b) card because I need that type-b connector

- If you just want bluetooth working and want to keep your old TM300 (Bluetooth 1.1), I can solder the wires directly to the type-A pins on that card much like whk did it above to the TM350

- If you want to upgrade to the TM350 (Bluetooth 2.0), you will need to pay/buy for that card (~$13) and the small connecor cable (~$5).

- The only feasable way to route the wires is through the bottom of the motherboard, above and below the speaker. You will need to open the laptop and install it yourself.