====== Intro ======
Highpower atheros cards with 400mw output power are not uncommon today. Not every board is prepared for such high power cards because they need a lot of power (up to 1W over 3.3V!).

====== The problem ======
Some cards will not work properly on a WRAP from pcengines. Highpower cards (400mw) will not be detected after a cold boot on boards produced before 12/05 with 6 electrolytic capacitors (elcos). The cards only work after a 'warm boot' that means you have to boot the system and then reboot it. The simple consequence is that you can see the cards after the coldboot with lspci but you can't use them. 
To know what board you got look near the CF socket (I only know it for wrap2*) and look for a number 0443 or 0542. The first two numbers stand for the year when they were produced. On November/December 2005 there was the new 8 elco version released so I call this 'after and before 12/05'. This problem belongs to all wrap boards.  

====== Solution ====== 
===== Old boards produced before 12/05 =====
If your 'elcos' are coloured black, be happy you can still can use two high power cards in your "old board" and fix the cold boot problem with a bios update. When your elcos are coloured brown it's not a good idea to put 400mw cards in your board because these elcos are really crappy, the bios update will also work but the elcos are really not made for those cards. 

===== New boards produced after 12/05 =====
If you got a new wrap board with 8 elcos you dont have to worry about anything. These boards got some tweaking for high power cards so you can use two 400mw wifi monsters on one board.

====== Files ======
  * [[http://meshnode.org/downloads/misc/wbios111.zip|wbios111.zip]] - Please see that README file for upgrade instructions[[BR]]
  * [[http://meshnode.org/downloads/misc/ecn013.pdf|ecn013.pdf]] - Pcengines public information about the changes of the new boards

====== Pictures ======
===== Missing elcos on old board =====
{{old-elcos.jpg}}
===== Old wrap2c board =====
{{old-wrap3.jpg}}
===== New wrap2c board =====
{{new-wrap2.jpg}}

Regards Steffen,
www.meshnode.org