I am hoping someone can help me solve an odd if salutary mystery. My Thinkpad x120e can't connect to a network without a wireless adapter, because the wires from the computer can't connect to the the internal card--their connectors are damaged and can't clamp on.

Or so I thought. Before I got to plugging in an external wireless-N stick, I just discovered that the computer can somehow connect to my wireless network anyway, without my stick being in the USB port. That's nice, but how is it possible? The "main" and "aux" wires are both disconnected from the internal card and hanging free. Doesn't the card require them? I always assumed.

The only thing I can conclude is no, it apparently does not. But if not, what would the wires be there for? What else do they do?

This grows even stranger when I recall that I could never connect before with the wires having damaged connectors. That's why I thought I needed the external adapter.

The wires are just antenna wires. So the card is still fully functional without them, but the range will be EXTREMELY limited.

Perhaps what Timothy Miller says is correct. I myself haven't torn apart a Thinkpad system.

Another possibility is that those wires are for grounding the card. The antenna may be part of the card.

One way to know better is if the connectors on the wires, or the connections on the board are RF style connections (SMA or SMP) or screw and spade lug type connections.

Nope. The wires are the antenna like Timothy Miller says. They generally sort of feed round the display (only connected to the card though.)

If you feel a little cavalier, you could solder the cables to the card pins? Thinkpads are usually pretty easy to open up compared to other laptops... Well... OK, they were easy a few years ago when they were IBM's rather than Lenovo's.

Play Bonny!