HP Pavillion 27 All in one Wifi adapter upgrade

[RyanMurray]

Hi,

I'm just looking for advice on upgrading the wifi adapter in this pc to utilise 5ghz wifi.

The device is a Pavillion 27 n103a. It currently has a Broadcom BCM43142 wifi/Bluetooth adapter installed. I am unsure if it has dual antennas installed. 

I have another Pavillion PC which is a 24. It runs a Realtek RTL8822BE wifi adapter which is 5ghz compliant.

I am wondering if I could purchase another Realtek and install that. Will it be compatible with the 27 motherboard. If not, do you have any recommendations for a suitable wifi adapter?

Many thanks,

Ryan.

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi, Ryan:

According to the parts list, it appears your AIO PC only has one antenna cable connected to the BCM wifi card.

https://partsurfer.hp.com/Search.aspx?searchText=N4Q58AA

With that being the case, your only internal dual band wifi card upgrade option would be this one...

Realtek RTL8821CE 802.11 ac 1x1 WiFi + Bluetooth 4.2 Combo Adapter (MU-MIMO supported) HP part # L17365-005.

You can find this model on eBay, or Ali Express

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=L17365-005&_sacat=0&_sop=15

The card has the same throughput as the Broadcom card on the 2.4 GHz wifi band, but on the 5.0 GHz wifi band with an AC router, it has a maximum throughput of 433 MBPS.

Your other option would be to buy a USB dual band wifi adapter, and use the Bluetooth on the Broadcom card.

Below is the link to the service manual.  There is no wifi card removal and replacement procedure, but it should help you get to where the wifi card is located.

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c04717170

[RyanMurray]

Hi,

Thanks for your response. I've ordered a 915621-001 which appears to be an HP equivalent to the L17365-005. 

Once received and installed I will update you on the outcome.

Many thanks,

Ryan.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome, Ryan.

Yes, that is the other part number HP gives to that model card.

[RyanMurray]

So, the 915620-001 wifi card arrived today. I installed it, which was a very straight forward process, and it works great. The pc now has double the download speed on the 5ghz network than it did on the 2.4ghz network. 

Very good result. Thank you for your assistance.

 

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome, and thanks for letting us know how your PCS WiFi card upgrade project went.