Wireless LAN / Bluetooth Missing?

[R3SKT]

Hi, I am trying to understand whether or not my SFF desktop does actually have a wifi/bluetooth adapter installed as I believed it was to be included when I purchased the PC. I cannot seemingly identify it or even make use of it.

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi:

Go to the device manager.

If there is a Wi-Fi adapter installed, it will be listed under the Network Adapters device manager catgory.

The Wi-Fi adapter that was offered in the model series is the:

Intel Wi-Fi 6E AX211

If you do not see that model Wi-Fi adapter listed along with the Intel® I219LM ethernet adapter then your PC did not come with a combination Wi-Fi/Bluetooth adapter.

I recently bought an off-lease HP Elitedesk 800 G3 Desktop Mini PC that was supposed to come with built in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and much to my dismay, there was no combination Wi-Fi or Bluetooth adapter listed in the device manager under the Network Adapters device manager category, and no Bluetooth device manager category was showing up in the device manager.

I even checked the parts list for the product number of the PC, and it indicated that it should have come with an Intel® 8265 Wi-Fi/Bluetooth adapter.

So, I figured that someone for whatever reason, removed the Wi-Fi adapter.

I opened up the PC and there was no adapter installed but there were no antenna wires installed either.

This particular PC never had wireless installed from the factory.

I notified the seller and explained the situation--indicating that I was not blaming him because the parts list itself indicated the PC came with wireless, but I wanted to let him know to check these PC's before selling them and not trust the parts list.

The seller gave me a $21 credit for the missing hardware (which was fine with me) and I plugged in a dual band USB Wi-Fi/Bluetooth adapter.

In your situation, you will need to contact HP and see if your PC's product number includes Wi-Fi.

The parts list only makes mention of an antenna wire for yours.

HP PartSurfer

You can enter the serial number of the PC in the search box and see if it provides more info than what I was able to find just using the product number you posted.

HP PartSurfer

[R3SKT]

Superb detailed answer, thank-you. Having double-checked again there is no installed wifi/BT card to make use of (annoyingly). There is however a M.2 slot listed as being available, so I have just ordered an AX211 card from good ol' Amazon.  It might just be that I thought it came with a card when reading all the various specs whilst choosing (or I got it confused with another model). However, hopefully with a new card and the current spec of this PC (12th Gen) it will be a quick fix to resolving the issue of connectivity when the wired internet implodes and I need to use my dongle as a hotspot until normality is restored via the wired LAN.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

Are the two antenna wires there to connect the Wi-Fi card to, or did you order the AX211 desktop kit with the external antennas?

[R3SKT]

Gawd, no, I haven't opened the PC up yet to look .... does there need to be something else in the box to make this work?? Is there a need to have external antennae then??

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Yes, there needs to be two very thin and delicate antenna wires in the box to connect to the Wi-Fi card.

See the service video below.  The Wi-Fi adapter installation procedure begins at minute 15:16

Removing & Replacing Parts | HP Z2 G9 SFF Workstation Desktop PC | HP Computer Service | @HPSupport ...

[R3SKT]

Ahhh, sheesh, I need to open the PC box up to check what's "not" in there. Probably going to find there are no wires if there wasn't a wifi card included on the original build. If I use it without external antennae, will it still work, but just be weaker? The wifi access point is literally 1mtr away from the PC .

Great video though, that's a useful reference tool!

[Paul_Tikkanen]

It won't work at all.

The Wi-Fi and Bluetooth will show up but won't connect to anything because of no signal strength.

What you need, and what I can't find on Amazon.UK is this:  

This is the AX210 which should also work fine in your PC.

Amazon.com: AX210 WiFi 6E Card M.2 NGFF Mini Desktop kit Adapter Newest 6GHz BT5.2 Wireless 802.11ax...

eBay.UK has what you need.  It will take a while to come from China though.

Wi-Fi 6E AX210 Wireless Card 2400Mbps Bluetooth 5.2 Desktop Kit 802.11Ax 2. R3X6 4711110140024 | eBa...

[R3SKT]

OK, understand, I need to have some form of external pickup to allow the card to be able to receive/send any signals at all. There are dozens of cards with external aerials using the PCiE slot connection, but very few to choose from of the style to suit the m.2 socket. Many thanks for your patience and assistance in helping me to understand what I am needing to source in order to make this come together. By the sound of it, even though I have ordered the plug-in module, I may need to have to return that as it's likely I will end up buying a complete kit with antennae included.

Interestingly, I have a small HP Ultra pc which does have wifi on-board, but it definitely doesn't have any external antennae.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

That is correct.

If there are no antenna wires inside the PC to connect to the card, it will be of no use to you.

If the PC had the antenna wires, they would be internal to the PC.

You won't see anything outside of the PC any more than you do on a notebook PC.

You would not need the external 'rabbit ears' but you do if you plan on using a M.2 card in the empty M.2 slot when there are no antenna wires included from the factory.