Is Upgrade Possible?

[heatman5]

Hello,

I bought a (new to me) HP 20-c143w. I'm amazed at how slow this PC is. I was going to give it to my nephew, but I'm afraid it's too slow. I can add another 4gb of RAM and can replace the HDD with an SSD. These two items should help but I'd like to upgrade the b,g,n wifi card to ac. Is that possible? in the past, anytime I've tried to upgrade an HP PC's mini wifi card, I was met with the error that states this card won't work in this PC. Can I upgrade this 20-c143w PC to 802.11 ac wifi? I believe it would really give this PC a boost as it will probably be used for web viewing and ms office, not gaming. Thank you.

Sincerely,

heatman5

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

There is no way we know for sure if a different wifi card will work in your PC.

It probably does not have a BIOS whitelist, but the process is trial and error.

HP does not share that info regarding which PC's have whitelists, and which do not, and the parts list only references the card you have in there now.

Normally there is no whitelist if the PC was built during or after 2013.

http://partsurfer.hp.com/Search.aspx?searchText=X6G16AA

The first thing you need to do before I can suggest a possible replacement for the Realtek wifi card in there now, would be to let me know how many antenna cables are connected to the wifi card.

The actual card shows two antenna connections, but that does not always mean there are two antenna cables connected to it.

[heatman5]

@Paul_Tikkanen,

Thank you for that fast reply, I truly appreciate it. It will take me some days to let you know about the wifi antennas as I'll not be opening the case until I have the RAM and SSD. But, I will reply. Thanks again.

Sincerely,

heatman5

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

Here is the link to the user guides section for your model PC in case you need to refer to one of the servicing guides.

https://support.hp.com/us-en/product/hp-20-c100-all-in-one-desktop-pc-series/12079715/model/13378583...

There is one for the memory and one for the hard drive.

[heatman5]

@Paul_Tikkanen,

Paul, I have an extra one of these "BCM94360HMB AW-CB160H 802.11AC 1300Mbps Wifi BT4.0 Card + 3x IPEX 4 Antennas" that I could install if not white listed. I installed one in a Samsung XE700T1A-HA01US. When I  installed and started up, I lost the Built in Bluetooth capability (which I had a feeling I would) but I was able to add an Asus version 4 USB Bluetooth Adapter, which was ok, but the Tablet only has one USB Port. A small price to pay for 1.3ghz wifi. The antenna connections are miniature and cannot use the built in antenna(s) without adapters. I knew this and purchased six antennas to go with the two wifi cards (3 antennas each). It was difficult to do in the Samsung Tablet, but shouldn't be so hard in the HP 20-c143w. This card has the Bluetooth capability, but wouldn't work in the Samsung due to Samsung not providing USB support for the mpcie socket. I wonder if it'll work in the HP. Time will tell.

I'll post when upgrades are complete. Thanks again.

Sincerely,

heatman5 

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

If this is the card you are referring to, it will not fit in the M.2 wifi socket your PC has.

It is a completely different form factor HMC, vice M.2.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1300Mbps-Azurewave-AW-CB160H-BCM94360HMB-802-11ac-Hackintosh-WiFi-Card-BT-4...

[heatman5]

@Paul_Tikkanen,

Paul, Thank you for the insight. I would rather use the M.2 form factor card, considering the issues with the mpcie cards I've installed in the past, so I thank you for cautioning me. Would you know if there are other Motherboards that would fit this model. I see HP has other Series of All in One Desktop PC's that, to my eye, look exactly like the 20-c143w, with better specs, with Core i3, i5 or i7 Processors. I've not had very exciting experiences with AMD Processor based PC's.  Any insight you could lend would be greatly appreciated. Thank you again.

P. S.- I don't have any problem purchasing and installing something like an Intel 9260 m.2 2230 wifi card, as long as you believe it's not whitelisted for this application.

Sincerely,

John Wagner

heatman5

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome, John.

Unfortunately I wouldn't have any idea if a different motherboard would work in your model.

The Intel 9260 wifi card would require two antenna cables, and I don't know how/where you would add a second one if there aren't two in there already.

There is one decent thing about the model you have, and that is the higher performing Nvidia graphics card--even coupled with the weak Pentium processor, that is a pretty decent setup.

[heatman5]

@Paul_Tikkanen,

Paul, Thank you for all of your insights. I will purchase the M.2 format wifi card (with antennas, just in case) and install an SSD and an extra 4gb of RAM. One last question, the information on this PC states that it will accept either 2,4 or 8gb modules in each slot (depending on exact model and operating system). I see where it is stated that this PC will operate with a total of 4 or 8gb of memory, but if it will accept 8gb per slot x2, I don't see an entry for 16gb total. Will this, or are you aware of the possibility of using 8gb per slot for a total of 16gb of RAM? Thank you again.

Sincerely,

John Wagner

heatman5

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Anytime, John.

Glad to have been of assistance.

I see some conflicts with the memory upgrade info specs...

https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c05300030

In one section HP says...

Two DDR3L SODIMM (204-pin) sockets

Supports 2 GB, 4 GB, and 8 GB DDR3L SODIMMs

In the bottom section HP says...

Supports up to 8 GB on 64-bit systems

Like you, I would be inclined to dismiss the Supports up to 8 GB on 64-bit systems, spec and assume if there are two memory slots each capable of taking an 8 GB memory module, the max memory would be 16 GB, not 8 GB.

But here is where it gets interesting...The Intel specs for the Pentium processor the PC has, indicate the max memory is limited to 8 GB, which agrees with the last section of HP's specs.

https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/91532/intel-pentium-processor-j3710-2m-cache-up...

The crucial website states the maximum memory for that model PC is limited to 8 GB (2 x 4 GB).

https://www.crucial.com/usa/en/compatible-upgrade-for/HP-Compaq/hp-20-c143w-all-in-one

So...based on the preponderance of the specs, 2.5 @ 8 GB against 1 @ 16 GB, I would not risk buying 2 x 8 GB of memory, and conclude that the 'Supports 2 GB, 4 GB, and 8 GB DDR3L SODIMMs' is incorrect regarding the 8 GB SODIMM support.

16 GB would be supported by one of the core processors, i3 or higher.

Paul