Pavilion Desktop wireless upgrade?

[leok2141]

I have a 2.4/5 Ghz home network connected to the internet via our providers modem. I'm connected to my home network wirelessly via my Pavilion Desktop 550-077c internal wireless adapter. My upload speeds clocked out at about 28-30 Mbps with the internal wireless on the 2.4 Ghz band. So I connected a dual band Netgear USB adapter hoping to get much more at the 5 Ghz band. However that only bumped me up to 45-48 Mbps and it intermittantly drops the connection and I have to reset it. I'm hoping for a wireless solution that will get me to 100 Mbps or more.

My questions; 1. Is there an internal dual band adapter that I can upgrade to so I can utilize the 5 Ghz band?  2. If so, where might I be able to get one and would it be something I could do myself? I cracked the hood a didn't see any expansion slots.  3. Also just wondering if maybe there is a better solution without spending too much $$$.

Thanks in advance for any assistance you can provide.

Leo

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi, Leo:

You can upgrade the internal card (specs indicate that your PC has a Broadcom single band wifi card), if there are currently two antenna cables connected to the BCM card in there now. 

You would just remove and replace the internal BCM card with this one...The card you have now is lying flat on the motherboard and will have at least one thin antenna cable going to it.

Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 802.11 ac 2x2 WiFi + BT 4.0    HP Part # 710661-001

The card is readily available on eBay or Amazon, and doesn't cost  much at all.

Do your search by the HP part number, not by the model number of the wireless card.

If your PC only has one antenna cable, you would have to install a PCIe x1 dual band AC wireless network adapter, or a better external usb dual band AC wifi adapter.

The PCIe x1 card would go into one of the two short black PCI x 1 slots shown in the motherboard picture below.

[leok2141]

Paul,

Thanks for your quick response. So My motherboard is configured a little differently. There is no PCIe X1 connector for slot 1. But slot 2 does have a PCIe X1 connector that I could use.

Currently the wireless card appears to be in the mini card slot, in your picture, on the top edge in the front corner near the memory slots. The p/n on the card is 752597-001. It looks like it has 2 antennas connected. This computer has bluetooth also. So is this card used for both wi-fi and bluetooth or is the bluetooth located somewhere else?

So I'm guessing the HP part number you referenced, 710661-001, would go back into the mini card slot up front near the memory slots?  But is there also an option to use the PCIe_X1 slot 2 in the rear and connect external antennas if I needed better reception?

I also checked amazon for the card you suggested and it looks like a cost between $20-30.

Thanks again Paul and any response would be appreciated.

Leo

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome, Leo.

If there are two antennas going to the Broadcom card in there now, it is a direct swap for the Intel AC card I posted.

If you are getting good reception with the BCM card now, I don't see any reason why the reception would be any different with the Intel card.

If you are concerned about reception, then you may want to opt for a more expensive rig like this...

https://www.amazon.com/d/Network-Cards/HP-7265-IEEE-802-11ac-Bluetooth/B0150O7LBQ

[leok2141]

Paul,

Once again, thanks for your quick response.

After I upgraded to a Linksys AC5000 router, I don't seem to have the reception issues I once had. While I was waiting for your reply, I was also looking for a USB 3.0 upgrade. Downloading pictures and movies from my phone to pc is terribly slow using 2.0, plus streaming videos is not so good either. 

Anyway, I came across this USB 3.0 PICe card with 5 ports.

https://www.amazon.com/Inateck-Express-15-Pin-Connector-KT5001/dp/B00FPIMJEW/ref=asc_df_B00FPIMJEW/?...

Also found this USB 3.0, dual band wi-fi adapter.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01IEU7UZ0?aaxitk=zHXnsrHTqUEEf832DC4qmg

It's a little bit more expensive overall, but I was wondering if you could give me your thoughts on this solution?

Once again thanks for any input your can provide.

Leo

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi, Leo:

it looks like a decent setup to me.

I don't understand the part about the 15 pin power connector stuff, but if you can just plug that device into the PCIe x1 slot and use the 5 ports it comes with, that should work just fine.

[leok2141]

Paul,

I'm going to give USB 3.0 card and the dual band USB wireless adapter a shot and see how it works out. This particular card requires use of a power supply connection. One user commented that devices would not be recognized by the OS until he got a power cable and plugged it into the power supply.

Again, thanks for your assistance and advice Paul. I'll let you know how this turns out.

Leo

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome, Leo.

Hopefully, everything will work out just fine.