Pavilion P7-1417 Replacement for Ralink 3290 Wireless Card

[NWA_DMB]

I am having increasing problems with this board connecting and then dropping connections, and bluetooth has never worked well. It is original equipment so I would like to go ahead and purchase a new adapter with more modern specs.  Can someone provide me with a list of known acceptable upgrades? I looked through the forum and did not see an an answer, however, apologise if I missed it.  I have updated drivers multiple times including the latest I have found.

Any help would be appreciated.

Here is some system information:

Operating System: Windows 10 Professional (x64) Version 1703 (build 15063.296)

System Model:

Hewlett-Packard p7-1417c
System Serial Number: 3CR2390J11
Asset Tag: 3CR2390J11
Chassis Serial Number: 3CR2390J11
Enclosure Type: Desktop

Processor:

3.40 gigahertz AMD A10-5700 APU with Radeon HD Graphics
192 kilobyte primary memory cache
4096 kilobyte secondary memory cache
64-bit ready
Multi-core (2 total)
Hyper-threaded (4 total)

Circuit Board:

Board: 2AE0 1.0
Serial Number: 3CR2390J11
Bus Clock: 100 megahertz
UEFI: AMI 8.07 08/24/2012

Network Adapter Driver Info:

Ralink Technology, Corp.

PCI bus 4, device 0, function 0

Driver Provider Media Tek, Inc.

Driver Date 5/18/2015

Driver Version 5.0.57.0

Digital Signer Microsoft Windows

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

Assuming your PC has two antennas connected to the Ralink wlan card in there now...

I would go with either of these...

If you have, or plan to get an AC router, you can get this card...

Broadcom BCM4352 802.11ac 2x2 Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 4.0 combo

HP Part # 724935-001

If you want a dual band wireless N card...

Broadcom BCM943228HMB 802.11abgn 2×2 Wi-Fi Adapter, Broadcom Bluetooth 4.0 Adapter    HP Part #730668-001

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

You should be able to get either of these cards on eBay or Amazon.

There are W10 drivers available for either card.

[NWA_DMB]

Thanks for the quick reply.  I have not opened it up to check for antenna connections. This is a desktop so not sure about that. I know the laptop has those connections. Since this is the original equipment I assume (hopefully) that these will be there.  I will see about taking it apart this evening after work and checking.

Do not have an AC router at this time but may in the future. Is the Broadcom adapter backward compatable to b/g/n? I believe it is but wanted verification.

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

You're very welcome.

I know that on notebook PC's the Ralink card needs two antennas to work, so I hope that HP put two antennas in your desktop as well.

What you are going to find will be a Ralink notebook wlan card plugged into some kind of PCIe x1 adapter, which in turn is plugged into a PCIe x1 slot on the motherboard of your PC.

Take great care in following where the delicate antennas lead to.  I read all kinds of forum posts where folks ask...What are these tiny wires?  I broke one off somehow when I installed a video card, and I don't know where it went to.

The antennas will be the same as what you are used to seeing in a notebook PC.

The BCM AC card is backward compatible on the b/g/n (2.4 GHz band), but I do not know if it will connect on the 5.0 GHz a/n band.  It should connect at about 300 MBPS if it does.

The other thing you should do before installing a replacement card would be to first uninstall the Ralink card and driver in the device manager, and uninstall the Ralink bluetooth software and driver.  The bluetooth may be in the add/remove programs section in the control panel.  If it isn't then uninstall it in the device manager too. 

Shut down the PC and then install the replacement card.

I would have recommended an Intel 7260 N or AC card if your PC had Intel hardware, but since it doesn't, and an Intel wlan card won't work in a notebook PC with AMD hardware, I am reluctant to suggest that you go that route.

Please post back and let us know how the wireless card upgrade went.

Here are the links to the W10 drivers for either Broadcom card...

This package provides the Broadcom Wireless LAN drivers for supported models running a supported operating system. Broadcom Wireless LAN drivers are required to enable the integrated Broadcom Wireless LAN adapter.

VERSION: 7.35.351.0 REV: A PASS: 1    EFFECTIVE DATE: October 25, 2016

ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp78001-78500/sp78044.exe

This package contains the Broadcom Bluetooth driver for supported models that are running a supported operating system. Broadcom Bluetooth Driver is required to enable Broadcom Bluetooth devices.

12.0.1.900 Rev.A     Mar 11, 2016

http://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp74501-75000/sp74988.exe

[NWA_DMB]

When I search for this replacement it seems the ones available are made by AzureWare (see this link: http://ebay.to/2qEf9vC ). They have the HP Part Number listed as an SPS# which I believe means it is a replacement part.  You were specific in your response that I should search via the HP number so wanted to check to see if you think these are ok to order.

Thanks for your help.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Yes, that one should be fine.

[NWA_DMB]

Got it all installed and hooked up. Looks like a go! Appreciate all your help.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Anytime.

Glad to have been of assistance.