Replace Wifi Card in HP ENVY 700-215xt CTO Desktop PC

[Lionel_Dyck]

For the past 2 weeks my wifi connection has started to have issues.  The speedtest on the desktop is equal on upload speed to my laptop and ipad but the download speed is 50%.  I've confirmed I have the latest driver for the 

Ralink RT3290 802.11bgn Wifi Adapter.

At this point it would appear that replacing the card would be the quickest solution as I've not found any other options online.

Can anyone suggest a good replacement card?  

Is this thing a PCI or some other interface card?

thanks in advance

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi:

The most recent W10 driver version for the wlan card your PC has is 5.0.57.0 Rev.A.

There are some unknown elements that I can't help you with if you don't want to simply add an external dual band usb wireless network adapter.

1.  We don't know if your PC has a BIOS whitelist, and unless someone who has your exact model PC can confirm they replaced the internal wlan card with no problem, a whitelist would prevent you from installing any other wlan card but the ones supported for your PC.

2. Replacing the wlan card with a better one would require that your PC have two internal antennas connected to the present wlan card.  You would have to open the case to confirm that your PC does have two antennas present.

The wlan card in your PC is a standard Half Mini Card (HMC) that is used in notebook PC's.  The wireless card plugs into an adapter, that is plugged into one of the PCIe x1 slots.

Now, assuming the worst case scenario that your PC does have a BIOS whitelist, I looked up the parts list for your model and the best card that you can install would be:

LAN - Combo 802.11a/b/g/n (BBee)+BT4.0   HP Part # 666914-001 

That is a BCM943228HMB a/b/g/n Dual Band Bluetooth 4.0 Half Mini PCIe Card

I would check on eBay for a replacement card after you confirm that your PC has two wireless antennas connected to the Ralink card in there now.

Query by the part number because if your PC does have a BIOS whitelist, the wlan card you buy must have the HP Part number on it or it will not work. 

When I have purchased wireless cards for my HP notebooks with the whitelists, I query by the part number and check the photograph in the listing for the white 'Replace with HP Spare' sticker that shows the part number on it.

I'm leery about buying ones with stock photographs.

W10 wireless and bluetooth drivers are available for that model wlan card too.

If your PC does not have a BIOS whitelist, then you can install any model HMC wireless card you want.