I broke two black wires...what do they do?

[vtccgolf]

Hello everyone,

My first time to use the support forum, and I hope someone can help me.  I have already tried using HP online chat support for this, but I don't think the person handling the call was sure what I was talking about.  Here are the details:

I have a Pavillion Elite m9250f that I have been using for a year now, and I was thinking about upgrading the RAM and the video card.  Prior to heading down to Best Buy, I thought I take a look inside the desktop unit and see what it looked like.  I also have an older HP Media Center PC m7077c, and I am used to opening up these cases.  Well, on the m9250f, you have to loose up the top cover (with the nice rubber mat on it) to get the side cover off.  I pulled off the top cover, and what I found left me asking the following:

What are these two broken black wires for?  They were attached to these two unique metal looking pieces (with the number 301000031517 on them).  One was located near the front, and one located at the back.  I followed the rest of the wires to a circuit board right above the system fan mounted on the back of the case.  Anybody know what these things are for?  I have been in many a case before, but I have never seen anything like these.  Also, I didn't notice any resistance when pulling off the top beizel, so I don't know if I broke them, or if they were already broke.  Nothing in the servicing manual mentioned any warnings about these two wires when pulling the cover.  My old m7077c didn't have anything like this on its case.

The HP chat person couldn't tell me anything other than "if the computer is working, don't worry about it."  Riiiiiigggghhhhhtttt. My system seems to run fine, the fans are both running (CPU and system), and I didn't hear of any nuclear bombs going off in the world around the time I opened the case.  I Googled the part number, and all I got was a site in Italy.  Apparently, this poor idea of a design has bit someone else in the butt, but it hasn't affected their setup. If anyone can help me out, I would appreciate it.  Being an engineer, I don't like the idea of loose wires with no idea of what they are supposed to do.

Oh, anyone know the engineer that designed this setup too?  Someone should tell him about putting a warning in the manual or on the case about the hidden wires.  Thanks!

Message Edited by vtccgolf on 02-15-2009 07:27 PM

Message Edited by vtccgolf on 02-15-2009 07:29 PM

[Viper]

They're probably for the power switch. Does it light up? Does it blink when there is hard drive activity. Does it turn yellow when in sleep mode?

To remove the side cover on your computer all you need to do is remove the two large thumb screws on the back and pull the side cover back and then away from the computer. Hope this information helps.

[Dan-o]

My guess based on what you describe in your post is that these wires are the antenna for the wireless NIC in your computer.  The wireless unit is mounted in a traditional case slot but is not connected to a slot on the motherboard in my Pavillion.  The antenna wires are routed through the case.  I can't tell you if they are supposed to be connected toegther or not.  This is just from memory when I peered into the case.

[vtccgolf]

Thanks for the replies so far.  The power switch and lights work as they should, so I didn't think they were associated with the power swtich.  I also thought I may have something to do with the wireless built in, but I was able to connect to my router wirelessly (though I didn't run it long since I used the ethernet cable mainly with the desktop.)  One of the Geek Squad guys told me it looked like some kind of ground cable, and that Italian website said something about that. 

Here is the link to that website (translated to English):

(http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=it&u=http://www.pc-facile.com/forum/viewtopic.php%3Ff...

There are a couple pictures of the parts of concern.  If anyone knows what they are, please let me know.  I could solder them back in, but I don't want to go to the trouble if these parts are not important to the desktop's operation.  They really need to put a warning in the manual about that top cover.

[Jze]

I opened the side panel and have only one attached to a board just above the fan. It could be

• Electrostatic control. Since its just above the fan
• A termocouple to control the fan speed
• Grounding for the wireless network antenna.

My other cable is detatched. No idea where it is supposed to be attatched. My tv signal suddenly breaks up all the time and I wonder if it grounds for the tv antenna as well. If any one can describe where to attatch these please let me know. I'll see if I can post a picture of the cable

[sclui56]

Those 2 wires are for the WiFi card you have in the system, these wires terminate towards the top of the case, one towards the back & 1 in front (close to the power button). Poorly designed IMHO.

P/N is 502302-001     Antenna : Planar Inverted-F (type) antenna (PIFA) - For 802.11A/B/G/N WLAN card, rather expensive for $37+ and I think that is per piece. If you really want to fix it, go buy a pair of the longest antenna wires for a laptop WiFi cardoff ebay (don't really matter as the current ones all use the same connector) and solder the terminating ends to those metal brackets and you are done, all for under$10. The reason you want the wires with the connectors attached is because those connectors are a PITA to mate to the wire.

I had the same problem except I didn't break mine, it was broken when HP refurbished the unit.

Message Edited by sclui56 on 10-30-2009 08:34 PM

[sclui56]

JZE,

If the wire has a coonector like the one shown below, it is a U.FL connector, then it nees to go to your WiFi card as the card has 2 antenna posts.

Have to be careful as these connectors are fragile.

[rtownsnd]

I'll add this:

o There should be a discussion of this in the Upgrading and Servicing Guide.  There's no mention of these wires anywhere.  HP, did you think no one would take the top off during a DIY maintenance/upgrade?

o I broke a wire AFTER reading this thread (*sigh*).  The hard part is the routing to get the wires into the case.  Since this is not documented, I'm guessing, but on the front there's a square hole in the plastic.  Go through that, and do an immediate u-turn to the back of the case over the multicard reader.  For the back wire, go down inside the side of the case (easier).  Where I went wrong is I tried to route the front wire down over things and then into the case.  Upon attempting to close the front cover, it neatly sliced the antenna wire in half.

o As mentioned previously, the wires appear to connect on the little PCB next to the case fan.  In connecting the wire, I found it easier to remove the case fan.  It still wasn't easy, as these connectors are very small.

o I'm pretty sure you can just get a USB WiFi antenna and forget about these wires.

[Big_Dave]

For what it's worth now, look over these articles.

[rtownsnd]

Huh?

» HP Pixel Policy

» HP Product Recycling