Does my g7-2340dx with Insyde F2.A bios have a wifi whitelist

[BrianTan]

I upgraded my g7-2340dx to windows 10 64-bit version 1803, and intend to upgrade the Atheros AAR9485 b/g/n wireless card to an Intel 7260 dual band wifi card. 

My current bios is Insyde F2.A (softpac SP77491) released 9/19/2016, which is supposed to be the latest according to HP Support Assistant.

I like to know if this bios has a wifi whitelist?

Thanks

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

I don't believe the g7-22xx or 23xx model series has a BIOS whitelist.

I have read posts from some forum members that installed different wifi cards in those models but I can't confirm it, or find the posts I've read previously.

HP does not release any info regarding what models do or don't have a BIOS whitelist, and the only way we find out is from feedback from other forum members that report success or failure with upgrading wifi cards on some models like yours.

The way you are going to find out for sure would be to try a different card.

What I can tell you is that the Intel 7260 probably will not work in a notebook with an AMD processor and chipset.

If you want the best chance of success upgrading to a different card, then you would want the Broadcom equivalent.

Broadcom BCM4352 802.11ac 2x2 Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 4.0 combo     HP Part #  724935-001

The card is readily available on Amazon or eBay.

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

[BrianTan]

Hi Paul

Thanks for the prompt reply.

I could not find HP part 724935-001on amazon.ca at reasonable price, I'll probably order one from ebay.ca albeit a very long shipping time from China 🙂

Best regards

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

If you decide to go forward with the upgrade, please post back and let us know if the card works in your notebook.

[BrianTan · Accepted solution]

I decided to give the Intel 7260 Dual Band a try. Ordered via Amazon Prime same-day, just received it. Installed and it works.

I am happy to report that the Pavilion G7-2340DX Insyde F2.A bios has no wifi whiltelist, and the Intel card works on AMD CPU and chipset. By the way, I upgraded CPU to A10-5750M (off eBay) and now enjoying 4 cores 4 threads.

g7-2340dx AMD with Intel wifi card upgrade

[Paul_Tikkanen]

That is great news.

Thanks for letting us know.

I do see that the Bluetooth doesn't work though.

I believe with the Broadcom card both the wifi and bluetooth would have worked.

[BrianTan]

Yes, the Bluetooth is gone. But don't miss it much  I have a nano USB Bluetooth if I really need it.

I'll try to see if I can get it back somehow...

[Paul_Tikkanen]

There was something I read somewhere, (but I can't remember where) that you have to mask a couple of pins on the wifi card to get the BT to work.

I also think it is a W10 issue.  If you were running W7 - 8.1, I believe the BT would work.

I guess with the Atheros card, you didn't have BT in the first place.

I'm just glad the wifi portion of the card worked for you.

[BrianTan]

OK. Installed Intel Driver Support Assistant, downloaded Wifi update, then Bluetooth driver. Now Bluetooth is working.

Yeah

g7-2340dx with Intel Wifi and BluetoothI can't remember if the laptop had Bluetooth with Atheros as I don't use Bluetooth much and I worked with many PCs. Too lazy to put Atheros back to check now.

Also I read the mask pin method on Amazon product reviews as I was searching for a replacement wifi card, I think it is not for this Intel 7260 though.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You don't have to reinstall the atheros card.

I know for a fact that model card is not a combination wifi/bluetooth card, and that is further supported by the product specs for your model which shows it did not come with built in bluetooth networking, or that feature would have been listed along with the 1x1 802.11b/g/n WLAN Wireless Connectivity specification.

https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c03609327/