HP 520 notebook PC Wifi card upgrade options

[Budhi]

My HP 520 notebook PC Wifi card is malfunction, does this laptop support Intel Wifi Link 5100 to replace existing Intel WM3945ABG MOW1 ?

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

Since your notebook has a BIOS whitelist which blocks the installation of any wifi card not listed in the HP 520 service manual, the Intel Wifi Link 5100 will not work.

It doesn't appear from looking at the service manual that your notebook supports any wireless N cards.

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c01039165

[Budhi]

Dear Paul, thank you for your reply and the manual link.

Since my notebook does not support any wireless N cards, and according to the manual it only supports two kinds:

Intel 802.11a/b/g and Broadcom 802.11b/g.

I have search Wifi Wireless Broadcom, it refers to  BCM94312MCG 802.11 b/g PCI-E,

http://www.findlaptopdriver.com/broadcom-bcm94312mcg-wireless-lan-specifications/

Does this will suitable for my laptop?

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

You're very welcome.

You are going to have to get one of the cards listed in the service manual with the HP part number on the label or it will not work.

The card link you posted wouldn't work because the HP part number from the manual is not on the card.

The only place you are going to find a card that works is on eBay, where computer recyclers strip broken notebooks for usable parts.

You have to search by the HP part number, not the model of the wifi card.

Then you are going to have to find a seller that ships to Indonesia.

This is the list of Intel cards on eBay by the part number.  Only get one where you actually see the part number on the 'Replace with HP Spare' label.  I don't trust a generic photograph.   This is the Intel card.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=407576-001&_sacat=0&_sop=15

This is the Broadcom card...

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=407107-002&_sacat=0&LH_TitleDesc=0...

If you can't buy one of these two cards, then I recommend you purchase an external USB dual band nano wifi adapter.

They make them very small nowadays.  They hardly stick out of the USB port.

Something like this...

https://www.amazon.com/Cudy-650Mbps-Wireless-Included-Compatible/dp/B07TV1BC5M/ref=sr_1_7?dchild=1&k...

[Budhi]

Dear Paul,

Thank you for the tips searching for the wifi card. I have searched and found some cards that identical with the malfunctioning one at a considerable price.

I still prefer using internal wifi rather than using USB Wifi (I have tried this like the nano one without antenna, but the signal is relatively not good enough compared with internal wifi), since the USB slot only 2 (two) I did not prefer using a USB 2.0 hub since it often unstable when I using 3-4 devices at once (1  mouse, 1 MFP printer, 1 external HDD).

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Anytime.

Glad to have been of assistance.