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Microsoft Windows 11

Hi, does anyone know if I can replace the wireless card in the laptop with a newer wifi6 one? If so, does it need to be a specific type? Thanks!

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

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HP Recommended

The product specs for your notebook indicate that it comes with a Realtek RTL8821CE Wi-Fi adapter.

 

Since your notebook only has one Wi-Fi antenna wire, the only Wi-Fi 6 card that I know of that might work with a single antenna wire is this one:

 

Realtek Wi-Fi 6 RTL8852BE-VS + Bluetooth 5.3   HP part # N26166-005

 

The card is out of stock from HP, and I didn't see any listed for sale on eBay UK, so I don't know where else you can find one.

 

The HP Parts Store - HP Computer Parts - HP Printer Parts - HP parts - hp batteries - SSD - printhea...

 

Maybe you can find a US eBay seller that will ship the card to the UK

 

N26166-005 for sale | eBay

 

Below is the link to the service manual where you can find the Wi-Fi card removal and replacement procedure.

 

Maintenance and Service Guide HP 15 Laptop PC

 

Here's the service teardown video:

 

Removing & replacing parts for HP 15-dy0000 Laptop PC | HP Computer Service (youtube.com)

 

View solution in original post

16 REPLIES 16
HP Recommended

The product specs for your notebook indicate that it comes with a Realtek RTL8821CE Wi-Fi adapter.

 

Since your notebook only has one Wi-Fi antenna wire, the only Wi-Fi 6 card that I know of that might work with a single antenna wire is this one:

 

Realtek Wi-Fi 6 RTL8852BE-VS + Bluetooth 5.3   HP part # N26166-005

 

The card is out of stock from HP, and I didn't see any listed for sale on eBay UK, so I don't know where else you can find one.

 

The HP Parts Store - HP Computer Parts - HP Printer Parts - HP parts - hp batteries - SSD - printhea...

 

Maybe you can find a US eBay seller that will ship the card to the UK

 

N26166-005 for sale | eBay

 

Below is the link to the service manual where you can find the Wi-Fi card removal and replacement procedure.

 

Maintenance and Service Guide HP 15 Laptop PC

 

Here's the service teardown video:

 

Removing & replacing parts for HP 15-dy0000 Laptop PC | HP Computer Service (youtube.com)

 

HP Recommended
HP Recommended

You're very welcome.

 

Yes, that's the right card.

 

I wonder why I couldn't find any on eBay, UK...

 

It was not listed as a supported card in the model series but hopefully it will work anyway.

 

Here's the link to the latest Wi-Fi and Bluetooth drivers for the Realtek AX card, and they would also work for your RTL8821CE:

 

Realtek RTL8xxx Wireless LAN Drivers 

 

https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp153001-153500/sp153227.exe 

 

Realtek RTL8xxx Series Bluetooth Driver

 

https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp151501-152000/sp151800.exe 

 

 

HP Recommended

Wow, you have been extremely helpful. I need to download those and install before I install the card correct?

HP Recommended

Yes, I would do that because I doubt that W11 has the driver for that model Wi-Fi card in its driver database files.

 

That card is a pretty new model.

 

I just found out about that card's design yesterday when another forum member showed a screenshot of that model card installed in their notebook (a newer model notebook than yours).

 

My assumption was that all Wi-Fi 6/6E cards needed to work with two antenna wires and they all had two antenna terminals.

 

Live and learn.

HP Recommended

Great! I'm surprised there is no Intel WIFI6 card that will fit in the laptop. Is my laptop that old?

 

I only ask as I use Geforce Now with it and I'm getting tired of the terrible connections that I keep experiencing and looking online, people are saying WIFI 6 has solved their issues so I'm hoping it will for me 🙂

HP Recommended

I'm thinking that if you install the driver I posted, it will help the RTL8821CE work better.

 

It installs version 2024.10.229.0    05/16/2024 and I'm willing to bet dollars to doughnuts that your notebook doesn't have that driver version installed.

 

If your notebook had come with the RTL8822CE 2 x 2 Wi-Fi adapter, I definitely would have recommended the Intel AX210 Wi-Fi 6E card, but installing a second antenna wire takes a lot of disassembly work and you would need to order the dual antenna kit listed in chapter 3 of the service manual and use the missing second antenna wire from the kit to install.

 

If you want to go through all of that work, then order this card instead:

 

Intel AX210 Wi-Fi 6E 2x2 AX + Bluetooth 5.2 M.2 2230 non-vPro   HP part # / SPS # M27269-005

HP Recommended

Sounds like too much hassle for me lol.

 

I've ordered that part so hopefully, will be a nice little boost. I'll also update my current card later.

 

Thanks for all your help!

HP Recommended

You're very welcome.

 

Looking forward to reading about the results of your notebook's wifi card upgrade project.

 

If it works for you, I will be able to recommend that card to other forum members with M.2 cards that only come with one antenna wire.

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