Upgrading an HP ProBook 6570b

[NonSequitur777]

Esteemed HP Community,

I have upgraded a number of legacy HP laptops over the years such as an HP ProBook 6560b but haven't posted it in our forum.

The aforementioned HP ProBook 6560b -running on Windows 7 Ultimate, no longer met my needs.  My attempt to upgrade to Windows 10 (let alone W11) did not work well at all despite time and resources I threw at it.

I liked the rugged construction of the 6560b and looked for the next generation ProBook -in part as a proof-of-concept legacy upgrade project running at Windows 11 Pro.

Hence the HP ProBook 6570b released in 2012.  These laptops are available via eBay sellers for next to nothing.   This laptop is highly regarded by tech enthusiasts, budget-conscious users, and retro-tech hobbyists.  That would include yours truly.

Here are the primary reasons why enthusiasts such as me continue to choose this specific laptop model:

1.) Exceptional Serviceability and Upgrades:

• Tool-less Access: A single latch on the bottom pops the entire rear cover off without requiring a screwdriver.
• Easy Upgrades: Users can swap the RAM, storage drive, and Wi-Fi card in under two minutes. More about upgrading the stock Wi-Fi card in a minute.
• Socketed CPU: Unlike modern laptops with soldered components, the processor (Intel 3rd-Gen Core i3/i5/i7) sits in a standard socket and can be upgraded.
• Optical Bay Swap: The DVD drive can easily be pulled out and replaced with a second hard drive or SSD caddy.
• Replacement batteries are plentiful and very inexpensive. I chose a brand-new extended power (9-cell) battery for extra juice if unplugged from the charger.

2.) Military-Grade Build Quality:

• Aluminum Chassis: It features a "tungsten-colored" aluminum display enclosure and a wear-resistant anodized finish.  Beautiful -in my opinion!
• Magnesium Structure: The internal frame is magnesium-alloyed, making the laptop incredibly rigid and resistant to flexing.
• Spill-Resistant Keyboard: A drain hole on the bottom routes minor liquid spills safely through the chassis and away from the motherboard.
• Hinges Quality: Unlike other model laptops -including later models ProBook incidentally, the hinges on an HP ProBook 6570b are nigh indestructible and will likely outlive all of us. A great example of the motto: "they don't make it like they used to."

3.) Incredible Port Selection:

• Legacy Connectivity: It features a native Serial (RS-232) port, which is rare for laptops and highly sought after by industrial engineers for programming machinery and automotive diagnostics.
• Abundant I/O: It includes 5 USB ports (two USB 3.0, two USB 2.0, and one eSATA/USB combo), DisplayPort, VGA, FireWire (IEEE 1394a), ExpressCard/54 slot, and an SD card reader. Speaking of the ExpressCard/54 slot, I added a dual USB 3.0 card in this slot.
• Docking Station Support: A dedicated bottom connector hooks into HP 90-watt/120-watt docking stations for desktop use.

4.) Reliable Performance for Basic Tasks:

• SSD Transformation: When upgraded from an old mechanical hard drive to a modern Solid-State Drive (SSD), it handles everyday web browsing, office document editing, and video streaming smoothly.
• Typing Experience: The full-sized keyboard includes a dedicated numeric keypad and offers deep, tactile key travel that many users prefer over modern, ultra-thin keyboards. Also, the keyboard doesn't appear to 'wear out': unlike many laptops -including modern laptops, where certain high-volume letter keys tend losing their characters.

This was the barebone HP ProBook 6570b I purchased very recently for just $44.99: HP ProBook 6570B Intel i5-3210M 2.5GHz 2 GB NO HDD No Batt | eBay.  It came with an Intel Core i5-3210M and a single 2 GB DDR3 RAM stick.  No storage drive, no battery and no charger.

I upgraded this laptop as follows:

Primary boot drive: Samsung 500GB 870 EVO. The Samsung 870 EVO is arguably the best 2.5-inch SATA drive ever made. It will completely saturate the laptop's SATA III (6 Gbps) controller, hitting maximum real-world speeds of around 560 MB/s read and 530 MB/s write. Unlike cheaper, "cacheless" budget SSDs, the 870 EVO has an onboard LPDDR4 DRAM cache. This prevents the laptop from stuttering or freezing when Windows performs heavy background updates or writes small temporary files.

RAM: 2 x 8GB Kingston HyperX DDR3 1866 MHz with p/n: KHX1866C953/8G. Running at 1600 MHz but in Dual Channel and Dual-Rank (2Rx8) mode.

Processor: Intel Core i7-3632QM (4-Cores, 8-Threads, 2.20 GHz up to 3.20 GHz, 35-watt TDP). The i7-3632QM is a rare 35-watt TDP quad-core. Because it matches the exact power envelope of the original dual-core i5 that came with the laptop, the original heatsink and fan can cool it perfectly without loud, constant fan noise or overheating aka thermal throttling. Because I jumped from 2 cores and 4 threads to 4 cores and 8 threads, which keeps the laptop completely smooth when multitasking in modern web browsers.  Using Arctic MX-4 as my preferred thermal paste, btw.

I purchased this processor inexpensively via a trusted PRC eBay Seller: Intel Core i7 3632QM CPU 2.2GHz Quad-Core 35W SR0V0 Laptop Processor | eBay.

Charger: still had a 135-watt charger with HP p/n: 593976-001 / 592491-001.  Using this oversized wattage charger means it 'runs' exceptionally cool.

Operating System (OS): Windows 11 Pro (25H2) using the clever Microsoft Server Bypass Method: How to Install Windows 11 on Unsupported PCs (New Easiest Method 2024).  I purchased an inexpensive (legit!) Windows 10 Pro key first via Electronics.First.  Installed W10 first, then the free W11 Pro upgrade install, followed by the 25H2 patch last.

Hard Drive Caddy. The Hard Drive Caddy was missing, so I purchased one via eBay: Hard Drive Caddy HP PROBOOK 6460B 6465B 6470B 6475B 6560B 6570B 8560W 8570W | eBay.

Why this Legacy Laptop is Handling W11 25H2 So Well:

• Instruction Set Maturity: Whilst Microsoft officially requires an 8th-Gen Intel CPU or newer, the 3rd-Gen i7-3632QM natively supports vital instruction sets like POPCNT (introduced in Nehalem) and SSE4.2. Because of this, it completely avoids the hard crashes and boot loops that plague older Core 2 Duo or 1st-Gen Core i systems on recent Windows 11 builds.
• TPM and Secure Boot Bypasses: Using the aforementioned YouTube installation workaround to bypass the TPM 2.0 and CPU checks works perfectly because the underlying raw performance of the 8-thread CPU and 16GB of dual-rank RAM easily handles the OS overhead.
• The SSD Savior: Windows 11 performs aggressive background telemetry, indexing, and security scanning. On a mechanical hard drive or a cheapo cacheless SSD, this causes 100% disk utilization and severe freezing. My Samsung 870 EVO with its DRAM cache shrugs these background tasks off effortlessly.
• Upgraded to the latest BIOS version F.74 Rev.A: HP ProBook 6570b Notebook PC Software and Driver Downloads | HP® Support.

Wi-Fi Card: ordered an Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260HMW Mini PCI-E Card 1200Mbps BT 4.0 Network Card for just $14.39 to replace the stock Broadcom BCM943228HM4L 802.11a/b/g/n 2x2 Wi-Fi adapter card currently running at 5G 144/300 Mbps. This HP 'White-Washed' upgraded card is supposed to be an absolutely legendary upgrade for this era of laptops!

Where I am going (802.11ac): The Intel 7260AC introduces 802.11ac (Wi-Fi 5) mechanics to my ProBook. It utilizes a massive 256-QAM modulation index and opens up 80 MHz wide channels. The moment it connects to my 5 GHz Google Fiber router, the link negotiation speed will jump from the current 144/300 Mbps straight up to a blazing 867 Mbps. Local file transfers and high-speed internet downloading will suddenly run roughly three times faster.

Battery: purchased an extended (9-cell) Lithium-Ion 7800mAh/87Wh Battery Pack (Model: 8560) also via a trusted, top-rated eBay Seller: ebay.com/itm/275868885033?var=577742773423.

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[NonSequitur777]

Dear Forum,

As mentioned, I am waiting for the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth upgrade card.  Also, because the new card is a combined Wi-Fi/Bluetooth card, before I swap cards, I'll need to disconnect the existing stock Bluetooth module, which is easily accessible in the HP ProBook 6570b.

Because I will be upgrading from an older generation Wi-Fi card to the 7260AC in a 2012 HP chassis, there is a known hardware conflict I might experience when I boot up the first time with the new card: both the Wi-Fi and/or Bluetooth might be completely invisible in Windows 11 Device Manager.

With this in mind, here is some proactive troubleshooting to fix the possible Wi-Fi and/or Bluetooth issue -the so-called "Pin 51 & Pin 20 Tape Mod" as explained in this YouTube video: Intel 7260 Wifi/Bluetooth Card Fix:

Pin 51 (Bluetooth Control):

Pin 51 is located on the front side of the card -the side shown in your image with the text labels and antenna connectors.

• Where to find it: Look at the bottom-right corner of the gold contact pins.
• Exact position: It is the very last pin on the far-right edge of the wide contact section (just past Pin 49).

Pin 20 (Wi-Fi Control):

Pin 20 is located on the back side of the card—you will need to flip the card over to see it.

• Where to find it: Look near the plastic structural gap (the mechanical notch).
• Exact position: Locate the notch on the card's edge. Pin 20 is the second pin directly to the left of the notch on the back side.

And one more thing I would like to mention in this post: right after I had installed Windows 10 Pro, I realized that the so-called "BIOS Mode" as shown in System Information was "Legacy" rather than "UEFI".  UEFI mode is absolutely required for Windows 11 installation.

In order to fix this, I used Windows' built-in MBR2GPT tool.

This utility converts a disk from the old Master Boot Record (MBR) partition style to the modern GUID Partition Table (GPT) style without erasing your data. This is the exact process required to switch a Windows 10 installation from Legacy to UEFI mode.

The two command prompt (CMD) commands I ran (Run as Administrator) were the following:

1. The Validation Command:

mbr2gpt /validate /allowFullOS

What it did: This checked my hard drive to ensure it met all the strict requirements for a safe conversion (such as having no more than three existing partitions) without actually changing anything yet.

2. The Conversion Command:

mbr2gpt /convert /allowFullOS

What it did: This performed the actual magic. It shrunk the OS partition slightly, created a new hidden EFI System Partition, filled it with the necessary UEFI boot files, and changed the disk signature to GPT.

(Note: The /allowFullOS switch is used if you ran these commands directly inside the standard desktop Windows 10 environment, rather than from a recovery USB).

The Final Step I Performed:

Right after running those two commands, I rebooted my ProBook 6570b, entered the BIOS setup, and changed the Boot Mode from: "Legacy" to: "UEFI Native (Without CSM)". Without making that BIOS switch immediately after the conversion, the laptop would have refused to boot.

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi, Cas:

Sounds nice!

Regarding the Intel 7260 card...I don't remember if that card works in the 6570b.

I know for a fact that it wouldn't have worked in the 6560b because that model series had a BIOS whitelist.

It should work, but there are a couple of things to be prepared for in case the Bluetooth doesn't work.

There are no Bluetooth drivers for the Intel 7260 card from HP or Intel anymore.

But the Dell driver works fine.

Intel Bluetooth Driver | Driver Details | Dell US

On some HP notebooks made around the same time (2012/2013) where HP does not offer the Intel 7260 as an option, sometimes the Bluetooth doesn't show up at all in the device manager.

Watch this video for a fix that usually works in case you have that issue.

Intel 7260 Wifi/Bluetooth Card Fix

Microsoft does not install the latest Wi-Fi driver that Intel released for the 7260, so you can update it to the one from the Dell website if you want.

Intel Wireless 3160/3165/7260/7265 Wi-Fi Driver | Driver Details | Dell US

If the card works without any issues, you may want to upgrade to this card in the future.

I installed one in my HP 350 G1 which has an i3-4005U processor and it works just fine.

Amazon.com: WiFi 6E Half Mini PCI-E WiFi Network Card 802.11AX AC MPE-AXE3000H 2.4GHz 5GHz 6GHz 5400...

Cheers,

Paul

[NonSequitur777]

@Paul_Tikkanen,

Outstanding -thank you very much for your insights and will keep you informed as to how this cookie crumbles!

Warm Regards,

Cas / NonSequitur777

[NonSequitur777]

Paul,

Btw, the YouTube link you posted was the same one I referred to in my (second) previous post!

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome!

[Paul_Tikkanen]

While I realize that since you installed a SSD, you don't need the 3D Driveguard device to work.

The 70b/p/w model series was the only series where the W10 accelerometer driver doesn't work anymore.

There used to be a way to install the just the driver so the device manager was 'clean,' but I don't know if the info I posted here works anymore.

Solved: HP 8570w Accelerometer driver not working - HP Support Community - 7138204

I always manually install just the accelerometer driver on the notebooks I have installed SSDs on, and without the accompanying software that is installed with the full driver package the device is not functional.

[NonSequitur777]

@Paul_Tikkanen,

Installed the "Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260HMW Mini PCI-E Card 1200Mbps BT 4.0 Network Card".

Despite my best efforts, I could not get the Bluetooth function to work -yes, I taped pin 51 (Disable Bluetooth): the very last pin on the top side of the card (the side where the antennas plug in), situated on the right side next to the edge, did not work.  The Dell/Intel Bluetooth driver installed without an error message, but Bluetooth never showed up in Device manager.

Solution: reconnected the stock Bluetooth module 4.0 and that worked A-OK.  For reference purposes, you can purchase this module affordably online, such as this eBay purchase option. 

The real success story is in the significantly improved Wi-Fi speeds: consistently hitting 702/702 Mbps on both battery-powered and plugged-in power connection!

That is practically the absolute physical limit for an Intel 7260HMW card operating in a real-world home environment. To give you some context on how impressive that is: the theoretical absolute maximum for this card under laboratory conditions is 866 Mbps. Reaching 702 Mbps means that the card, the internal laptop antennas, and my GFiber router are communicating with near-perfect efficiency.

Summarizing, I have successfully:

1. Bypassed the HP BIOS Wi-Fi block on the slot by properly taping pin 20 (Disable Wireless/W_DISABLE).
2. Overridden the restrictive Windows 11 Server-bypass power schemas that were choking my network lanes. *
3. Restored full Bluetooth functionality by cleanly integrating the stock module alongside the new high-speed Wi-Fi.

*  Open Device Manager, expand Network Adapters, and double-click your Intel 7260 card. Go to the Power Management tab and uncheck "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power". Go to the Advanced tab, look for Transmit Power, and ensure it is set to 5. Highest.  Also, in Device Manager > Network Adapters > Intel 7260 > Advanced: 802.11n/ac Wireless Mode: Ensure it is set to 802.11ac.  Fat Channel Intolerant: Set to Disabled.  Roaming Aggressiveness: Set to 2. Medium-Low. (This stops the card from constantly hunting for alternative signals, which causes the speed to step down). Throughput Booster: Set to enabled. Preferred Band: changed this to: Prefer 5GHz band.

My classic ProBook 6570b is now officially optimized for maximum networking performance, easily running at speeds nearly five times faster than the original 'stock' setup.

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Glad the Intel 7260 is working close to its maximum throughput.

I have yet to have a Wi-Fi adapter achieve the same download speed as its advertised max throughput.

I didn't know that your notebook came with the integrated BT module, so if it works, then having the Intel 7260 BT working is no big deal.

If you ever do want to experiment with getting the Intel BT module to work, there is one other thing to try...disconnect the integrated BT module.

Make a bootable USB Ubuntu installer with Rufus.

Download Ubuntu Desktop | Ubuntu

Create a bootable USB stick with Rufus on Windows | Ubuntu

Boot for the USB installer.

Select the option to try ubuntu without installing.

See if you can turn on the Intel BT in Ubuntu.

If you can, turn it on, exit out of the Ubuntu installer, shut down the notebook.

Remove the Ubuntu installation flash drive, restart the PC and when you get into Windows, the Intel BT should work.

[NonSequitur777]

@Paul_Tikkanen,

With regards to the "3D Driveguard device" you mentioned, yes, there was an exclamation mark in Device Manager under “System devices” for "HP Mobile Data Protection Sensor" with this hardware lds info: "ACPI\VEN_HPQ&DEV_6000" and "ACPI\HPQ6000", also provided this information: "The driver for this device has been blocked from starting because it is known to have problems with Windows. Contact the hardware vendor for a new driver. (Code 48) - Click 'Check for solutions' to send data about this device to Microsoft and to see if there is a solution available."

I resolved this issue as follows:

As you remarked, I upgraded my ProBook 6570b to a Solid-State Drive (SSD).  Meaning, I do not need this driver at all. SSDs do not have moving physical parts or mechanical reading arms, therefore the data protection sensor has absolutely nothing to protect or park.

So, in order to stop Windows from complaining about it, I simply right-clicked the HP Mobile Data Protection Sensor in Device Manager and selected Disable device.

The exclamation mark instantly converted into a clean, small downward arrow icon, and the OS will completely ignore it without any negative impact on system performance.

I may try the USB Ubuntu method, but I am happy to leave things as they are for the time being.

There was one other exclamation mark in Device Manager, under "Other devices" for: "Base System Device" with Hardware lds: "PCI\VEN_197B&DEV_2392&SUBSYS_17AB103C&REV_30" and: "PCI\VEN_197B&DEV_2392&SUBSYS_17AB103C".

The hardware ID PCI\VEN_197B&DEV_2392 corresponds specifically to the JMicron PCIe SD/MMC Media Card Reader built into the chassis of my HP ProBook 6570b.

Because I installed Windows 11 Pro using the MS Server bypass method, Windows didn't match a default native generic driver to this legacy hardware device during setup.  Truth be told, it would be completely safe to leave things as-is since I would never use the SD card slot but fixing it will clean up Device Manager.

How to Install the Missing Driver:

HP never published an official Windows 11 driver for this legacy JMicron chip, but the official Windows 8.1 / Windows 10 driver packages work perfectly well because they share the same underlying architecture.

How did I fix that: Direct Executable Installation:

I download the official, final legacy HP release via @Huffer's "Base system device driver" Community link (sp63637.exe).

Right-clicked the downloaded file and selected Run as Administrator -no compatibility mode required, btw.

Installed the driver painlessly and the exclamation mark disappeared bye-bye.

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777