Wifi card upgrade options?

[DrakkenWolfgang]

Hello. I'm trying to determine what my options are to possibly upgrade the stock wifi card that is inside my old laptop. 

According to what I see in device manager for current hardware under network adapters:

- Qualcomm Atheros QCA9565 802.11 b/g/n WiFi Adapter

-Realtek PCIe Fe Family Controller

& under bluetooth:

- Qualcomm Athero QCA9565 Bluetooth 4.0 Adapter.

So my card is apparently made by Qualcomm.

Any info to help me choose a compatible upgrade would be greatly appreciated.

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi:

Below is the link to the service manual for your notebook.

c04580734 (hp.com)

Chapter 3 has the two supported wifi adapters...

In order to upgrade to a dual band wifi card and have it work properly, you need to first make sure that there are two wifi antenna wires connected to the Atheros wifi card currently installed.

If there are, you can upgrade to the Intel dual band AC card listed in the manual.

Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 3160 802.11ac 1×1 WiFi + BT 4.0 Combo Adapter for    HP part # 710662-005.

If you want to take a gamble on a better card than the 3160, get its big brother, the 7260.

Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 802.11 ac 2x2 WiFi + BT 4.0    HP Part # 710661-001

The 7260 has twice the throughput of the 3160.  867 MB/S vice 433 MB/S on the 5.0 GHz wifi band.

You can find either card on eBay.  Search by the HP part number, not the model of the wifi card.

Before installing the Intel card, uninstall the Atheros wifi and bluetooth devices and drivers in the device manager.

If there is any Atheros bluetooth software in the Windows control panel>programs section, uninstall that too.

Shut down the PC, and follow the procedure in the service manual to remove and replace the wifi card.

[DrakkenWolfgang]

Thanks for the info!

As far as I can remember, I believe there are 2 wires connected to oem card, so I'll take a look at your suggestions & see which will be my best option.

I'm currently using a Nighthawk USB 3.0 wifi adapter & it is so much better than my stock card. Hopefully one of these mentioned will give my old laptop a nice network boost to not have to rely  on my nighthawk. Lol

[DrakkenWolfgang]

Well looks like the Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 is going to be my best bet. Looks to be the exact same size & connections as the oem one. Going to order this week & see how it goes once I get it installed. Will post my findings

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

Looking forward to reading about the results of your WiFi card upgrade project.

[DrakkenWolfgang]

Well, turns out the 2x2 card you mentioned was a no go. But the 1x1 ac card works great! As good speeds compared to my Nighthawk usb I've used for the past few years. Just glad I don't have to always occupy a USB port to get fast, dependable WiFi anymore. Lol. Thanks for your help!

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Anytime.

Glad to have been of assistance.

That is a shame the 7260 AC card didn't work.

Thanks for letting us know the results of your notebook's wifi card upgrade project.