5GHz upgrade question

[frslam]

Hey Guys, I have a HP Pavilion Touchsmart 15-b181ea. Just upgraded to 1tb SSD, wow, what a speed difference for an older machine. As I'm very happy with my now 7-8 year old machine, I need advice on wifi card to add 5GHz, maybe Bluetooth as well. I have tried a 2.4GHz + Bluetooth card from another HP, although I was getting full bars on wifi, connection was terrible. I tried uninstalling, upgrading drivers, nothing would work. Anyway, went back to original Card, everything works again so put it down to incompatible card. Card I tried was a Broadcom BCM94313HMGB. Original Cad is Atheros AR9485. Does anyone know of a device which will definitely work? Windows 8.1 64bit, fully updated. Thanks

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi:

Since your notebook has an AMD processor and chipset, you have two options...

Dual band N:

Broadcom BCM943228HMB 802.11abgn 2×2 Wi-Fi Adapter, Broadcom Bluetooth 4.0 Adapter    HP Part # 730668-001

Dual band AC:

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

You should be able to find either card in used but tested and working condition on eBay...maybe Amazon too.

The N card would be a bit cheaper than the AC card.

[frslam]

Hi, Many Thanks for that. One of the (730668-001) cards I have found on Ebay seem to have come from an (intel) Laptop (HP Probook G1 640), it has the same HP Part# and Manufacturer Model Number. Does that matter? Thanks again.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

Yes, that part number is used in a multitude of HP notebooks.

As long as it has that part number, it should work just fine for you.

[frslam]

Thank You again. So I guess these parts are dual band, ie.........b/g/n and ac? Thanks

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

The first one I posted is dual band N (a/b/g/n) with bluetooth.  It is not an AC wifi adapter.

The second one I posted is dual band a/b/g/n/AC with bluetooth.

That is why you will find the Broadcom BCM4352 802.11ac 2x2 Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 4.0 combo -- HP part # 724935-001, will normally cost more.

[frslam]

Thank You for all your advice. Question though - I bought an (N) card online, it was the same HP Part Number on a sticker on the reverse (Rev 1 00 SPS 730668-001) and on the front of the card below Barcode is written (HP P/N 666914-00) and below that (SPS#697316-001).At the bottom, on the reverse sticker, it is printed as BCM943228HMB. The reason I'm asking is because my Wifi works great occasionally but does drop out a lot. I went in to Driver Advanced settings and switched off Bluetooth Collaboration to try to improve Wifi which it seemed to but still drops off too much. Could I have bought an incompatible card? Many Thanks