Can I upgrade my wireless card on my new HP notebook to utilize 5 g?

[Boylerchins]

I was dissappointed to see that my new notebook didn't recognize the 5 g modem I'm paying for. Can I upgrade? I see I need two antennas. How can I tell if I have that?

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi:

If your PC only has a single band wifi adapter (either a RTL8723DE or an RTL8188EE), it only has one antenna.

The good news is that there is one dual band AC card that works with only one antenna cable, and that is this one.

Realtek RTL8821CE 802.11 ac 1x1 WiFi + Bluetooth 4.2 Combo Adapter (MU-MIMO supported) HP Part # L17365-005.

Unfortunately, that card has been on back order for months at the HP Parts Store, but you can find several of them listed for sale on eBay.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=L17365-005&_sacat=0&_sop=15

Here are the links to the latest wifi and bluetooth drivers for the RTL 8821CE wifi adapter...

Wifi: 2024.0.8.107/2024.0.4 Jun 5, 2019

https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp96501-97000/sp96885.exe

Bluetooth: 1.6.1015.3008 Jun 28, 2019

https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp98001-98500/sp98235.exe

Here is the link to the service manual for your notebook. The wifi adapter R & R procedure can be found in chapter 6.

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c06245081

[Boylerchins]

Wow! Thanks so much!

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

The RTL8821CE will have the same throughput as the RTL8723DE on the 2.4 GHz wifi band, but with an AC router on the 5.0 GHz band, it will have a maximum throughput of 433 MBPS.

On a dual band N router, it will have a maximum throughput of 150 MBPS on the 5.0 GHz wifi band.