Can I upgrade the wireless card to 802.11ac

[Tory_49]

Please advise if it's possible to upgrade the wireless card in my laptop to an 802.11ac card.  An 802.11b/g/n card is currently installed.

My PC is an HP Pavilion 17 Notebook PC.

Product Name  G6R35UAR#ABA

Thank you.

[Huffer · Accepted solution]

There is no whitelist. Here is the Service manual:

See p. 96

Manual

You have the 17 inch model and for the 15 inch AMD models HP actually offered an AC card. This one:

Broadcom BCM 4352 WLAN 802.11 AC+BT4 2x2HMC for HP Pavilion 15 AMD computer models available for Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 724935-005

This is an equivalent aftermarket card sold through amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/AzureWave-Broadcom-BCM94352HMB-802-11-867Mbps/dp/B00IFYEYXC/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8...

That card would work for you but, I do have to warn that installation is no easy matter. It requires extensive disassembly and will jeopardize the warranty. You should not try to install an Intel card as they are known not to play nice with AMD computers. The Broadcom will be your best bet. 

If you have questions let us know. 

If this is "the Answer" please click "Accept as Solution" to help others find it. 

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

I will also add that the parts list for your model indicates that it comes with a Realtek RTL8188EE 802.11bgn Wi-Fi adapter.

Forum members have reported that upon disassembling some of the notebooks, only one antenna is present when that model card is installed.  I couldn't say if your specific model has one or two antennas present.

In order to install a dual band wireless card, you would need to have two antennas present.

Adding a 2nd antenna if one is not present, would involve disassembling the display panel in order to properly route a 2nd antenna.

[Huffer]

True that. It is also very difficult to tell before disassembly how many antennae are present but if you are experiencing subpar wi-fi connection there is a good chance you have only one antenna. 

[saminbama]

I have a similar situation.  I have a HP Pavilion 17 and would like to upgrade my WIFI card as well.  The link you posted in an earlier reply for a Broadcom WIFI card points to an Amazon product which states it is not compatiable with HP.  Is there another possiblity?

Thanks

OS:  Windows 10

Product Number:  J0Z11UAR#ABA

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi, @saminbama :

While I believe that information regarding the card not being compatible with HP notebooks is incorrect, here is the HP Broadcom AC card that you would need to get...

Broadcom BCM4352 802.11ac 2x2 Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 4.0 combo

HP Part #  724935-001

Make sure your notebook has two antennas connected to the current wlan card, or be willing and able to disassemble the entire notebook including the display panel area to properly run the required 2nd antenna.

Do not rely on the picture in the service manual to determine this.

[Huffer]

@saminbama   that is the whole issue. Vendors who sell wireless cards are well aware of the HP whitelist and are sick of people buying the cards only to find out they don't work and try to return them so they put a disclaimer. But it is only meaningful if your laptop has the HP whitelist. If it does not have the whitelist, you can install any wireless card of the right form factor. Your laptop is slightly older than the laptop owned by the person who started this thread. My advice was correct for that person but I think your laptop might still has the whitelist so you are really not able to do much of an upgrade. I am not 100% sure on this as your model is actually about at the border....issued just about the time the whitelist disappeared so, since HP has never issued a definitive list of those laptops with an without the whitelist it is impossible to be 100% sure. 

[Paul_Tikkanen]

I will go out on a limb and say that based on this discussion, the 15 and 17e notebook model series do not have a BIOS whitelist.

While this model e series notebook has Intel hardware, I would imagine the AMD platform based e series notebooks which came out at the same time, do not have a BIOS whitelist either.

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Hardware-and-Upgrade-Questions/HP-BIOS-Whitelists/m-p/5716994/...

[saminbama]

Thank you for your swift response.  I popped the cover off and found the WIFI card.  It has two wires connected to it.  One is black and the other is white.  Are these the antenna leads you are referring to?  Also, is there any way to identify whether or not my 17e has the Whitelist?

Thanks again.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

Yes, those are the wires I was referring to.

So, you can install a dual band card easily since your notebook has two antennas present.

There is no way to determine if the notebook has a BIOS whitelist or not.

You will have to roll the dice and bet $25.00 that it will work.

We have given you all the available info we can.