HP Pavilion 17g161us WiFi Upgrade

[azzt]

I want to upgrade the WiFi card on my Pavilion 17g161us but I don't know how to find a compatible part. Can anyone help?

[banhien]

@azzt 

The series supports the following adapter

                   Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 3160 802.11 ac 1x1 WiFi + BT 4.0 Combo Adapter

But you can also use

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

                  Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7265 802.11 ac 2x2 WiFi + BT 4.0 Combo Adapter (non vPRO) part # 84644-005

Regards.

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi, @azzt 

All of the above mentioned wifi adapters require two wifi antenna cables be connected to the wifi card.

Most likely your notebook only has one antenna wire connected to the Broadcom card it comes with.

There is only one dual band wifi card where the wifi and blueooth work with 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.

You can find this model on eBay, or Ali Express,

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

The card will have the same 72 MBPS throughput as the Broadcom wifi card on the 2.4 GHz wifi band, but on the 5.0 GHz wifi band, it will have a max throughput of 433 MBPS when you have an AC router with an excellent wifi signal strength.

Below is the link to the service manual, where you can find the wifi card removal and replacement procedure.

c04655191 (hp.com)

[azzt]

Awesome, thanks!

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

[azzt]

Would you be able to point me to the correct driver for the wifi card?

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

For the Realtek card, these are the latest wifi and bluetooth drivers for it...

Wifi:  2024.0.10.220

https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp111001-111500/sp111389.exe

Bluetooth:  1.8.1030.3010 

https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp110001-110500/sp110200.exe

If you haven't ordered the Realtek wifi card yet, you may want to open up the notebook and confirm how many antenna wires there are.

If there are two antenna wires, you can upgrade to the Intel card listed in your notebook's service manual.

Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7265 802.11 ac 2x2 WiFi + BT 4.0 Combo Adapter (non vPRO)   HP part # 784644-005

If you have ordered the Realtek card and there are two antenna wires, hook the Main antenna wire to the Realtek card and insulate the Auxiliary antenna cable's connector so it doesn't inadvertently make contact with any metal.