HP Pavillion 15-b102sp WhiteList new Wireless card

[LordNeverThere]

In the last months i have done some research on a new wireless Card since mine has become somewhat obsolete, and the download speeds are quite low. Since according to my understanding the card I have (qualcomm qcwb335) is not dual band and is 1x1, has old IEEE protocols.

But i have also read that HP blocks any wireless card that it did not authorize to be used, when the laptop was first launched, known as Whitelist. Does HP Pavillion 15-b102sp come with whitelist in the BIOS enabled?

• IF not i can buy any card that meets the specifics for the mini pci-e socket?
• If it comes with whitelist what are the wireless cards that it authorizes to be used? Or other alternatives i can ressort to?

Thanks in advance 

Lord

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi:

None of the wireless cards listed in the service manual are dual band.

c03597013.pdf (hp.com)

I do not believe that your notebook has a BIOS whitelist, but can't be 100% certain.

HP does not release that info. 

We get feedback from other forum members that happened to install wireless cards not listed in the manual.

I recommend you experiment with this model wifi card which has the best chance of working in your notebook...

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

You should be able to find this model card on eBay.  Search by the HP part number, not the model of the wifi card.

[LordNeverThere]

Your answer was very helpful, what i will do is the following:

1. Buy a wierd cheap Wifi Card from aliexpress to test if the laptop has whitelist
2. Report back what did or did not happen
3. Accept you solution then, since i would not be able do report back if i accepted it now.
4. Think about next steps, maybe an USB adapter if there is whitelist

If i happen to put the wierd cheap card on the computer and it does not boot, and afterwards i put the factory one it should work again right? The laptop is not a brick afterwards right?

Thanks

Lord

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

Yes, you can try any dual band wifi card you want, but I do think the Broadcom one I posted would be the best.

The Intel 7260 AC is also a good choice but on some notebooks with the Intel 3rd gen core processors such as yours, the wifi will not turn on no matter what you try.

You can report back up to 30 days before the thread is locked.

If for some reason the card you buy doesn't work, reinstalling the original card will work just fine.

[LordNeverThere]

Gave it some though, and experimented with an old usb network adapter I had (dlink dwa 140 range booster) and my download almost tripled, so it is certainly better than my network set on my laptop. Although i reckon it's not dual band.

I think i will buy recent one with new IEEE standards Dual-Band, and some antennas with good dbi's.

Is it a worse choice than a new network card?

My thinking was, it can be used in other laptops or computers that i may have or will have, it won't cause compatibility problems since it is USB. And the machine in question is already a bit old. It is actually more a desktop than a laptop XD.

What do you think?

Thanks 

Lord

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

I think you should stick with a basic swap of the wifi card using the existing antenna wires.

All the new wifi cards have a totally different form factor (M.2), and the antenna wires have smaller connectors than the ones for the HMC cards do.

There is only one model AX wifi card that would fit in your notebook and I don't know if it would work or not, but you would not need to change the antennas.

2974mbps wifi 6 banda dupla sem fio meia mini rede pci e wlan wifi cartão bluetooth 5.0 802.11ax/ac ...

It is cheap enough to experiment with.