Question about Wifi antennas and options for replacing the wifi card

[xSankalp]

Hello,

My laptop’s model is Pavilion AU-624TX. It currently has Intel AC 3168 as the wireless card. I would like to know how many antennas does this laptop have. 

I was also planning to upgrade this card to Intel AC 9560 as I heard it is a brilliant card and my current wifi card keeps dropping signals. Is this upgrade option viable and compatible with my laptop? Kindly let me know my upgrade options. 

Regards,

Sankalp

Edit: Intel AC 9260 and not 9560.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

If your notebook has the Intel 3168 AC wifi card, then it has two antenna wires.

However, you cannot install the Intel 9560 AC, because that is a CRF (Companion RF) card that only works in notebooks that originally came with that model wifi card.

So, you can try the Intel 9260 AC non-vPro card, which has the same specs as the 9560, or maybe even go for the Intel AX 200 non-vPro wifi card.

Any Intel card you buy must be non-vPro.

[xSankalp]

Thank you for the reply so quickly! 

I’m sorry I meant to say “9260” model and not “9560”. Could you also please confirm if I’ll be able to use Bluetooth on the 9260 as well because a few other posts on google said that changing to a 2x2 wifi card from 1x1 will make your Bluetooth unusable. 

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

You're very welcome.

The Bluetooth will work fine because your notebook has two antenna wires.

That only happens on notebooks that have the Realtek wifi cards with one antenna wire.

If you don't add a second antenna in those notebooks, the wifi works, but the Intel Bluetooth doesn't, because the auxiliary antenna connection controls the Bluetooth.

On those notebooks, the Bluetooth shows up, but since there is no antenna, there isn't enough reception for the Bluetooth to connect and pair with other devices.

The easier solution to adding a second antenna on those notebooks, would be to install the RTL8821CE AC wifi/bluetooth adapter, which works with just one antenna wire...both wifi and bluetooth.