Replacing Realtek RTL8821CE 802.11ac PCIe Adapter with an Intel AX200 Wi-Fi 6

[x9xgxn]

My laptop's Realtek RTL8821CE 802.11ac PCIe Adapter causes frequest dropped connections to my router (even using an Ethernet cable results in dropped connections, don't know if that is because of the Realtek card or it's only responsible for WiFi connections).

I want to replace the integrated Realtek card on my laptop with an Intel AX200 adapter (AX200.NGWG.DTK). From looking at the forums, it seems that there could be 2 issues in the way: my laptop could have a whitelist for accepted network cards; and that my integrated Realtek card has only a single antenna. If the only issue with installing the 2-antenna Intel AX200 would be that I would lose Bluetooth connectivity, I'd gladly take the trade-off for a better Internet connection, however.

I wonder if there's a way to check if that'd be possible? Thanks!

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi:

#1 (BIOS whitelist) shouldn't be an issue.

#2 is an issue...only one antenna wire.

You may have some Wi-Fi signal degradation as well besides the loss of Bluetooth reception.

Here are my recommended Wi-Fi card options:

Intel AX210 Wi-Fi 6E 2x2 AX + Bluetooth 5.2 M.2 2230 non-vPro   HP part # M27269-005

Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 ax 2×2 + Bluetooth 5.0 MU-MIMO M.2 2230 non-vPro    HP part #L35282-005 

Below is the link to the service manual, where you can find the Wi-Fi card removal and replacement procedure:

h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c08289069.pdf

In the meantime, see if updating the Realtek Wi-Fi driver to this version helps any, if you have not done so already:

2024.10.228.7   09/14/2023

https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp149501-150000/sp149656.exe