Should I update wireless driver or not?

[dkline]

A friend just suggested that if the dual band cards don't work, this USB nano adaptor would -- and indeed, in the reviews, the owner of an older HP laptop said this device solved his inability to pick up faster 5 GHz signals.

Can you think of any reason why this device wouldn't work?

[Paul_Tikkanen]

I would imagine any external usb dual band wireless adapter would work just fine.

That one seems nice because it doesn't stick out half a mile from the usb port, like a lot of external usb adapters do.

And if you have an AC router, you should get blazing fast internet download speeds up to what MBPS you are paying for.

[dkline]

Okay, I have at least one viable option.

Last question:  Since HP knows some of its part numbers are wrong, why don't they just correct them? Is there any reason to leave customers guessing about workable part numbers?

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Since I don't work for or represent HP, I don't have any idea.

I do know that several of us have brought this matter to their attention, to no avail.

And that is not the only model series where this issue occurs.

If you want to bring this matter to HP's attention, you can try submitting a report at the link below...

https://ssl.www8.hp.com/us/en/contact-hp/connect-with-hp.html

[dkline]

Thanks, I will send them a note. Maybe the fact that I'm a journalist will get them to consider rectifying the problem, but I won't hold my breath.

[dkline]

Hey Paul,

I installed a new HP wLan 802.11a-b-g Shiraz G4 WiFi Card NEW 593836-001 that I bought on eBay and the good news is that my HP laaptop booted up just fine.

Bad news is it said there were no drivers installed, and when I tried to update drivers via Device Manager, I got a message saying there ween't any.

I thought if the wireless card wasn't compatible, the machine wouldn't boot. So is this cmpatible but simply driver-less?

If thetre's no solution here, then I'll just get a dual band uusb wireless adaptor like this one  and stop hassling it.

But it just bugs me that I can't solve this problem -- apparently HP made laptops that you can't internally upgrade.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

That is great news!

Did you try the Atheros WLAN driver from your notebook's support page?

This package contains the drivers for the supported Atheros Wireless LAN Adapters in the supported notebook models running a supported operating system.

File name: sp54972.exe

[dkline]

Is the Atheros card dual band?

[Paul_Tikkanen]

The card you bought is made by Atheros.

And that driver supports the following devices...

Atheros AR5006 802.11a/b/g WiFi Adapter
Atheros AR5007 802.11b/g WiFi Adapter
Atheros AR5009 802.11a/g/n WiFi Adapter
Atheros AR9285 802.11b/g/n WiFi Adapter
Atheros AR9380 802.11 a/g/n WiFi Adapter
Atheros AR9382 802.11a/g/n WiFi Adapter
Atheros AR9485 802.11 b/g/n WiFi Adapter

[dkline]

Oh, so you're saying that card might work with one of those drivers?