antenna connector/cable missing

[eelstrebor]

I went to upgrade my wifi card and found only one cable connected to the wifi card. I don't see any sign of the second cable. Why? The only antenna cable that was attached is black with a label that says '1'. The manual mentions another cable that's suppose to be white but there's no evidence of a white cable for the wifi card.

[Huffer]

See page 2 of the Manual:

Manual

What is actually says is models with Broadcom or Realtek wifi cards have a single antenna while models with the Intel card have 2 antennae. 

You have the 1 x 1 b/g/n wireless and the Intels are both ac cards so almost certain you have a Broadcom or Realtek card which explains the single antenna. This has been very common for 5 years or so for laptop makers to only provide a single antenna. It is possible to route a second antenna through the chassis but it is not an easy job. And if you are trying to upgrade to any kind of decent wifi card one antenna is just not going to get it....you need 2. USB 802.11ac adapters are pretty cheap and work pretty well. 

Post back with any more questions and please accept as solution if this is the info you needed even if not what you wanted to hear. 

[eelstrebor]

I should've read the specs better. My manual shows that all wifi cards are 1x1 for this laptop. Anyway, it's not the kind of laptop I need. I'll know better next time. However, I went ahead and installed the Intel 9260 and it connects to my routers 5GHz (setup for VHT80) - the original wifi card wouldn't connect after the router was reconfigured for VHT80 after the firmware was upgraded. Did get an improvement in connection speed but not as much as it should be.  And this laptop doesn't play well with Linux either. Anyway, are there instructions somewhere for adding a second antenna?

[Huffer · Accepted solution]

No it is a bit of a guerilla upgrade. Essentially do a complete field strip of the laptop down to the component parts. Pay attention to how the one antenna is strung. Using a second antenna lead route it around the opposite side of the screen, and then feed it through the same place that the one existing antenna feeds down through the hinges into the chassis and just route the second antenna wire right along the first one to where it gets to the wifi card. Not an easy job but you have the manual and it can be done. Antenna lead sets are pretty cheap just be sure you get the right ones. M.2 wifi cards use a different brass connector than earlier kinds of wifi cards.