Compaq CQ61 Wireless Card Upgrade

[Shuddawuddakudd]

I have a Compaq Presario CQ61-416SA, running 64bit Windows 7. The current wireless card only works on 2.4Ghz band and I want to upgrade it to a dual-band one to get better speed etc at 5Ghz. I have a replacement Intel Centrino N6230 card, but the laptop will not accept anything other than the default card. On startup it halts with an error message saying that it will not continue unless the 'unauthorised device' is removed. If I re-install the original wireless card, it starts up and works fine, but that's not the point, I want to upgrade it.

I assume that the default is to lock down part of the BIOS  in the laptop to prevent unauthorised tampering with in-warranty laptops, but mine is well outside the warranty.

I know the card works because I installed it in my previous laptop and I've been in electronics for around 30 years and have spent some 5 years of that repairing laptops, desktops, servers, etc so I'm pretty sure I'm capable of plugging a card in and installing the driver!

Does anyone out there know a way around the block? Without it I'm not going to be able to upgrade the laptop. 

Anyone?

[Huffer]

The only compatible cards are an Atheros 9285 and 5009 and they must be HP Part number cards. The 5009 is supposed to be dual band (2.4 and 5 ghz) capable:

Atheros AR5009 802.11a/b/g/n for use in Canada, the Cayman Islands, Guam, Puerto Rico, the United States, and the U.S. Virgin Islands             518437-001

http://www.notebookparts.com/hp-pavilion-dv6-dv7-802-11a-b-g-n-wlan-hf-minicard-518437-001/?gclid=CI...

[Shuddawuddakudd]

OK, now that sounds like a good solution - but what do you mean by 'is supposed to be' dual band and must be 'HP part numbered'?

Does that mean that they are a special edition or something?  Your link showed a price of 29.99$ and I see them elsewhere cheaper.....but are you saying that I can only buy the HP variant? Do they have a different driver?

Sorry about all these questions, but I'm new to HP and at this rate I may soon be ex HP.

This is sounding rather restrictive - very Big Brother!

[Huffer · Accepted solution]

Don't completely blame HP, but it is kind of a 1984 thing involving your Federal Government. HP and Lenovo read some Federal Communication Comm regs on registering wireless radios (including laptop wifi cards) to require that alternate cards be blocked. Other laptop makers did not agree and now the "whitelist" is history but there is no effort to go back and do new BIOS for older units.

HP versions of the wireless card have some specific identification in the firmware which the HP whitelist looks for before clearing the card for use so you have to use the HP version. I looked pretty hard for an HP version of the card and the one I linked is all I could find. Google around and you may do better.

If this is "the Answer" please click "Accept as Solution" to help others find it.

[Shuddawuddakudd]

Hi Huffer, the problem is now solved, in that I'm going to buy the HP recommended 5009 card and I have nothing but praise for guys like yourselves who help out people like me with their problems.

But I'd like to ask HP support themselves why this issue has not beeen addressed and why they have not issued a retroactive fix for the BIOS to ignore any whitelist activity and free up these laptops. They have admitted that they acted in error, because not only did other mfrs not install whitelists but HP themselves have now stopped the practice. In effect, they have reduced the utility of the laptops fitted with whitelists to no particular end. The SAR emissions is

a red herring and the problem needs to be put right by a straighforward BIOS update from HP.

Personally, I find the HP website a nightmare of going round in circles and identifying my laptop a dozen times before ending up back where I started. I spent ages trying to find a way to ask HP to address the problem, but can't. The UK HP website is just the same, a riddle inside an enigma.

HP seem not to care about whitelists, but for owners it is a real pain. I'd like to install a dual band wifi card with Bluetooth built in by Intel, but can't just because they can't be bothered to provide user support once the warranty period has expired. If any of the Support Bosses within HP are listening, please get back to me and tell me why they can't be bothered.

Thanks again mate.

KC