HP notebook wifi whitelist (card upgrade)

[PhilipPetev]

@pbug56: yes, they read those emails, even they contact the senders sometimes. I've got such call last time when I send complaint about the whitelists in BIOS (our local call center in Bulgaria), but the conversation wasn't very pleasant. The operator started to talk that this hardware is carefully selected, that this is company's policy and bla bla bla. The one think that he didn't know was the man on the other side of the line (me) is former employee of one the HP preffered partners here, in Bulgaria. I told him that this is nonsence, the user should choose what to use, but... bla bla bla.

So, long story, short: since they read all these email and nothing has changes so far, writing such would be pointless IMO.

[pbug56]

The inernal wifi cards on many HP laptops are of very poor quality, and the bios for a given one is typically written to only accept a couple different cards - usually none of them usable.  The one I found  in one laptop normally maxxed out at about 56k mbps even in N mode.  I've checked out the specs of many HP laptops online and found that only the highest end personal laptops, or some business laptops have decent or semi-decent cards available.  HP knows how angry users are - but clearly has no interest in changing this odd policy.  And if you get a hacked bios and install it, you could well brick your laptop.  And void your warranty.

Hence my suggestion to get some sort of external dongle.  BTW, many attach directly to a USB port, some come with a cord and little base.  

[pbug56]

I prefer to buy CTO from HP since it allows one to choose some components.  HP used to provide detailed specs for regular or CTO that included the wifi card cards.  After lots of complaints about the very poor cards offered or included, they modified the descriptions of the wifi cards to be very vague - BT yes or no, for instance.  Sometimes you could tell if it was single band or dual band.  They went from 3 wire to 2.  The cheaper ones they put in were often ones in or like the Intel 1000 series, with perhaps a widi feature and BT feature.  There were some where you couldn't even use wifi and BT at the same time.

It seems at times that HP wants out of the laptop business, like they want to dumb down the laptops to get people to stop buying them to give them an excuse to stop making them.  They also stopped providing driver updates for laptops that needed the maker to do the driver packaging (such as ones with hybrid Intel plus ATI graphics).  Even if you talk to the HP president's office no one can explain why they are doing this, working so hard to aleinate buyers.  On top of that they cut off Win 7 - they won't sell laptops (except a few business ones) and when they would sell 7 it came on stripped units with old CPU's - this done long before Microsoft required this cutoff.

[kaibigan284]

My Toshiba and HP use two different Companies to supply their BIOS Software.

My Toshiba uses Phoenix Technologies Software Company.

My HP uses Insyde Software Company.

I was able to swap the Intel WiFi card in my older Toshiba when I created BIOS software for it, yet sometimes made it useless from a mistake I made, I made a BIOS recovery floppy disc to recover from, from not responsive to active again, then start over. I found it can be made from CDs too.

Problem is I am not sure how to do it with Insyde Software, therefore I did a search for information as I did with the Toshiba. It would be nice to swap cards in my HP.  Perhaps my BIOS revcovery floppy or CD will still be handy for mistakes. Software Tools make it handy to rework the BIOS. If I read what they wrote and copy what they did, its possible I should be able swap cards, if I do well perhaps be able to explain it. Too busy to test what they wrote. Search the internet people are explaining how to install more options, more choices to the BIOS Screen and how to swap numbers in BIOS software to swap WiFi cards - They give detailed information.

I saw some USB WiFi adapters that are small, I might get one perhaps be better to use.

[pbug56]

You might want to read through some of this long thread; pretty much anything you want to know on the subject has already been discussed.  Short version; HP would once say that they had to be sure that you only put in wifi cards that had been tested in this laptop to avoid FCC problems.  Reality was that this was not a big issue.  HP apparently wants to ensure that once you have their laptop at home that it is already obsolete.  They put in whitelists for wifi and supposedly other components as well.  An earlier laptop of mine had memory artificially maxed out at 2GB.  On a desktop the specs said the limit was 1gb even though it was really 2.  They don't want you enhancing or upgrading; they want you to buy a new, higher end one that you otherwise would need.  IMHO, of course.

For a couple years now customers here in this HP forum and elsewhere have been begging HP to remove the whitelist block.  They've also begged HP for beter wifi cards in the whitelist.  And they've begged even harder for updated drivers and bios' in some cases, and typically HP has seldom even commented on the subjects.  

As far as I know all the consumer laptops have the whitelist.  I don't know if the commercial ones do, but they tend to have better wifi cards, at least in more expensive units.

[HarryBrown]

Sadly it's not just HP that use whitelisting of the mini pci-e ports, the likes of Toshiba, Asus and Dell use similar but not going into the reasons why they do it there is a fix that may work. Most reported problems when using a non listed card is the WiFi radio failing to be turned on by either switch or software even through it may appeal that the radio is on just no networkings being found as a result. You could try the covering of PIN 20 trick see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzAKcmlaH1M which I believe is safer than trying to obtain a custom bio's but either methods you run the risk of voiding any extended warranty, or damaging your hardware.

A safer option would be to get a small usb dongle.. I've seen then really small like half a size of a nail but have not seen one this small offering 5Ghz.

[noelpg21]

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@kaibigan284 wrote:

Toshiba and HP use two different Companies to supply their BIOS Software.

Toshiba uses Phoenix Technologies Software Company.

HP uses Insyde Software Company.

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wrong, wrong, WRONG!

My cousin's HP Pavilion dv6648se laptop uses a Phoenix BIOS, not an Insyde BIOS and the BIOS updates for his laptop use WINPHLASH, which is a Phoenix bios flash tool.  Not all HP machines use Phoenix bios chips and some other HP machines use other BIOS chips from AMI, Award or Insyde.  And Toshiba may use different BIOS chips for many different laptops and they're not just limited to Phoenix & Insyde.

Someday I may try to upgrade his laptop which has an Intel 3945abg wlan card to an Intel 4965agn card (an HP OEM specific one of course, not a "generic" 4965agn card).  He's using a 2Wire 2701HG-B DSL gateway modem/router device, which can't do 802.11n (wireless-N) connections.

[ricsgone]

I, too, am another one who will never purchase another HP product.  Forcing the customer to buy their garbage that's already crippled is just an outstanding way to maintain the customer base.  I have upgraded all of my other laptops (Toshiba, Acer, Dell and Asus) with a variety of N and AC cards and everything is in happy land with my ac network.  It's just too bad HP just doesn't get or just doesn't care.  And, even though replacing the wi-fi card is a piece of cake, nothing else about an HP is worth the effort.  Dells and Acers are about as easy to dis-sassemble as they come.  Like I said, I'm finished supporting the crumbling HP garbage empire.

[pbug56]

I've been looking for a new 17" laptop with Win 7 and modern hardware including wifi.  Except maybe for a business laptop or two, HP has NOTHING.  Most of their top laptops come with wifi cards that perform like old G cards.  Amazing in a grand or two laptop finding a single wire single band N that might break 65mbps.  Not upgradable, of course.  And then there's the unusability of 8..., and HP not being willing to sell most of its better gear with 7 Pro.

[Udara]

Please I need to clarify this.

My laptop is a DV6-7045ez bought in Switzerland and it has GT630m graphics in it. So as you say Intel 7260 Dual Band AC won't work in my laptop. I assuming you changed the motherboard because old one with 630m graphics in it didn't work with the above Intel card..