Can wifi adaptor be upgraded to at least wifi 5 protocol HP 350 G2?

[silverman166]

A recent engineer visit to investigate lower than specified fibre broadband speed (49Mbps download vs specified 150)

traced the problem to the wifi adaptor on my 350 G2 laptop being on WiFi 4 protocol, which apparently only allows a maximum 72Mbps.

The current adaptor is Realtek RTL8723BE 802.11 BGN, driver version 2024.4.208

Is there some way to upgrade this to allow me to take full advantage of the available speed, please?

[silverman166]

Hello, and thanks for your most helpful reply, but unfortunately, as an elderly user I'm not sure how to check my laptop's compatibility and BIOS whitelist before purchasing.

I'm fairly confident that I could find out how to physically replace the driver if compatible, but would there be any other changes/procedures I need to be aware of before going ahead?

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi, @silverman166 

The RTL8821CE adapter is a different form factor (M.2) than the Realtek Half Mini Card (HMC) your notebook currently comes with, so it will not fit.

I believe that your notebook only has one antenna wire connected to the Realtek card which means a dual band card will not work properly with only one antenna wire.

There should be no whitelist because I have the HP 350 G1, but mine came with the Broadcom dual band card which means that my notebook came with two antenna wires.

I upgraded my notebook's Wi-Fi card to this modified Intel AX210 HMC card.

Amazon.com: WiFi 6E Half Mini PCI-E WiFi Network Card 802.11AX AC MPE-AXE3000H 2.4GHz 5GHz 6GHz 5400...

Now if you can get a modified RTL8821CE HMC card that only has one antenna connector like the one your notebook has now, that should work OK, but I don't know if those exist.

The only one I could find has two antenna terminal connections.

Realtek RTL8821CE mini PCI-E WiFi Bluetooth Card Dual Band 802.11abgn/ac Windows | eBay

This is what the Wi-Fi card your PC comes with looks like.  Note the single antenna wire terminal.

Realtek RT8723BE 802.11bgn 1+BT4.0 Combo 753077-001 HP 250 G3 PCIe Wireless Card | eBay

Now if you want to sacrifice Bluetooth, you can install a dual band HMC card and connect the single antenna wire to the card's main antenna terminal.

I just don't know if the Wi-Fi signal quality will be degraded as well without the auxiliary antenna wire.

Below is the link to the service manual:

HP 350 G2 Notebook PC Maintenance and Service Guide

It's very easy to replace the Wi-Fi adapter.

It took me less than 10 minutes.

[silverman166]

Thanks Paul, that was most useful.

With the help of the Service Guide you linked me to, I obtained access to the WLAN card, and took photos showing the installation.

The first two photos below show the card in my laptop, which indeed has just the one antenna connection, but there is a second antenna cable (labelled 2 and originally hidden) but which I have looped under the one attached to the card.

Would I be correct in assuming that this second antenna cable could be used on the second terminal on the modified Intel AX210 HMC card which you installed on your 350 G1, and which looks like mine? (As shown in the third photo).

 1.   Mine

 2.  Mine

  3.  From Amazon ad you kindly linked me to.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

That is great news that HP included the second antenna wire.

So, you install the #2 antenna on the Wi-Fi card's #2 Aux terminal.

On their consumer class notebooks if a Wi-Fi card only needs one antenna wire, then the notebook only gets one antenna wire, even if other models in the same series have better Wi-Fi cards that need two antenna wires.

You can definitely upgrade to a better card.

Looks like they sell the AX210 card on Amazon.UK:

Epdpekc WiFi 6E -AXE3000H Mini PCI-E Wifi Card Bluetooth 5.2 AX210 Network Card 802.11AX/AC Wireless...

Before you install the new card, uninstall the Realtek Wi-Fi adapter and Realtek Bluetooth adapter in the device manager and check the Uninstall driver box.

Then you can shut down, unplug the PC., remove the battery and install the Intel card.

You can use the latest Wi-Fi and Bluetooth drivers from Intel's website.

Intel® Wireless Wi-Fi Drivers for Windows® 10 and Windows 11*

Intel® Wireless Bluetooth® Drivers for Windows® 10 and Windows 11*

I had originally upgraded the Broadcom wireless N card to an Intel 7260 AC card so that is how I found out the notebook didn't have a BIOS whitelist, since the Intel 7260AC was not listed as a supported Wi-Fi card in the service manual.

Then I came across this AX210 HMC card and figured I'd try it out since it didn't cost that much.

I was hoping it would work, and it did, just fine.

[silverman166]

Thanks so much Paul, that is indeed great news, and thankyou also for the various links you have provided to possible cards, and for sharing your research with me. That has been a great help to one such as me who finds it difficult to follow the rapid advances in technology these days!

One last thing - given that the cost of the item in this  post, Epdpekc WiFi 6E -AXE3000H

is considerably more than the ebay one previously mentioned, RTL8821CE, and with poorer delivery, should I go for the ebay version, presumably using drivers from the Realtek website, would you suggest, please?

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

You can get the AX210 on eBay.UK as well and it seems that it costs less but shipping may take longer since they come from China.  

£16.99 and free shipping.  Make sure you select the Wi-Fi 6E card from the drop-down menu.

Mini PCI-E WiFi Bluetooth Card wifi 6 wifi 6e Network Adapter for PC Windows | eBay

If you still don't want to pay that much, then you may as well go for the Realtek 8821CE Wi-Fi 5 card.

The link for the RTL8821CE is from the US eBay site so you would have to change the shipping to the UK and this item also ships from China.

The Intel AX210 is a much better card, IMHO.

Here are the links to the latest Wi-Fi and Bluetooth drivers for the Realtek 8821CE card:

Version 2024.10.230.1

sp155768.exe

Bluetooth:

Version 1.10.1072.3000

sp155460.exe

[silverman166]

Thanks Paul - much appreciated.

However, I'm getting somewhat confused now, as when I looked into the ebay link, scrolling down the ad stated that they are not suitable for HP laptops.

Any comments, please?

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

They are basing that information on many older HP notebooks with HMC wifi cards having BIOS whitelists.

The one I bought indicated the same thing. 

Since the notebook didn't have a BIOS whitelist, the card worked fine. 

Any HP notebook made in 2011 or earlier had a BIOS whitelist, which makes sense for the seller to make a blanket statement like that. 

[silverman166]

OK thanks for the clarification.