Does the Ralink RT5390 wireless card in a Pavilion dm1z work with WiFi on 5ghz?

[johnmdm1z]

I have a Pavailion dm1z which uses the Ralink RT5390 wireless card. I have a dual band router with WiFi networks on 2.4GHZ and 5GHz. The dm1z cannot pick up the SSID from the 5GHz range, it can for the 2.4 GHz band. Is the Ralink RT5390 wireless card dual band? Can it pick up my 5GHz wireless network? If not, can new drivers allow for this? Or could the dm1z be upgraded to pick up WiFi in the 5GHz range? What other options do I have to get to the 5GHz WiFi?

[pepe999]

Hi,

this wireless module is a single channel 1x1. It means up to 72Mbps and support 802.11b/g/n. However, 802.11n just up to 72Mbps as I mentioned before. Dual channel cards support mostly also 802.11a which works on 5Ghz only and this card doesn't...

http://www.ralinktech.com/product.php?s=22

See a maintenance and service guide manual for the dm1z and compatible dual channel wireless cards..

[johnmdm1z]

Thanks. Do you have a link to a maintenance/service guide for the dm1z that lists compatible/HP supported dual channel wireless cards?

[pepe999]

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@johnmdm1z wrote:

Thanks. Do you have a link to a maintenance/service guide for the dm1z that lists compatible/HP supported dual channel wireless cards?

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Hi, I need to know what model exactly you have. You can find the manual at the support and drivers website where you download drivers for your laptop..

[johnmdm1z]

I have a HP Pavilion dm1 (though it's also called dm1z?) that I bought on the HP online store.

Product #:  XL303AV (this was on the box)

[pepe999]

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@johnmdm1z wrote:

I have a HP Pavilion dm1 (though it's also called dm1z?) that I bought on the HP online store.

Product #:  XL303AV (this was on the box)

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http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c02666702.pdf

Your laptop is a dm1z-3000.

There are no any dual channel compatible cards. There are only 2 single channel 1x1 wifi/bluetooth combo cards. That Ralink you have got and a Broadcom 4313. You will have to modify the BIOS (disable the whitelist) if you want a better card..

[johnmdm1z]

Thank you for the link.

More questions now of course.

Looking at the document I see the two supported cards that you mentioned. First on page 18 "Chapter 3 Illustrated Parts Catalog" and again on page 39 "Chapter 4 Removal and replacement procedures", here they are:

• Broadcom 4313 802.11b/g/n 1x1 WiFi and 2070 Bluetooth 2.1+EDR Combo adapter - (BT3.0+HS ready)
• Ralink RT5390 802.11b/g/n 1x1 WiFi and BC8 Bluetooth 3.0+HS Combo adaptor - Rashi2

You said:

"You will have to modify the BIOS (disable the whitelist) if you want a better card"

How do you know that these are the only two cards supported by HP? Is it becuase these are the only two listed in the "HP Pavilion dm1 Notebook PC Maintenance and Service Guide"? Or are they actually listed in the BIOS somewhere?

On page 2 of the guide in "Chapter 1 Product description" within the 'Wireless' section I see this: 

Integrated wireless wide-area network (WWAN) and GPS function (FMC)
● Qualcomm Gobi2/Birlion with 2 antennas
● 6 band antenna support: 2100/1800/1900/800/900 with additional GPS band
● 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz antennas in display enclosure

Could I install this whitelisted Qualcomm card and use it just for 5GHz WiFi? I don't won't to connect to a cellular network for internet access, I just want integrated 5GHz WiFi.

[pepe999]

In the Maintenance and Service Guide are all compatible devices for the specific models. If it says that there are only 2 compatible modules, the whitelist won't allow any other wireless device and you get the 104 unsupported device error. I mean that the BIOS is configured to ignore any other wireless card except these two and when it finds an incompatible device, the error message comes up and the booting process stops...

The Qualcomm modem is for the mobile broadband using a SIM card and it's not compatible with any of the 802.11 standards. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WiMAX

I'm not sure about the 2.4Ghz and 5GHz antennas for WWAN but antennas for the wireless module in a laptop are underneath the display. It's disappointing when you find out that your laptop has some limitations which you haven't expected but it's technically correct. Both compatible cards are 802.11b/g/n capable, however only 1x1 single channel up to 72Mbps. I have spent many hours finding the best laptop I could find, including a research of dual-channel wireless modules in it and other things because I use linux and had to make sure that it will all work out of the box.

You may try to modify the BIOS and disable the whitelist for wireless modules but it's not recommended. I have done it myself and it works..

[johnmdm1z]

I appreciate the details in your responses, thank you. Overall I am very happy with the dm1z but no 5GHz option is an oversight by HP if you ask me. I kind of assumed 5GHz support, it's becoming much more common and most new WiFi routers offer it. The Lenovo Thinkpad x120e does give you an option to upgrade to a 2x2 wireless adapter for $20, my guess is HP will do this in the future as well as it seems that the x120e is their primary competition in this space right now. I thought about the x120e but the dm1z is a very good unit at very good price so no regrets.

What are your thoughts on 5GHz wireless USB adapters? These should work fine with the dm1z?

[pepe999 · Accepted solution]

USB adapter (5 or 2.4GHz) should work well on the laptop.