Warning to those thinking of replacing their wireless card , the screws are very fragile.

So I decided to replace my wireless 2230 card in my M17XR4 with a 6250 that I bought off of Ebay for stupid cheap....I got into the machine no problem as I am completely comfortable doing my own work and work in the IT field. What I wasn't prepared for was the absolute gong show that came out of trying to get the screw out that holds the wireless card down. I used an appropriate screw driver and took my time but it just wouldn't turn, when I finally did get any movement it was not the movement I wanted and it stripped the head off the screw. I tried every different method and tool I could think of to no avail...I was losing my patience and was pissed right off because I figured not only had I probably screwed my warranty if I ever needed to get anything worked on in similar area and they found it but I could no longer change my wireless card out.

I looked at lots of posts from others that have had the exact same problem and it seems to be that this particular screw can be a pain in a lot of models and across many manufacturers.

I eventually ended up using a very small drill bit and drilled down through the screw and broke the head off of it letting me get the wireless card off and then used needle nose pliers to then back the rest of the screw out which came out quite easy after I got the head off. I put the new card in , got a new screw and everything is working good.

So be warned all who may be thinking of replacing their wireless cards, BE CAREFUL with all the screws but that one in particular can be a real problem and you don't want to be drilling into your shiny toy....I was sweating bullets for a few minutes there.

Good luck! :hi2:

 

You did make sure the card was genuine right if it was silly cheap?

 

Yeah...as soon as I opened it. It's genuine Intel, I am not worried.

 

I've never had this issue myself, but I had to have a mobo replacement a while back and Dell sent out a faulty motherboard that had a screw broken off in the wireless card slot. It definitely happens, so be careful when working with these screws.

 

I am honestly not sure what to blame it on yet, over tightening or the lock tight that appears to be on all the screws. Once I took the head of it off the rest of it came out quite easily, I was quite surprised. My biggest concern was breaking the head off to far down and not being able to get at the rest of it with the pliers to get it out. I think I got lucky, but someone could just as easily not get lucky and do some damage. So hopefully a few people will read this and can go in prepared, because I wasn't expecting that.