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    UL80Vt-A1 wifi card location info

    Discussion in 'Asus' started by mnorris, Mar 16, 2010.

  1. mnorris

    mnorris Notebook Enthusiast

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    I finally man'd up enough to crack open my notebook, as I wanted to determine definitively the location of the PCIe slot for the Atheros half-height wifi card. Having done so and replaced the card with an Intel Wifi Link 1000, I can provide an image of the approximate location of the slot for any other adventurous folk.

    (The disassembly's pretty easy, one you get past the warranty-voiding fear. Basically: 1.) remove battery and optical drive from bottom; 2.) remove all underside screws and component faceplates; 3.) pop out keyboard from topside recess and disconnect cable tethering keyboard to motherboard; 4.) remove topside screws found beneath keyboard area (one is partially covered by "warranty void if removed sticker"--just half-pry the sticker); 5.) disconnect two obvious cables (1 for hybrid switch and 1 for some other I/O) from motherboard (because they are attached to topside faceplate about to be removed from notebook chassis); 6.) start pulling up faceplate near top-left/right corners (the faceplate is continuous with the topside housings on the inner portions of the LCD hinges--the housings must be popped up and off hinges to allow faceplate to be removed); 7.) complete faceplate removal by working around edge-interface of faceplate and chassis with something non-scratchy like a butterknife to break light bond of cement between housing components. With the faceplate removed, you will have access to the bottom side (?) of the motherboard, which has attached to it the wifi card slot and a glued-on chip that I assume is the proprietary hybrid-enabling Macguffin on this pre-Optimus laptop. Humorously, there's a thermal pad on the underside of the faceplace which contacts the chip when the notebook is assembled, but there are two four-screw foundations in the chip's immediate area which look to be anchor-points for an unsupplied metal heat-distribution plate similar, I assume, to what's covering the main processor's on the other side of the motherboard.)

    Anyway, mission accomplished, as I now have an Intel Wifi Link 1000 installed where my Atheros card used to be.
     

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