Installing Bluetooth card in Studio 17

I ordered a Bluetooth card from Dell for my Studio 17, and I was wondering if anyone has installed one of these yet. I already have the WLAN card installed which is for the WiFi operations and Im wondering how hard of a job it is to install the Bluetooth card.

I already added a second hard drive to my laptop so going inside of it isnt a problem I know what Im doing but have no clue where the Wireless cards are mounted. Im hoping the Bluetooth slot is marked so I know where it goes.

Any help in this is greatly appreciated.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=297416

 

Thanks Somms, but that link only gets information about the driver for the Bluetooth card, it doesnt talk about installing the card itself.

ie: installing the card, hooking up any antenna wires ? Im sure there are wires that need attached ?

The documentation on Dell's Support page is very sketchy and not very precise. I'd like to know a step by step how to so I can get this installed and working.

 

This is on my things to add list as well.
I doubt it's any harder than installing the Wi-Fi card which is pretty easy. Should be an empty slot for it(next to Wi-Fi), pretty sure you don't even need a cable (somtimes sold seperately from the card itself).
Good luck & just take it slow.

 

Thanks Fredline,

I got it in and working. All I did was open the case, and as you say its over where the WiFi card is. The slots are marked WLAN, WWAN, and WPAN. I just plugged it into the WPAN slot, and pressed it in place.

Next came the nightmare, Dell supplied the wrong screw in the package. The screw they gave me was to big, so I looked around inside and found the plastic plate that the cards mount on to has 2 screws and it only needs one really to hold it in place, so I took one and it was the proper size and put it into the WPAN card to hold it in place.

Then there is a blue wire taped right on the empty slot where youre supposed to plug in your WPAN card, so you cant make any mistakes, each slot has the wire or wires taped in place and the slot mounting plate has the color of the wire that belongs there marked on it. In my case the slot had a BLUE wire on it and the spot was labled BLUE WIRE. I take this wire, and on the end of it is a wee tiny, snap on connector. You want to be very careful with this connector as it has a tiny round cap and in the center of that cap is a small needle like pin which will plug into the antenna connection on the Bluetooth card. I carefully place this on and press until I feel it " lock " onto the terminal and then I knew it was on properly.

Next just make sure all tools etc are out of the way, and close the case back up and install the software that came with the Bluetooth card.


Tip: what I found very helpful over the years that I have been working inside of computers, is, if you dont want to try to fish out a tiny screw that you dropped onto the board and it slid under an area that you can barely get to, then take a few pieces of tape, I use Scotch clear tape, you can you any you like, and place some stips of tape over any gaps or holes that a tiny screw could possibly fall or roll into. Years ago I ruined a motherboard because a screw had rolled over the edge of it and slid under the board. I didnt know it at the time, it must have slid under while I was working on the boards. So from that time on I always tape up any gaps or openings that a screw might bounce roll, or slip into, because when you look inside your Dell Studio laptop you'll see what I mean, there are gaps, and cracks and openings that lead under other components and if you lose a screw into one of them and it rolls, you will end up pulling out a bunch of stuff to get that screw out.

Anyhow the Bluetooth minicard is in, and works.

Thanks to all who took the time to reply,