Gateway MX6437 Wireless Card Replacement Q's

My daughter has a Gateway MX6437 laptop with a Broadcom (BCM943??CB) Wireless Network Interface card.

The laptop does not detect any wireless networks and AT&T (BellSouth) is sending out a new replacement card, however, I looked at the current card and have some questions on correct installation.

The access cover for the current card appears to have a stainless steel plate on the bottom of it (facing the card). The card itself connects to the cardbus slot, but has a stainless steel cover over the processor with a sticker over it. It also has two circular pin connections, one labeled Main with a black wire connected to it and one labeled Aux with a gray wire connected to it - the wires run back into the laptop. There is a black sponge (shock absorption) beneath the card.

Question - since the bottom of the access plate is stainless - Do I need to keep the card away from it (grounding issues - is that what the sticker does?), or should the card be in contact with it (heat issues, antenna base extension?), or does it not matter and I am overanalyzing it as usual?

Thanks in advance for assistance!!!

 

normally the cover plate has a plastic sheet (electric tape type of sort) in between the card and the metal part of the plate. I am not familiar with the new models. But I would personally would do the same if u do not have it at the moment - electric tape it

cheers ...

 

What I thought was odd was the presence of the plate at all - the cover itself is plastic and plastic would be non-conductive - although maybe static electricity would be involved.

Right now there is nothing in there except the metal plate, but then again, the old card likely failed and that could be why.

 

Just wanted to update - AT&T sent out a PCMCIA Wireless NIC, not a cardbus one, so I didn't mess with the cover and installed that and it is working fine again.

Not the way I would have done it if it were my machine, but my daughter is happy with it so I guess all's well.

Thanks for the help!!!