8710P upgrade from Intel 4965AG to 5300AN

Hi everyone,

I'm brand new to the forum. I've been running a Compaq 8710P since Dec 2008. Over that time I've added Ram and a 500 GB hard drive.

After upgrading my home wireless router to a Linksys/Cisco N, I realized that my laptop doesn't have an N wireless card. Stranger still, having a look at the card shows it to be an Intel 4965AG_ n is mentioned in the model line and it does indeed have 3 wires for antennas, as I would expect to see on a wireless N system. ( see pic)

I purchased a new Intel 5300AN mini PCI-E card but the system stops at post with an unrecognized wireless card.

Does anyone have anywhere for me to start with getting this 5300 running in my 8710P?

 

HP BIOS-locks their notebooks to only accept certain wireless cards; the 5300AGN is likely one of those that's locked out.

The 4965AGN is a very good card . . . it does support the N wireless. Have you tried updating the wireless card's drivers? Also check to see if your router is in N mode.

 

See TTAV134's List of HPQOEMSLIC-MPC-HPQ SLIC2.1 moded BIOS's for HP COMPAQ LAPTOPS + unwhitelisting. There's a modded 8710p bios that will work great with your 5300AN.

 

Thanks for the replies.

Charles: I've confirmed that my present card is an older 4965AG. I tried to order the 4965AGN but it is discontinued.

Nando4: Thanks for the link. I'm going to give it a try and report back here.

Cheers!

 

Charles: You were dead on, HP locks out certain hardware, as I've now discovered.

nando4: Awesome link and help! I performed this Bios upgrade then booted, shut down, inserted the new 5300AGN, and it worked! The error flashes up on the screen for a millisecond but is ignored by the system (no more system halt). I'm now on my home and work network with N connectivity and it is very stable.

Thanks again!

 

Great to hear you've bypassed HP's engineered wifi redundancy. I've written more details on the whitelisting methods and my sendiments about it here. Let's hope HP/Lenovo abolish this practice.

 

Fantastic!

The limitations are annoying, I think HP does it even with their consumer notebooks.

N wireless should have better range than the standard B/G as well and better signal strength. Enjoy.