How to change wireless card in Envy 14?

Hello.

I just bought new envy 14 and it came with broadcom wireless card, and it is not as good as Intel which I had on my last laptop.

The range or speed arent as good, and nothing has been changed on my router, etc.

So I am thinking of buying a good intel wireless card and changing it for broadcom.

Someone know if I will be able to replace the card successfully, if so, is it hard to replace?

Thank you.

 

As long as it is the Intel card that is used by HP it is good. HP whitelists their WI-FI cards, so it has to be the exact Intel model they use. Get the model they use and you will be fine. Sadly, I don't know what the E14 uses so someone that has an E14 can tell you. North American models should come with Intel Centrino cards.

 

its intel centrino 6200, but changing the card is easy, hard part is installing the antenna wires..intel 6200 has 2 antenna wires, if the broadcom has less that 2, then you migt have to disassemble the entire top lid to install the other wire...i think it should still work with only 1 antenna but it wont that much of an improvement over the broadcom

 

I thought all Envy 14 came with the Intel Centrino 6200

 

yes they do.

The broadcom is the bluetooth adapter.

 

the north american versions come with intel 6200 and broadcom bluetooth, the Euro versions come with both broadcom bluetooth and broadcom WLAN adapter

 

There should be two Wi-Fi Antennas minimum. Even on Broadcom Cards. He should get the 6200 and he will be fine.

 

How hard will it to open and change the cards? Is it like changing a RAM or much harder?

 

almost like changing RAM, there should be a slot on the bottom. Just unplug the 2 antenna wires, remove the broadcom, install the intel 6200, and then re-insert the 2 antenna wires. Take off the bottom cover and take a look yourself before you buy it so you understand what to do..

 

I thought it had 3 wires. I opened mine up and was surprised to see 2 white wires and 1 black one.

 

that's weird..mine has 1 red and 1 white wire..do you have the Envy 14? What's the part number on your card? It states on the intel website that the 6200 has 2 antennas, only the 6300 has 3. Btw, @awaisUK, you just remove the bottom covers and then theres 2 screws for the wireless card, thats it

 

Intel 6200. I dunno, the black wire kind of hangs freely. I'm going to guess it has a different function.

 

Will this card work if I buy it? NEW Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6200 MiNi Card 622ANHMW on eBay.ca (item 260723470014 end time 15-Feb-11 22:18:02 EST)

It says MINI? What does that mean....will it work fine?

Also I looked at the manual of envy 14 and installation looks very easy......but will it void my warranty or not?

Thanks all

 

MINI just means it's not big as the 3-inch cards that used to exist back in the earlier 2000s. I'm not sure whether it'll fit, but the one I put in my Asus looked like my Envy's. I haven't seen them side by side.

Installation of a card won't void your warranty. You won't be removing any warranty stickers to plug it in or take it out.

 

Thanks for your reply, hopefully someone can confirm it 100% that it will work on evy 14 so I can buy it....

 

It should work, the 6200 is considered a Mini Wi-Fi card. I think...

 

ok will order it, hopefully it will work fine

 

It should work. As for the hanging black wire, I think that's for the WWAN option HP offers. The WWAN card (if you ordered it) should be in a PCI slot under the hard drive.

 

Been following this as I have a similar issue, though on an HP DV8t, not an Envy. The DV8t came with an Intel 5100 wifi card which I want to swap out for a 6200, which I already own. If I put the 6200 in, and use the drivers for the 6200 card from the NBR driver forum:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-...gen-2-dv7-gen-3-dv8-hdx16-hdx18-intel-67.html

It says the driver applies to many HP Notebooks (including my DV8) and a large number of Intel Wifi cards - 1000, 5100, 5300, 6200, 6300.

Sound ok? Might it work fine with the driver already in the computer since it too also applies to the 6200 network adapter?

 

Since HP is one of two stupid companies that whitelist, you have to be careful. If HP ever offered the DV8 with an option of the 6200, then yes you can use it. If they never did, then no. With that case, you need to find a modded BIOS that de-whitelists.

The driver Intel releases is often done to support most of their card lineup, the same way that graphics card makers makes a driver that support various graphics card lineups. Even though it says it will update the 6200, doesn't mean your BIOS in this case will take one due to the whitelist.

Hope that helps.

 

Just to be clear, you can't upgrade the wifi card? Because I was really hoping to upgrade to a killer wireless n card

 

You can't have any wireless card besides the ones that HP allows.

Which would either be the broadcom one or the intel 6200

 

That really sucks, but i have the 6200 so i guess its not bad :/