Upgrading R4000 to wireless

ok, so i got my R4000 presario model with no wireless option, thanks to my mother (oh well, she payed for it ) so i want wireless. currently im using a D-Link DWL-G630 PCMCIA card which does fine, but has no good linux/linux64 or win XP x64 drivers readily available. I also dont like the fact that it sticks out of my system. So i read arond and find how to upgrade the MiniPCI in my lappy, and even scope it out myself by removing the keyboard etc. So i remove the keyboard and look around, find out how to make this button here work...and whaddya know, there are no internal antenna's in there. I have found some on ebay, but not sure how to get them in correctly. any suggestions or comments from people who have done this upgrade?

 

That's going to be tough job at best, because the antenna are usually located in the LCD panel. If you didn't get wireless preconfigured, there won't be any antenna in the panel.

From what I've read, you're going to have to hook up the antenna with the mini PCI wireless card and route them to the panel (easier said than done). Try asking the forum members in the networking section; they might be able to come up with other ideas.

 

Even worse, HP locks out non-HP wireless miniPCI cards in the BIOS, claiming that the FCC made them do it even though pretty much no one else does. I found this out the hard way. You're likely stuck with PCMCIA cards.

I'm surprised the D-Link card doesn't work under Linux? They usually use Atheros chips that are supposed to be well supported.

 

Getting an HP mini-PCI card is no problem, ebay for like $30. The problem is the antenna.

and hte DWL-G650 will work with madwifi ateros drivers, but for some reason i cant get the one i have (DWL-G630) to run with them. I cant use ndiswrapper to use the windows drivers either because they are 32 bit drivers on a 64 bit OS

 

Ah, here's why:
http://www.leenooks.com/206

It's using a TI chip.

Hmm, there are indeed a few HP wireless miniPCI cards in Computers & Networking > Laptop Parts & Accessories > Other Parts & Accessories on eBay. With luck one of those will work.

 

incorrect my friend. That is the DWL-650+ (the 802.11 b card)
the DWL-G650 uses an Atheros chipset and can be easily installed with madwifi drivers.

however for some reason the DWL-G630 (the lesser version of the 650) using the same atheros chipset will not come to work in SLAMD64 (Slackware 64-bit port)

 

ok, so i got this down. I ordered the mini-PCI card off ebay (broadcom HP wireless g card) and got the type2 antenna's. Easily installed them in my display (4 screws and pry off the front). I'll be compiling a guide with pics some time soon, so wait for it