WLAN minipci antenna

purchased a compaq 2199us for my mommy. want to add WLAN, but preferably minipci (hate the pc crad sticking out on mine already). contacted HP/comcrap support online; they said not antenna is needed just order the card and pop it in. being that i have worked tech support for a major pc manufacturer, i didnt believe him...only 1 in like 25 techs you may talk to at those places actually knows something and isnt reading a script.

being savvy i took apart a dlink 520+ pci card and pulled the minipci inside of it out and installed, werked for $h*t only got a signal within 20 feet of my router.

i dont think it matters if i install their intel 2100 WLAN or this dlink or any others...it must connect to an antenna somehow...anyone have one that came preinstalled or installed one themselves that can share? pics would be useful but not necessary. i see something that looks somewhat like it could be a plug in for the antenna.

thanks!

0dp

 

The antennas are generally installed in the casing around the display. I've never tried to add one or take one out, so I can't help much more...sorry.

Editor in Chief http://www.bargainPDA.com and http://www.SPOTstop.com

 

ok, anyone in general have a recent model compaq notebook that came preinstalled with WLAN and it just happens to be a miniPCI model?
(just a few screws on the bottom my friends)

i got my dad a compaq amd64 a month ago and I stripped it down a couple days ago. His must be integrated in the MB cuz the miniPCI slot is currently open for business.

I'm thinking there would be a wire kit for it, but probably some obscure part number that is only used by actual techs that perform the services. Once sales or "tech support" tells you that opening up your expensive laptop voids your warranty...many would be quick to pay for installation or resort to PCMCIA,USB...etc.

I guess I'll try and email tech support, maybe someone with some brains there can figure it out instead of just telling me that it doesnt need any antenna.....

or maybe ill go to BB, CC, Office Max and everywhere else that sells 'em with a screwdriver till i find one that does.

0dp

 

I checked to see if I could find what your looking for, but it doesn't seem like this model has the antenna available. The unit P/N's that were search for the Compaq 2199US was DZ414U & DZ414UR. These are the only 2199US models I can find and both don't even list that they have WLAN capabilities. It's possible that it's built into the LCD & therefore not a seperate part. HP/Compaq does not allow their service centers to disassemble the LCD's, they ship them out in whole and require the entire LCD & the complete housing to be swapped out in 1 piece.

-Vb-

 

wait clickhere for pics

http://video-visions.us/images/



0dp

 

here are pics...

whole miniPCI slot
http://video-visions.us/images/2199minipciFar.jpg

closeup of what i think the antenna could possibly plug in to
http://video-visions.us/images/2199minipciCU.jpg

i know many manufacturers embed antennas in the LCD, but im figuring that it may be so cheap they are doing it on all models that can take wifi, or maybe not. either way an antenna has to plug in somewhere, every miniPCI card i have looked at has an antenna connection

so again, if anyone has wifi on their HP/comcrap can you possibly see if it is miniPCI and if it has an antenna running somewhere...thanks

0dp

 

I'm surprised the D-Link card worked at all, the pinheads rigged my zv5000z's BIOS to reject non-HP cards (Broadcom cards are Linux-hostile, they're the most hated networking company in the Linux community). You should see a couple of wires with small round copper/gold connectors on the ends that would snap into place. If you can't find those, they apparently didn't bother including the WiFi antennas behind the screen. You can see the card in my zv5000z here:

http://www.mindspring.com/~bstretch/zv5000zguts.jpg

Center-top of the screen. The antenna connectors are on the bottom left edge of the card. The card snaps in place like a SODIMM, only bigger. I can't tell from your pictures if you're looking at the right spot?

 

thanks for the pic!

the miniPCI on 2199US is on the bottom, not under the keyboard though...on my compaq 1510 i have miniPCIon the bottom chassis as well, but it has a modem in place currently. the new compaq amd64 i got my dad last month may its WLAN card in the same spot as yours, i know the miniPCI on the bottom chassis is empty on his, but i never ripped off the keyboard to verify.

maybe i can find an antenna kit somehow or alternative to one.

0dp

 

What is the wire at the right side of this image http://video-visions.us/images/2199minipciFar.jpg could it be anything to do with the antenna?

I took the cover off mine this am to see if I had any wires visible.


<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by 0dp

 

Could be, it kinda looks like there's a connector at the end of the wire that's tucked away (you really don't want a piece of metal flopping about), I can't tell for sure. There may only be one antenna though two is more common these days. I can't think of anything else a wire that size would be used for.

 

Has it been verified that the 2199US comes with or without the wireless antenna if the machine was not purchased with the wireless card?

I would assume it would be more cost effective just to preinstall the antenna rather than have a separate process to fit them?

(Kinda like the universal wiring harnesses in cars..more wiring involved but cheaper overall at the end of the day.)

Tell it like it is...NOT how it should be

 

I have a Compaq Presario 2199US. I have been using an external wireless card but my PCMCIA socket just quit working. I was thinking about installing an internal wireless card instead of getting the socket fixed. It seems to be a pretty simple plug and play card and Compaq said the laptop was already equipped with an antenna. Has anyone tried this and did it work?