add wireless to a laptop that did not come with it?

I have a laptop which did not come with wireless (it is old). The PCMCIA card is on its last legs, so I thought I would get an internal wireless card. I found one on eBay and installed it. However the laptop does not contain antennas or the wireless on/off button.

I can get antennas and install them, but without the on/off, will it still not work?

This is a Presario R3000 and the wireless card is from another R3000 (used).

I searched the forum and found a guy doing the same thing to a newer Presario, but but his posts did not indicate completion - that is, the most recent post looked like he was still working on it.

Can anyone shed some light on this for me?

Thanks,
Marc

 

Hmm, i'm not quite sure how to help with that, because i've never installed an internal wireless card.

If you cannot get this to work, i recommend picking up a cheap 15-25 dollar USB wireless adapter off newegg ( Azio is the brand i use). They are indisposable. You can just plug it into anything, put in the mini disk, and poof. Wireless internet ready. Best 20 bucks I've ever spent.

 

i'll be the first to admit that i'm not up to date on Compaq laptops, I do have a Presario 2700 but is niether here nor there..

to ad an internal WiFi card, you must have a place to hook it up to.
My advice would be to search for any refrence to your laptop series/model that contained an internal WiFi card. Or if you are brave you could open your laptop up and look for a connector for add-in cards.. i've attached a link below which will give you an idea what you are looking for. Pay attention to the WIFI CARD in the picture.. look at the connector.. if you don't have a connector just like that in your laptop then you have no place to connect an internal card..

http://members.aceweb.com/gregg1/acer/Inside_Acer_Aspire_5315.html

good luck,
bigozone

 

According to the Maintenance & Service guide for your model page 5-35, found here : http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c00212209.pdf its as straight forward as plugging in the optional mini-pci wifi card. It details plugging/unplugging the 2 antenna cables. As you say your laptop doesn't have them pre-installed, you will have to install them in the screen and route the cables to place. Without the antennas your range and speed will be very limited. I believe that for switching the card on & off you might be able to use the HP wireless assistant.
Why dont you try out the card switching first as thats a simple task and if it works, consider the extra work of installing the antennae....

 

I successfully added wireless to my old Presario 2110. It didn't have any antennas. I bought the antennas and located the service manual. Tore it apart and installed the antennas and wireless card. Worked fine.