I want to replace my Ralink RT3290. Any suggestion?

I have HP G3 240 Notebook. Intel Core i3-4005U 1,7 Ghz (Haswell), Windows 7 Pro SP 1 64-bit.

Unfortunately, I got the type installed with Ralink RT3290LE 802.11bgn 1x1 Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 Combo Adapter, which is nothing but trouble.

I want to replace my Ralink RT3290 with something like Intel WiFi Link 5100 512AN MMW, which is due to my prior experience have very great performance.

Is there anyone know WiFi card compatible with my notebook & have performance like Intel WiFi Link 5100 512AN MMW? Or maybe better.

 

Since it's an HP laptop I'd assume it has Wi-Fi card whitelist in BIOS.

From its Maintenance and Service Guide it says:

Look like you're SOL here

If you don't mind, would you take a look on the Wi-Fi card in your laptop and see if there's an SPS number printed on the label?

 

Hi, so sorry for the slow respon. I have bunch of work to do.

I've read your answer and googling about HP whitelist, and modifying BIOS obviously not the option to do. Because I don't have any programming experience. I don't like it, but using WiFi Card with the type that HP mention in the Maintenance & Service Guide is the only option.

And about SPS number, what is that? What's for?

 

SPS numbers are kinda like FRU (Field Replacement Unit) in Lenovo computers, which are used to identify any specific parts. For example, your current Ralink card should have SPS number of 690020-001 or 690020-005.

For Wi-Fi card, if there's an SPS number or FRU number on the label, chances are it's the whitelisted version for HP and Lenovo respectively. To say in the other way, the laptop that uses this type of cards should have Wi-Fi card whitelist in the BIOS. Oh and whitelisted cards won't work in laptops with no whitelist, well unless you know how to flash the card...

However this isn't always true: Ivy Bridge EliteBooks (2570p, 8470p, 8570p etc) have Wi-Fi whitelist removed in later BIOS versions, though one can still use whitelisted cards, like my 2570p still having the original whitelisted Intel 6205. Yours is a Haswell laptop so it may also have whitelist removed with newer BIOS, doesn't hurt to try if you already have a non-whitelisted card available

 

Unfortunately my one and only spare WiFi card has different form factor than RT3290.

If HP remove the whitelist on their latest BIOS update, is it means HP not support both software update & availability of official spare part anymore? In other way discontinued product.

 

Sorry for late reply, didn't notice the last part until now.

Concerning removing whitelist = not supporting, the answer is no. If HP decided to discontinue support to certain models they could simply not updating BIOS at all, essentially giving customers the finger like Lenovo does, but they don't.

IMO it's probably due to lots of complaints from the customers about the whitelist (since the Pentium M-era), and so far no one has successfully modded the BIOS file and made it work (the HP BIOS file is RSA encrypted), so they decided to remove the whitelist themselves starting from the older generation they still supported, i.e. Ivy Bridge models.