My Laptop Dual Wifi Card Setup (Pictures)

I went through so much effort i felt like posting pictures lol.

The WHY
The Intel 5100 has its problems and now that I online game any kind of disconnection is an issue. I replaced the card with a new 6200 model. But this doesn't work with my instant on OS. The instant on OS is useless if its not wireless.

The HOW
I am lucky that my laptop has a second slot meant for turbo memory or a tv tuner. Normally I dont have to take the case apart to service the CPU, GPU, Wifi, RAM or the cooler. The second slot is under the corner of the laptop as well as running antenna's.

Step 1 Salvage some antenna's. I had a dead HP Compaq laying around. I will post pictures of the entire laptop later.


Step 2 Take apart current laptop and install antenna's. The leads were to short to reach the screen and since this was not installed for performance, I put them in the bottom.


Step 3 Install Card's and test the setup.


Step 4 Reassemble and tuck wires. Sadly while they were not long enough for the screen they were too long for the location used. I had to run the wires under the hard drives.


It works so i can still use my instant on os in a hurry. Signals weaker than the main card of course. I have the 5100 disabled in windows but I could connect to a second network for file transfers or something with it.

 

Some more options:

Since the instant os is just a cut down linux sitting on the hdd you could blow it away and install other fast linux.

Replace old wireless card with the new, and put ssd in the second slot, and install a full linux distro on it and have instant on with a full os .. or even windows

 

Express Gate isn't on the HDD. Best I can tell its on a flash chip on the mobo. I already tried out what its based on using the HHD version and didnt like it any better then what I have now. Cant really afford to waste money on an SSD card at the moment and trying to avoid anything not free or cheap till the machine gets replaced after this year.

Thanks for the input though.

 

Do they not release updated images for the embedded OS? What kind of access do you have to its filesystem? You might be able to sort it out with a simple reflash of a newer version.

The 5x and 6x intel cards use the same linux driver, you probably just need an updated kernel since the 6x support was added in a later release.

 

Yeah they update it until they stop selling the model and or they stop finding issues with models still under warranty coverage. I am no linux nut nor am I a newb. Pretty much none. The source is available but normally its installed by a prepackaged installer under windows. I could probably find and write a loader for the flash chip if I wanted to.

Until I need the slot for something its not really a bother.