Modifying G750JZ Laptop w/ internal Astro a50 wireless transmitter (WirelessSurroundHeadset)

Thought I'd share a little modification I did to my G750JZ.

It started out from wanting a nice wireless headset for gaming. But as I move around a lot, my gaming rig is of course portable. So I looked at a lot of options and there wasn't anything I really liked that was wireless, practically none. I thought about adding a Bluetooth receiver to a nice pair but decided against it as I still wanted access to the mic. Ended up going with the Astro a50 Headset, which is bar none the best thing I have put on my head that was wireless.

Now...They have a special receiver, which has wires, I don't like wires...So this mod is to do away with having anything connected to this beast.

This was particularly tricky because to get the best sound possible out of these you have to use a separate sound card (that has proper dolby digital live), not only that but you have to use the optical connection, to solve this I purchased the Xonar U3 USB sound-card and intended to add all this inside one of the HDD bays.

Parts;

Astro a50 Headset Transmitter & Headset - $300
Xonar U3 Sound Card - $40
Usb Hub - $10
Usb Dust Cap x2 - $5

Assembling the goodies;


HDD Bay;


a50 case removed (sorry for slightly blurry images, didn't have tripod handy);


Like A Glove!;


Xonar U3 taredown;


Ready for sizing (ended up going with a smaller usb board from this guy http://j1305.hizliresim.com/19/9/mwd7z.jpg );


Had to remove USB port to fit the Xonar USB;


Inside the lady;


It was quite easy considering the USB connections on the top left are on a removable board.




Double checking to make sure the USB leads are the same on a normal cable (don't want any issues);


Shots of how the wiring fit;






Curling the optical cable up for insertion (be careful, it is glass strands and I killed a cable the first time trying to get a right angle) as well as adding the spdif connector;


Xonar U3 soldered in place up and ready for testing;


Coming together, that isn't the final resting place of the Xonar and wires will be cleaned up;


Lights up (at this point I haven't installed the USB hub - which will connect the Astro's mixer);


As of the previous pictures I just had the power going into the transmitter which works just fine, just no mixer settings and mic. But I have the USB hub installed as of today and works beautifully with teamspeak and BF4.

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Unfortunately for all this work I had to open her up once more.

Turns out the Xonar U3 sucks up too much power from the USB ports. The Xonar kept shutting off and turning back every 5 minutes or so. To remedy this I tried to take power from the second USB socket that sits next to this one on the removable board. This did not work as the same problem still persisted. I assume that the power feed to that board is overwhelmed by the two devices simultaneously running. Any other USB devices still work on that second port thankfully, just not high power hungry ones.

Soooo, I needed to find another power source. I scoured the lady with my multimeter and didn't feel safe taking from anything besides LEDs or USBs so I decided to take it from one of the right side USB connectors. (Just the power though as the hub serves the other purpose)

Unfortunately it means to get to those connectors I had to take out the motherboard. I wasn't going to quit when I am this far.

Butt naked;


Power connection soldered in place, don't forget ground connection as well (you will need a separate ground connection then the Xonar's USB hub);


That USB connection is still fully operable as the data lines are not taken up. I have a G602 gaming mouse dongle in there 24/7.

The USB that is taken up by the hub however needs to be remedied. Don't want to accidentally plug something into it. Just had to remove the nub from the dust cover with an exacto knife;



There you have it, a gaming laptop with a fully wireless 7.1 Surround Sound gaming headset/mic.

Thanks for stopping by!