Killer 1103 installation - P170HM3

What am I looking at in terms of installation? Just pop the old card out, pop the new one in? I've seen people talking about wires.

 

Yah its prety much that simple. You'll see three antenna (wires) in that area. Depending on what wireless card you have now only two might be used. Connect the 3 to the wireless card and install the drivers and you should be all set. Just fyi if you use bluetooth you will lose that capability as its built onto the stock wireless card. If you need it back you can get a USB adapter.

 

Thanks Hutsady!

Anyone want to buy a lightly used Intel 6300 Ultimate-N?

 

PM me with a price. I'm looking to upgrade my 6230 since I don't use the Bluetooth and the 6300 in my x220 gives me pretty fantastic speeds. I want to try to make the most of the connection in my sig, even over wireless

 

To be honest, I can't beat some of the prices on eBay. I see them for $25.00 with free shipping. Granted, many of them are from Chinese merchants but they could be perfectly legit.

intel 6300 | eBay

It would be hard for me to beat those prices while recouping PayPal fees and the cost of shipping.

 

The most difficult part of a wireless card upgrade to an Intel 6300 or Bigfoot 1103 is going from a 2 antenna notebook to a 3 antenna notebook.

The 3rd antenna installation requires removing the frame around the LCD screen and finding the optimal placement for antenna #3.

There's usually a few screws around the LCD frame that have little rubber covers over them that match the frame color.

Removing the covers reveals the screws that need to be removed.

After all the screws have been removed the 2 main parts of the LCD housing(top half of notebook) need to be separated.The part facing you when looking at the screen needs to come off.This can be done by placing a thin plastic guitar pick or other plactic tool with the shape of a small putty knife between the 2 parts and gently work it around the whole edge with just enough force to unpop the plastic snapons.

Most often the 2 existing antennas are on opposite sides of the LCD panel.The antenna with the black wire is #1 and the one with the grey wire is #2.The further away each antenna is placed from the other antennas the better the signal reception will be.

If there's room next to the camera then that would be the best place to put antenna #3.

New antennas have a tape on them to secure it to the housing.Look closely how the others are held in place.Don't install it in a manner where it's touching the metal edge of the screen panel.

The #3 antenna wire then needs to be snaked through the hinge together with the wires from antennas #1 and #2 and connected to post #3(center) on the Intel 6300 or Bigfoot 1103 that's installed in the bottom half of the notebook in a mini pci-e slot.

Before you upgrade your wireless card and add the 3rd antenna install and run inSSIDer to test the signal strength on both the 2.4ghz band and the 5ghz band.Then test again with the new wireless card and 3rd antenna.

You can walk arourd your location with the notebook in your hands to find the best spots for signal reception.

Your wireless router should be one that is able to allow maximum connection speeds to comliment the 450Mbps Simultanious Duel-Band wireless card in the notebook.

Routers to concider:
ZyXEL NBG5715
Netgear WNDR4500
TrendNet 692GR

 

Already have a 6300 in the laptop so the upgrade to the 1103 shouldn't be so laborious but that's a very informative post!

 

And just in case anyone needs it, the P170HM disassembly guide can be found here: P17xHM_ESM.zip (Props to theriko of course)

 

Thanks JP!

I'll be installing the 1103 this weekend.

Any trick to removing the top cover module to get at the keyboard screws? Does it just pop up?

 

The service manual has all the info. Just follow it and you should be fine.

 

Yeah I looked in there but it doesn't offer any specifics on removing the top cover module.

 

Its just snapped on, just pick it up (there should be a little bit of a lip on the power button side where it meets the rest of the chassis, just pick it up, it'll snap off.

 

In the Service manual page A-6 LCD Figure A-4

Models with the 120hz screen and imbeded 3D emitter may need to place antennas in different locations.

Item #2 Rubber Covers(6)

Item #3 Screws(6)

Item #4 Front cover Module

Item #17 Back Cover Module

Pick off the 6 rubber covers then remove the 6 screws underneath.

Place your thin plastic knife type tool or guitar pick between item #4 and item #17 and work it around until item #4 is full removed.

The antenna wire on the 3rd added antenna will need to join the wires from the other 2 antennas and pass through the LCD hinge and connect to the center post marked with a 3 on the wireless card.

After you have your new 3 antenna wireless card up and running you should go into Network Connections>Right Click on Wireless Network Connection>Properties>Configure Adapter>Advanced

Here you need to check that the Intel 6300 or Bigfoot 1103 is configured correctly.

In your router settings use WPA2-PSK if you want the best connection speed.

Choose a channel manually that is not being used by your neighbors on both the 2.4ghz band and the 5ghz band.The inSSIDer program will show what's being used and the signal strength you're picking up from their routers.

Give each band a different SSID but password can be the same.

If it works with all your wireless devices set the channel width to 40Mhz and use 802.11N only.

If you use WPA compatibility you will lose speed.

 

Thanks!

Did the install on Friday. Was quick and simple. 3 wires were already there from the 6300.

Glad to say my issues with th 6300 taking up to 3 minutes to connect when waking from sleep have been remedied. The 1103 connects almost instantaneously when waking from sleep and is working flawlessly.