does Samsung block third party wifi cards in bios?

I'm trying to get a broadcom wifi card going, which i replaced with the original wifi card, and i keep getting a code 10 error in device manager. i believe the wlan is Lenovo branded or the part number points to lenovo laptops when I do a google search.

 

Samsung don't normally whitelist the WiFi cards. People have upgraded, for example, from the Intel 6235 to the Intel 7260.

I think it is more likely you have a driver problem. What is your notebook model and the original WiFi card?

John

 

The original is a Broadcom 802.11n 2.4gz. Laptop is Series 9 np900x1b.

The new card is a Foxconn built Broadcom BCM 943228.

 

Thanks.

I wonder if, since the WiFi card is from the same manufacturer, Windows hasn't properly realised that it is something new and needs proper configuration. I had something similar happen when I tried replacing the Intel 6235 (which performed badly for a year until Intel released a new driver) with the older Intel 6230. I never resolved the issue but suspect that I needed to remove the old card then remove all traces of driver and configuration before putting in the new card. I suggest you try this.

There's also the possibility that Easy Settings needs to be reinstalled once the new card is in place since that is also a link between the system and the WiFi operation.

John

 

Hi, thanks for getting back. So you were right. It's some sort of a driver issue. I fired up Ubuntu, and after an apt-get bcm something or other, the wifi card start working fine. Now I atleast know that the wifi card isn't blacklisted but I can't seem to get it going in Windows 8.1. Keep getting Code 10. I've tried all the tricks I know about installing drivers manually and such but I'm getting nowhere. I've tried HP broadcom drivers, i've also tried a bunch of Lenovo drivers. I'm downloading from their support pages of laptops that have the same model wlan card.
Any suggestions?

 

You can try this suggestion for a similar problem.

If that doesn't work then I would suggest you need to remove the old card and then do a thorough cleanup of not just the Broadcom driver but also any relevant configuration data in the registry or elsewhere before putting the new card in.

John

 

yeah, too much of a pain in the backside to figure out. Another thing I didn't like was that there was no indication of bluetooth working ...there was nothing in the device manager. I've decided to return the card, but i'm not sure if this card is defective or if I should try an intel based card. I like Broadcom stuff, but Intel at least has a driver download website.

 

Getting BT working properly is another challenge when you swap a WiFi/BT combo card and, if you read the recent posts in this thread, you'll see it's also a problem when upgrading an Intel card.

A swap from Broadcom to Intel or vice-versa might go more smoothly because it's a major change of driver.

John