AR370 - replacing a/b/g wifi card with b/g/n

I have a vaio vgn-ar370 which currently has the intel 3945 wifi card installed. I popped the back of the laptop off to see how easily the mini-pci slots could be accessed and it seems they must be on the other side of the MB. Does anyone have previous experience with this? Is there an easy way to access the mini-pci slots or am I going to have to take out the entire MB?

Thanks in advance!

 

The card could be under the keyboard.
Under no circumstances should you have to take out the mobo to get to the wireless card.

 

Thanks for the quick response. I couldn't figure out how to release the keyboard. I've spent a good amount of time looking around online for instructions as well, but the most I've found is replacing RAM and hard drives, both of which are obvious enough.

 

I have the same AR 370. I wonder where did you buy that 802.11 n card to replace it.

 

I haven't bought it yet, but it's available from several vendors on Amazon.
One of the reasons I opened it up in the first place was to make sure it has the 3 antenna leads necessary for wireless n. I would immagine it does, since pretty much all the later models of the ar series have wireless n, but I wanted to make sure before buying. However, since I can't even get to the wifi card, I have no way of knowing.

 

I haven't opened it yet, but where did you get the model number for this new WLAN?

Is it with integrated Bluetooth technology?

The WLAN a/b/g on my AR370 is with bluetooth.

 

It's under the keyboard on my vgn.

Make sure you remove the battery and disconnect from the power supply before attempting any type of disassembly.

There should be 1-3 screws on the bottom of your laptop that hold the keyboard in place. Remove them.
Use a screwdriver to pry the section above the keyboard up. Lift the top end of the keyboard and underneath *carefully* disconnect the ribbon connector from the mobo.
You should now see your wireless card.
Snap the connectors off and spread the latches to the sides and it should pop up.

Hope this helps, good luck

 

This is the one you get if you order an AR series now.
The Intel site
The Vaio CTO page says it has integrated BT, but the Intel site does not. It doesn't really matter to me since I don't use it, but I guess it could be nice to have.

 

Thanks WILLY S. I guess my only question would be which screws? There are 19 screws on the bottom, with more to remove once the hard drive cover is off. I suppose I'll just keep taking out scews until I can get the keyboard off.

 

You may be able to guess by where the screws are placed in comparison to the screws around them. You shouldn't have to remove too many

 

Anybody able to get service manual of Viao notebooks?

 

Have you done that? Just looking on the back, I see arrows against few screws, that may be the screws for the main frame to take it apart. Few of them with no arrows that is for the RAM and Hard drive flaps and few connection modules on the back.

Let me know the progress..

 

I found the service manual here and following the instructions, removed the keyboard. (Note: when removing the plastic piece above the keyboard, be very careful. It seems extremely flimsy and would be easy to break.) It seems mine only has 2 antennas. From what I've read, 802.11 n would still work, but likely at reduced speeds. So, what's the point? Unless I hear / read that it's still possible to get good speed, I'll likely just end up getting a wireless adapter.

 

Thank you for the manual.

Adding an adapter card again add some more wait over this already heavy one.