M17-R1 (NOT M17X-R1) trouble

Good Afternoon and thanks for reading,

I am having trouble with my Alienware M17-R1 laptop and since i bought it before dell i cannot find any help or support online. Here's the issue:

My wireless card inside the laptop needs replaced.

I can not for the life of me find it, and i really dont want to break anything guessing. Can anyone please help with walking me through the steps to locating the wireless card? Any help would be much appreciated.

 

Can you provide more detail on the wireless card? What brand and model is it? Even if the exact one is no longer available, perhaps a different model or brand with the same form factor/interface type can be installed as a substitute.

 

The Alienware M17 ( Review Alienware M17 Gaming Notebook - NotebookCheck.net Reviews) can take the Intel 5300 according to the review so it should have no trouble accepting the Intel 6300.

The M17 is just a rebrand of the OCZ Whitebook and here's the manual for it. http://www.ocztechnology.com/res_old/manuals/DIY_17_Intel.pdf

The location of the WiFi card isn't given or shown, but I suspect it's under the keyboard or palm rest.

Good luck!

 

Actually. His M17 might use a full mini card, not a half-mini like the rest of our newer systems. I remember that the early Alienware systems used the full mini 5300 WiFi card.

EDIT: Just as I suspected. The M17 uses a full mini card. I don't think the Intel 6300 comes in full mini card, so he's have to get the adapter for the half-mini card to fit. Here is the service manual for the system: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9H5v9LnPfsTNHo2U0Z1bEhrNFU/edit?usp=sharing

 

Thanks everyone for posting. I have had a couple changes in my problem. i found out the driver is a RTL8187SE. I installed it and it worked perfectly (for 3 days). Last night i got disconnected and now i cannot find ANY networks at all. The other laptop at my house is picking up 7 different signals. This computer is getting to be very frustrating lol. Any ideas? I have already un-installed and re-installed the driver. Thanks all

 

-Does the card still show in device manager?
-If so, does it show as working (no yellow "!")
-Have you put the laptop right next to your router to see if you can get even a weak signal?
-Are you using the windows wireless utility to find networks or some intel one?
-Is there a wireless on/off switch on your laptop you can press to see if anything changes?

 

I have the same laptop, the Wifi Card is underneath the keyboard, they will be a small aluminum square with a screw in it, you'll see cables coming from that space going to the monitor, remove that screw and pop out the aluminum piece and you'll have access to the wifi card.
this is what mine looks like with the top panel popped off, showing the location of the wifi card.