How easy/difficult to replace wireless card ?

Is the wifi card easily removable or is it soldered to the motherboard for a typical laptop ?



P.S. I have a samsung X360.

 

Easy to replace if you can get to it.

It snaps into a slot like memory and the antenna leads are typically pushed on/pulled off.

Typically, the only mistake people make is reversing the antenna leads when they put in the new card.

 

Antenna leads is fine to be mixed up since each lead runs to separate antenna and they perform on their own.

 

They are easy to replace on most laptops. The only potential problem that I can see would be that on some laptops this could void the warranty, i.e. if you accidently tear the warranty seal.

Just take it apart carefully to see what you are dealing with. If you think it's too much for you just put it back together, no harm done. I know most laptops now have an access door that takes you right to the mini pci slot.

 

The card is dead? And as with others, easy if you can get to it.

cheers ...

 

Aidil,

I know that seems right but that is not the case.

Different laptops have different wires. There could be a main antenna lead, an auxilliary antenna lead, a mimo lead...hooking them up incorrectly can result in poor network performance.

 

gerryf19,

I used to think the same way as you do, but since I had dissected my Mini 9 to install the 3rd antenna for Intel WiFi Link 5300 card so that it could connect using MIMO technique of 3x3 spatial streams (if I could ever find the matching wireless router), and also I had dismantled my Sierra Wireless 881U which has diversity antennas to take out its internal mini PCIe card to be used as internal 3G/HSDPA card in my Studio 17, I dug some information of how antenna diversity and MIMO work. Now my understanding is that in the concept of antenna diversity and MIMO, the antennas would perform on their own.

It's true that they labeled the leads as main and aux incase of two antennas or as TR1, TR3 and TR2 incase of 3 antennas or using different colors, but the cables ends to separate antennas. Each will be used to transmit and receive radio signals as individual. In two antennas setup, one lead goes to the right antenna and one to the left. But since laptop can be easily moved, by turning the laptop around the positioning of those antennas has been exchanged. So, internally those two antennas can be exchanged also.

In many cases of 3 antennas setup, those antennas are not evenly aligned on the top edge of the LCD screen especially if the center has been occupied by webcam. Or in case of 881U which use 2 antennas for diversity, the main lead is connected to internal antenna and the aux goes to external antenna output, which in most cases might end as not being used at all, but if it is connected, the main and aux could be separated very far. Also inside wireless router such as WRT610N which has 6 (or 3 pairs) antennas, those antennas are not evenly arranged with same spaces in between, so in some way the arrangements can be mixed up.

 

OK, so what are you saying? It never matters? Because that contradicts personal experience where switching the leads resulted in poorer network connections

 

I don't know what happened in your case, but as far as in my own experiences, changing the antenna leads didn't do anything to the network connection. First one when I decided to install Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG in my very old Toshiba laptop. I had no knowledge of which color of the antenna leads should go to main and which to aux. So I experiment both ways which didn't have any differences.

Second one was when I installed Sierra Wireless MC8775 which only requires 1 antenna connection inside my Studio 17 which has 2 antenna leads reserved for 3G module. Connecting either one didn't change anything to signal/network reception. Third one was when I swapped that card with MC8781 which has 2 antenna outputs labeled main (red) and aux (black). Back then I was still confused which one of either grey/white or grey/black antenna leads should go to main or to aux. So, again I experiment both ways which resulted with having no differences.

Last one was when I changed the Studio 17 wireless card from stock 2 antennas Dell Wireless 1510 card to 3 antennas Intel WiFi Link 5300 Engineering Sample card. The card has 1, 3 and 2 marks next to antenna outputs and OTOH the antenna leads have black, white and grey colors. So, which colors should go which? Not until when I could get my hand on real (non-ES) Intel WiFi Link 5300 specially designed for Dell that I could match the leads correctly since this card has color symbols next to antenna outputs instead of numbers which corresponded to antenna leads' colors. Anyhow it didn't affect the signal reception when I made another experiments.

 

I cannot for the life of me remember which one caused the problem--I want to say it was a sager 5797?