Want to change my wifi card, but I need help
Hello,
I finally opened my broken asus notebook and removed its free-software friendly wifi card (an atheros chip). Everything easy and fine.
Now I opened my sony notebook (contains a broadcom chip) but I couldn't find the chip!
And I don't see any place where I could plugin my mini-pci (?) wifi card.
I attached some images.
In the bottom right corner there is a thing which I thought it was the broadcom wifi card, but it has slightly other dimensions than my new one, it's no mini-pci card and there are no antenna cables which I could plug in to my new one.
I know very little about hardware and appreciate any help!
somehow my attachments got deleted. here they are
Some laptops have non-typical and probably non-standard Wi-Fi cards. Maybe that's the case here. Or maybe the card is on the other side of the board. :)
Try to read what is written on that little board down right, that kind of looks like a Wi-Fi card.
Hmm... I'm not able to see it too. Can you post more images here? Maybe it can be on the opposite side of the MB, but that would be highly unusual. One thing that can help is to follow the antenna cable that are standing out from the display hinges. Can you also post here the specific model number of the laptop?
It would be better to search for, and follow some disassembly guides on the Internet, not to screw up anything. Also, when I do disassembly something, I always take pictures during the process with my mobile phone, to later know to which holes the screws belongs to, etc.
Btw., the card is a Foxconn T77H121 .32, that is one variant of the Atheros AR5B95 reference model. It is supported by the ath9k Linux-kernel module, and supports the IEEE 802.11bgn standards (MIMO 1x1:1), up to 150Mbps. The vendor/product ID code of the device is 168c:002b.
Hey you two,
thanks for the help.
I took some more pictures and I did some research conerning the brown-enveloped wifi-like device in the bottom right corner; I searched for the model number and the developer company labeled on the device (RD02D110 conexant) and startpage gave me a lot information about modems. So I think it's a modem and not a wifi card.
My notebook is a sony vayo PCG-7N1M.
I posted the mainboard in 1/4 pieces by four images and I also posted a picture of some connections I don't know;
> Also, when I do disassembly something, I'm always taking photos first with my mobile phone, to later know to which holes the screws belongs to, etc.
Oh this would have been a very wise decision... if only I had thought of it before ;)
Your laptop has an Intel WM3945ABG wireless card (same as in my ThinkPad R60 :) that is supported by the iwl3945 kernel module, but it's blacklisted in Linux-libre because it relies on a proprietary firmware blob.
This is an older generation model, and it's 2x longer than your Foxconn card. It will work (unless the BIOS does not have a nasty "blacklist" anti-feature implemented), but you will not be able to securely mount it with screws, and it will not hold in place. You need to buy a special metal strip, that you can attach to the card (look for it on eBay, or your local auction site).
The "wanted" adapter is located on the opposite side of the mainboard. Here is a picture how it looks like.
Can you also make a photo of the bottom side of the laptop?
Thank you very much for this explanation!
I don't really understand what you mean with the bottom of the notebook - do you man the piece of plastic which hides the mainboard?
I mean otherwise the photos of the mainboard actually show the bottom of the notebook.
So I have to remove all screws on the mainboard and turn it around; I'm afraid some connections are fixed with glue.
Will not be an easy task for me.
This metal strip has a special name? I can't type "special metal strip for mounting a smaller wifi card where a bigger one was before" in ebay search ;)
Perhaps I find a not-so-clean solution.
Just turn around the board, and make a photo.
Metal strip (example):
There are also cards, that has an extended PCB, and which can be broken into half, in order to transform them from full, into a half-size Mini PCIe card.
I would love to show you the back of the board; unfortunately, the notebook was build to prevent any modification and until now I didn't succeed in releasing the board;
all screws are removed, I checked several times; I think some connections are glued to the frame or they're stuck in the frame so they prevent the neccesary upward movement, don't know how to describe.
In any case, it's a mess; I will keep on trying to get this board of and I'll post right after succeeding!
You gave us no clue about what side of the laptop you disassembled, and I thought it's the top (keyboard side), while it turned out it was the bottom (battery side).
Anyway, the WiFi card you're searching for is located under the keyboard. You just messed up your computer, since you started to disassembly the wrong side. For the future, if you want help, post on this forum before you actually start working on things!
I hope I didn't mess up anything; I'll continue tomorrow and post if I succeed.
Good news first: wifi is working.
Bad news: you were right, I somehow messed up my display.
It's almost completely dark; I just can see the desktop when daylight falls on the screen;
I wonder how I managed to do this. I checked all wires and connections, but, especially conerning the display, I didn't pullout anything.
The only thing I damaged was the cable which connects the touchpad and the mainboard. I wanted to pull it out, put it was fixed with glue. I put the cable just back (not really fixed) and hoped it will work this way.
The funny thing is the touchpad really works;
But not the display.
Any words of wisdome appreciated!
> You gave us no clue about what side of the laptop you disassembled
I didn't even know that the top of the laptop can be disassembled as well, so it was hard for me to do this.
My only experience with building own pcs was years ago with desktop towers. A different world!
Things were easy there.
I didn't expect things to be so complicated in the notebook world.
If I knew, yeah I had asked earlier in this forum.
Apparently PCG-7N1M is not laptop model but a chassis model, the laptop is VGN-FE28H.
Does this help? http://home.comcast.net/~nw_systems/vgnFE.pdf
The manual clearly shows, that the WiFi card is located under the keyboard. He started to disassembly the wrong side. That's why I always recommend to look up first for some disassembly guides, before doing anything.
I searched for this, I really did - thank you hundred times!
So I think first I have to build the notebook together how it was;
then I have to follow the instructions and take off the keyboard.
//edit
no, I just saw that all I have to do is get the board turned around;
I am a member!
Ever think of just getting a mini usb wifi card?
I had a Sony from 2000 and the one thing I can say (amongst others I've touched) is the wifi cards can be very difficult to get at. It sounds like this system's card is exactly like one in that Sony I had from 2000. Hmm or maybe it was a IBM/Lenovo machine. Either way it was a pain.
Unfortunately I did not manage to get the backlight of my screen working again.
I opened the side of the keyboard once again and checked every cable; as I expected, everything's fine there, I didn't even touch those things!
Except of the connections "screen - mainboard", could this also be caused by the graphic chip / any other issue?
I _really_ need my notebook and I appreciate any kind of idea.
If you plug in an external monitor, can you get it to work?
I plugged in the other monitor, switched on the notebook and the normal screen suddenly worked.
Seems to be kind of a loose contact or so.
Wifi works but seems to break down now and then.
Is there anything I could have done wrong installing the device?
I plugged in the card and plugged the two antenna cable also in, not caring about which one right and which one left.
I hope I didn't damage something with this.