Can I change wifi card to increase speed and add bluetooth?

[topt]

Old Acer laptop with an Atheros AR5BXB63 PCI Express Mini Card 802.11 b/g only. Currently does not have Bluetooth.

It appears most of the newer cards are half height Minis (latest M2 NGFF which I don't think I can use?). So for half height card I would also need an adapter.

 

The bit I am confused about is whether I can change for a card that offers 2.4 and 5GHz and Bluetooth even though I only have the 2 wire connections you can see in the picture below. Or am I only able to upgrade to a 2.4GHz card only - so BGN or similar?

I do not want to have to get involved with adding new antennas......just change the card.

 

So looking at this list - https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/series/59485/wireless-networking.html

and the TX/RX streams can I use a 2x2 or does it have to be 1x1? There are a no. of older legacy models as well not shown there.

 

Here is a (slightly blurry) picture from inside the laptop showing the 2 wire connections-

 

This is a picture of the type of bracket I believe is required with a card attached. Seen multiple different types on ebay - anybody know if metal or plastic is ok?

[jmd8800]

Might be easier to find a USB stick that covers your wifi and bluetooth needs and disable the internal wifi adapter either in the BIOS or at the operating system level.

[spaceshuttle]

Bluetooth USB which is simple and convenient.  Takes care of half your problem.

 

Edited May 14, 2019 by spaceshuttle

[KneeDeep]

Model number of laptop?

[robblok]

1 hour ago, jmd8800 said:

Might be easier to find a USB stick that covers your wifi and bluetooth needs and disable the internal wifi adapter either in the BIOS or at the operating system level.

Problem with laptops is that they have a limited amount of USB ports, that is probably why the person is looking for a new card otherwise an USB stick would be best.

 

I must say that it is important to buy a good quality bluetooth usb dongle. The ones i got in Thailand orico were crap. When I got a asus one it had a far better connection much more stable. 

[topt]

2 hours ago, KneeDeep said:

Model number of laptop?

I finally took you up on your suggestions (from last year) and have started to upgrade the Aspire 7720Z. Discovered my hard drive was completely corrupted but that is sorted.

 

New battery, CPU (T7700) and 2x2GB memory on order. Already running Win 7 but wifi download speeds very, very slow. Thinking about the SSD and will probably go ahead even though Acer service tech at Chonburi apparently said cannot.........He also said CMOS battery welded to whatever so they cannot change.

 

To other responders thanks and I am aware of the dongle aspect (and have an old Bluetooth one) but I am treating this as a "project" and trying to learn a bit at the same time.

[topt]

2 hours ago, robblok said:

Problem with laptops is that they have a limited amount of USB ports,

Actually has 4 but see my comments above.

[spaceshuttle]

2 minutes ago, topt said:

To other responders thanks and I am aware of the dongle aspect (and have an old Bluetooth one) but I am treating this as a "project" and trying to learn a bit at the same time.

It's so old that maybe time for a new one?

[topt]

1 minute ago, spaceshuttle said:

It's so old that maybe time for a new one?

I have another that I am using now. As mentioned it is a project and for very little money I am  hoping to have a more than workable back up. 

 

Never agreed with planned obsolescence - things or people...........????

[KneeDeep]

20 hours ago, topt said:

I finally took you up on your suggestions (from last year) and have started to upgrade the Aspire 7720Z. Discovered my hard drive was completely corrupted but that is sorted.

 

New battery, CPU (T7700) and 2x2GB memory on order. Already running Win 7 but wifi download speeds very, very slow. Thinking about the SSD and will probably go ahead even though Acer service tech at Chonburi apparently said cannot.........He also said CMOS battery welded to whatever so they cannot change.

 

To other responders thanks and I am aware of the dongle aspect (and have an old Bluetooth one) but I am treating this as a "project" and trying to learn a bit at the same time.

 

 

Don't believe it.

 

You can see there are some people with SSD installed, here; https://www.userbenchmark.com/System/Acer-Aspire-7720Z/4689

 

Takes just a few minutes

 

 

 

Easy to do yourself, but if the service centre will upgrade the CPU, then they can do all.

 

Not sure why he thinks it won't work. You'll have more of an issue with incompatible RAM.

[wgdanson]

22 hours ago, robblok said:

Problem with laptops is that they have a limited amount of USB ports, that is probably why the person is looking for a new card otherwise an USB stick would be best.

 

I must say that it is important to buy a good quality bluetooth usb dongle. The ones i got in Thailand orico were crap. When I got a asus one it had a far better connection much more stable. 

Correct Rob. I got a Orico one which is OK to connect my phone to PC, but Bose Bluetooth phones will not, says not good enough quality for Bose, although phones are great with the phone. You get what you pay, or don't, pay for.

[topt]

3 minutes ago, KneeDeep said:

Not sure why he thinks it won't work. You'll have more of an issue with incompatible RAM.

I did not get to talk to him direct but yes I don't understand either - not an issue as I have had the HDD in and out several times and there is space for both in fact.

 

The DDR2 I could also change myself - but don't fancy the CPU. Did you mean I would have a problem if the RAM was incompatible - since you don't know exactly what I ordered?

 

Also do you have any knowledge on my questions regarding the wireless card as no point in paying for something that won't fully work? Thanks.

[robblok]

15 minutes ago, wgdanson said:

Correct Rob. I got a Orico one which is OK to connect my phone to PC, but Bose Bluetooth phones will not, says not good enough quality for Bose, although phones are great with the phone. You get what you pay, or don't, pay for.

Yes you do get what you pay for but it was quite hard to find a Bluetooth dongle other then Orico in Thailand. I had to order it through amazon or ebay (forgot what one). But my bose and JBL headsets just did not like the Orico one. Delayed sounds and stuttering. It was just real annoying. 

[KneeDeep]

13 minutes ago, topt said:

I did not get to talk to him direct but yes I don't understand either - not an issue as I have had the HDD in and out several times and there is space for both in fact.

 

The DDR2 I could also change myself - but don't fancy the CPU. Did you mean I would have a problem if the RAM was incompatible - since you don't know exactly what I ordered?

 

Also do you have any knowledge on my questions regarding the wireless card as no point in paying for something that won't fully work? Thanks.

 

 

Noticed that it has a twin bay for storage and don't see an issue.

Yes, I don't know what you ordered, but as long as you have the latest BIOS and a 64 bit OS(eventually) it should be ok one way or another.

Are you running the latest BIOS, version 1.45? I don't remember if we got that far last year.

 

Might be useful to unlock the BIOS, as I did with my old Aspire A150 ZG5 to enable AHCI. May help to solve any other possible issues.

 

 

[KneeDeep]

As to the Wireless card, for tips on what you can use, look here; http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/aspire-7720g-major-upgrade.500665/page-74 and work your way back. 

 

There will likely be one issue or another with your choice, but many can be eliminated by covering pin 20 on some cards and pin 41 on others(7260ac).

 

Don't expect to get full function, as you probably only have one antenna fitted. So the cards that need more than one aerial will only be working with a single antenna. Which is why some will suggest using an external solution as they can have more antenna if necessary.

 

But since it's just a fun project, you decide and we'll work with whatever you purchase.

 

 

[topt]

1 hour ago, KneeDeep said:

Are you running the latest BIOS, version 1.45? I don't remember if we got that far last year.

Yes.

1 hour ago, KneeDeep said:

Might be useful to unlock the BIOS, as I did with my old Aspire A150 ZG5 to enable AHCI. May help to solve any other possible issues.

The setup utility under Main shows Sata Mode: AHCI mode but the Boot screen shows 

IDE 0: Hitachi (HDD)

IDE 1 : Pimeer DVD.......

 

Device Manager under IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers shows-

Intel ICH8M Ultra ATA Storage Controllers - 2850

Intel ICH8M-E/M SATA AHCI Controller

 

Both apparently working

 

 

[topt]

4 minutes ago, KneeDeep said:

As to the Wireless card, for tips on what you can use, look here; http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/aspire-7720g-major-upgrade.500665/page-74 and work your way back. 

Yes I saw that and have actually read all of it.............????

 

Do you know what the 1x1 and 2x2 TX/RX refers to and how that relates to the 7720Z?

Also if I have a card with Bluetooth will it work without anything else other than the drivers?

[KneeDeep]

1 hour ago, topt said:

Yes I saw that and have actually read all of it.............????

 

Do you know what the 1x1 and 2x2 TX/RX refers to and how that relates to the 7720Z?

Also if I have a card with Bluetooth will it work without anything else other than the drivers?

 

I am guessing to do with antenna and the ability to transmit and receive.

Don't understand the second question.

[topt]

2 minutes ago, KneeDeep said:

Don't understand the second question.

Sorry, many of the cards now come with Bluetooth. So if I have a card installed with Bluetooth do I just need to install relevant drivers or is there any more hardware required to make the Bluetooth work?

[KneeDeep]

7 minutes ago, topt said:

Sorry, many of the cards now come with Bluetooth. So if I have a card installed with Bluetooth do I just need to install relevant drivers or is there any more hardware required to make the Bluetooth work?

 

I have no idea, since I have not attempted it myself. If the laptop comes with Bluetooth built-in, it may have an antenna for it.

[topt]

34 minutes ago, KneeDeep said:

 

I have no idea, since I have not attempted it myself. If the laptop comes with Bluetooth built-in, it may have an antenna for it.

Ok thanks.

[thedemon]

I have a bunch of those Intel WiFi cards which I'm not using (leftover from a discontinued hobby). You can have a couple of them for free. Let me know if you're interested and I'll take a better photo showing model numbers etc.

 

[KneeDeep]

9 minutes ago, thedemon said:

I have a bunch of those Intel WiFi cards which I'm not using (leftover from a discontinued hobby). You can have a couple of them for free. Let me know if you're interested and I'll take a better photo showing model numbers etc.

 

 

 

Thinking that I could use one of those in my twelve year old ACER Aspire...

[topt]

14 hours ago, thedemon said:

I have a bunch of those Intel WiFi cards which I'm not using (leftover from a discontinued hobby). You can have a couple of them for free. Let me know if you're interested and I'll take a better photo showing model numbers etc.

 

Thank you that is a very kind offer. Most of the ones you show look like they are Centrino Advanced N 6235 half PCI Express Mini cards which should fit with the bracket adapter.

Unfortunately the AC ones with NGW form factor (7265) won't. 

You don't have any 7260HMW by any chance............

[thedemon]

Here are some photos which should be clear enough to see the model numbers.

 

 

 

[thedemon]

2 hours ago, topt said:

Thank you that is a very kind offer. Most of the ones you show look like they are Centrino Advanced N 6235 half PCI Express Mini cards which should fit with the bracket adapter.

Unfortunately the AC ones with NGW form factor (7265) won't. 

You don't have any 7260HMW by any chance............

 

Yes I think 3 of them are that model.

 

The cards are at my house which is close by the Phra Nang Khlao bridge so can be collected from there or if you're not in a hurry, PM me an address and I will have my office post it to you. 

Edited May 17, 2019 by thedemon

[thedemon]

17 hours ago, KneeDeep said:

 

 

Thinking that I could use one of those in my twelve year old ACER Aspire...

Sure, just tell me which one you want.

[metempsychotic]

17 hours ago, thedemon said:

I have a bunch of those Intel WiFi cards which I'm not using (leftover from a discontinued hobby). You can have a couple of them for free. Let me know if you're interested and I'll take a better photo showing model numbers etc.

 

The bitcoin mining didn't work out? 

[thedemon]

3 minutes ago, metempsychotic said:

The bitcoin mining didn't work out? 

LOL, I don't have any experience with bitcoin mining but I don't think WiFi cards would be useful for that.

 

A previous hobby was importing used and damaged notebooks from the US, refurbishing them then donating them to schools etc. upcountry. Last year the government implemented legislation banning the importation of e-waste and unfortunately, without warning, my last shipment was seized and destroyed by Thai customs.

[metempsychotic]

10 minutes ago, thedemon said:

LOL, I don't have any experience with bitcoin mining but I don't think WiFi cards would be useful for that.

 

A previous hobby was importing used and damaged notebooks from the US, refurbishing them then donating them to schools etc. upcountry. Last year the government implemented legislation banning the importation of e-waste and unfortunately, without warning, my last shipment was seized and destroyed by Thai customs.

It's never easy to do good things, is it? Cool way to spend your time.