Wireless won't connect fix / replacement

I have the original tm2t-1000, with wireless and bluetooth but not 3G. Great laptop, but starting to show its age....

I could see all the wireless networks, but it would only connect to very strong networks, and not to other networks I have in the past.

(Also have the problem that ethernet does not work after the computer has been put to sleep, but that that's a different problem!)

A little googling turned up that the antennas either shift and get interference, or get worn, or something... Replacing the antenna looks like a major undertaking! A temporary fix for this seems to be to switch the antennas connecting to the card (Intel WiFi Link 1000). See the photo:



Bigger photo

Does anyone know what the "aux" antenna is meant for and why its ok to do this?

I also want to be able to use the 5GHz N band, so for $10 off ebay I bought an Intel 5100. Not sure if it'll be ok with either the antenna (or does it need both antennas, including the bad one?) or if the BIOS will allow it. I'll update on whether it works on not.

I'm also considering buying one of these short antennas, and putting it in the empty miniPCI-E space where the 3G would have gone:


Internal Embedded Antenna 2.5dbi - Dual band 2.4/5GHz PCB aerial 15cm cable
Could even get a 5GHz one as well...

UPDATE: Just a follow up... the generic Intel WiFi Link 5100 isn't supported. I get the "104 - unsupported device" message on boot. It may be that its only supported by the newer TM2's, or it has to be a specifically HP branded card. Oh well.

UPDATE: Success!

So it was a slow weekend. Pmatulew's tip that it was a limit in the BIOS got me googling, and I started down the road to modifying the BIOS to alter this whitelist...
The latest BIOS revision for the TM2-10xx is F.0B. You can download it from HP, "sp51577.exe" is an archive you can uncompress to find "winflash.exe", which is itself an archive you can uncompress to find "InsydeFlash.exe" and the BIOS "3661F0B.fd". You can modify this with the Pheonix Mod tool. I started to do this, then found a couple other people aready had! It seems as simply as changing a few bits to disable the whitelist.
HP Touchsmart tm2 whitelist removed
HP TM2-1070CA mod request

I choose the one from jonnydepp at My Digital Life since someone confirmed it worked, flashed it, put the 5100 in, and it boots up! I can connect to the 5GHz network! The original problem is still there, one of the antenna's is still busted, so I can only connect on the one that works...

 

Just a follow up... the generic Intel WiFi Link 5100 isn't supported. I get the "104 - unsupported device" message on boot. It may be that its only supported by the newer TM2's, or it has to be a specifically HP branded card. Oh well.

 

They locked it down. It has to be a branded card or specifically supported unless you can find a software patch that will re-write the BIOS or the registry to allow unlisted devices.

Resume from sleep issues are probably due to power settings.

Which wireless client are you using? Windows Zero Config or Intel specific? Try using the other.

Yes, replacing the antennas is a pain. You have to disassemble everything.

The two separate antennas are likely because A/N are on 5Ghz and B/G are on 2.4Ghz. The antenna would have to be tuned differently.

Intel® WiFi Products — Why am I not able to connect or stay connected to my Wi-Fi network?

 

Success!

So it was a slow weekend. Pmatulew's tip that it was a limit in the BIOS got me googling, and I started down the road to modifying the BIOS to alter this whitelist...
The latest BIOS revision for the TM2-10xx is F.0B. You can download it from HP, "sp51577.exe" is an archive you can uncompress to find "winflash.exe", which is itself an archive you can uncompress to find "InsydeFlash.exe" and the BIOS "3661F0B.fd". You can modify this with the Pheonix Mod tool. I started to do this, then found a couple other people aready had! It seems as simply as changing a few bits to disable the whitelist.
HP Touchsmart tm2 whitelist removed
HP TM2-1070CA mod request

I choose the one from jonnydepp at My Digital Life since someone confirmed it worked, flashed it, put the 5100 in, and it boots up! I can connect to the 5GHz network! The original problem is still there, one of the antenna's is still busted, so I can only connect on the one that works...

 

thanks, got it working on 1080 to use an ac card