HP Pavilion DV6 Laptop Wire Snipped

[mau64]

Got a laptop in today that a competitor changed out the screen. Customer complains that her wireless was coming and going and was really weak altogether. I unscrew the bottom and pull out the harddrive to access the wireless card and the black wire has been snipped.

I'm still new to taking apart laptops but am over the nervousness of it. I was looking at a teardown and it appears that the wires run up through the screen, or the picture could have been blurry. Is this true, are the wires easy to replace, and where exactly can I buy them at? looked on eBay.

I told her the laptop would need taken apart or she could go the USB key route. She wants to do that since it would be cheaper but I just want to know for my own knowledge.

 

[katz]

Snipped where?

If both pieces are still there I would simply solder them back together & heatshrink.

 

[Rob_NNCC]

Most antenna wires are custom in length to the laptop and go to a custom antenna. It is not hard, you would typically pop the keyboard and the strip above the keyboard off, take the screen apart (snaps together or screws under rubber/plastic covers) and de route the wire. Find a replacement wire from a junk laptop that is long enough, solder it onto the antenna at the correct length, re-route and done.


Splicing coax wire is a big nono in the RF world. You can never splice a wire that small just using a soldering iron without losing a very large chunk of the signal, esp. at those frequencies.

Pull the hdd to get to the wifi? Is this a HP DV? I and most other techs here can sell you the wires for that!

 

[katz]

Splicing coax wire is a big nono in the RF world. You can never splice a wire that small just using a soldering iron without losing a very large chunk of the signal, esp. at those frequencies.

My bad, you are correct - coax. That would be a tough job to solder those & make a decent job of it. I'm sure it's been done, but not a feasible repair.

 

[mau64]

I actually have a couple spare laptops I could crack into and take the wire. Yes, it's a DV6 model. Thanks for the suggestions guys.

Just started getting into taking laptops apart but really liking doing them.

 

[brandonkick]

I'd be torn here. Tearing the unit down to transplant a new wireless wire inside would be uneconomical. Unless the customer is a purist (or they don't care what the cost is and you want the experience) I wouldn't change it.

Simply too many good 802.11n USB keys out there that can be had for less then $20.00

This goes 10X over if the laptops built in wireless adapter isn't of the N standard.

 

[mikeroq]

Personally I would take the wire replacement over a USB dongle. I wouldn't want the hassle of having to keep track of it. If it's a micro one those are way too small for me! I would take more powerful internal wireless.

 

[brandonkick]

Dont underestimate the power of some of these new USB recievers on the market.

I have a $10 Rosewill RNX-N180UB and it is fantastic. I get great speeds over wireless and it easily beats any internal wireless that I've seen anyhow.

It also works with Windows XP, Vista, 7 as well as a lot of different linux distros and OS X Leopard, Snow Leopard, and it worked great with Lion as well.

Not sure if it works on Windows 8 or Mountain Lion but I'm willing to bet in each case it does. Simply an amazing wireless usb adapter for $10 (when it goes on sale)

I bought five of them when they went on sale for $10 each!

 

[shamrin]

I'd be torn here. Tearing the unit down to transplant a new wireless wire inside would be uneconomical. Unless the customer is a purist (or they don't care what the cost is and you want the experience) I wouldn't change it.

Simply too many good 802.11n USB keys out there that can be had for less then $20.00

This goes 10X over if the laptops built in wireless adapter isn't of the N standard.

Personally I would take the wire replacement over a USB dongle. I wouldn't want the hassle of having to keep track of it. If it's a micro one those are way too small for me! I would take more powerful internal wireless.

There's no right answer here except whatever the customer wants. $100 (if the OP is charging something close to market rates) for a rewire or $25 for a USB. If it's an HP dv6 it's just going to burn up it's motherboard anyway so...