Another Warranty Voided. Murphy stops by.

beakmyn · 06-16-2009

So, the original card in my Dell 1318 was a Broadcom a/b/g/n card. It was nice that it had a but it was a Broadcom so it doesn't play well. So, I picked up an Atheros b/g/n card (ar5bxb72 err looks like it is a/b/g/n) which is actually out of a MAC. The new card arrived with 3 antenna connectors. My Dell only had 2 antennas, so naturally I hit ebay and bought another antenna.

Now, the fun came with installing the new antenna. Suprisingly Dell actual puts the service manual online:
Documentation

so I proceeded to tear the new laptop apart. Then the fun came. I realized that the two antennas I bought off ebay had some heat shrink tubing holding them together. One was 72mm the other 60mm in length. I got out the razor blade and proceeded to put a nice slice in the shield of the 72mm. Thanks alot Murphy! Luckily I managed to route the shorter cable with not a mm to spare in length. There's actually a spot on the back of the display where there is no shielding a perfect spot for the antenna. The existing antennas are the short regtangular (ceramic?) type along the top edge of the display.

All-in-all it went quite easily. The only question is:

On a card where the antennas are labelled 0, 1, 2 which one is which? I assumed that the mimo antenna would be 1 since it's in the middle. If not I'm screwed since the cable won't reach to 2.

Barry · 06-16-2009

AFAIK, which isn't much, it shouldn't matter. On the Macs with three antennas they are color coded and the display is glued together, so I'm not sure which antenna is which.

06-16-2009	#1 (permalink)
beakmyn Free Public Wifi Join Date: Aug 2003 Posts: 4,989	Another Warranty Voided. Murphy stops by. So, the original card in my Dell 1318 was a Broadcom a/b/g/n card. It was nice that it had a but it was a Broadcom so it doesn't play well. So, I picked up an Atheros b/g/n card (ar5bxb72 err looks like it is a/b/g/n) which is actually out of a MAC. The new card arrived with 3 antenna connectors. My Dell only had 2 antennas, so naturally I hit ebay and bought another antenna. Now, the fun came with installing the new antenna. Suprisingly Dell actual puts the service manual online: Documentation so I proceeded to tear the new laptop apart. Then the fun came. I realized that the two antennas I bought off ebay had some heat shrink tubing holding them together. One was 72mm the other 60mm in length. I got out the razor blade and proceeded to put a nice slice in the shield of the 72mm. Thanks alot Murphy! Luckily I managed to route the shorter cable with not a mm to spare in length. There's actually a spot on the back of the display where there is no shielding a perfect spot for the antenna. The existing antennas are the short regtangular (ceramic?) type along the top edge of the display. All-in-all it went quite easily. The only question is: On a card where the antennas are labelled 0, 1, 2 which one is which? I assumed that the mimo antenna would be 1 since it's in the middle. If not I'm screwed since the cable won't reach to 2. __________________ ┌──────────────────────────────┐ ╞ NS Icons Explained\|et hoc genus omne ╡ └──────────────────────────────┘ Creating yesterday's future, Today! Last edited by beakmyn : 06-16-2009 at 01:36 PM.

06-16-2009	#2 (permalink)
Barry Managing the iTards. Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Ohio Posts: 5,875	AFAIK, which isn't much, it shouldn't matter. On the Macs with three antennas they are color coded and the display is glued together, so I'm not sure which antenna is which. __________________ Never do anything you don't want to explain to the paramedics. Last edited by Barry : 06-16-2009 at 08:28 AM.

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