Compaq 2162US -- added wireless card, but range is bad

Hi,

I just added a Ralink-based mini-PCI wireless card -- and small Hitachi
antennas attached to MAIN & AUX antenna connectors on the card -- to a
Compaq 2162US notebook PC. The antennas have about a 4" pigtail and they're
easy to tuck under the door of the card. My problem...range is so-so and it
doesn't stumble upon other WLANs in the neighborhood that it should see
under normal conditions.

Question is, might this notebook have a pre-installed antenna with the cable
end tucked away somewhere? If so, where might I look?

Fwiw...the notebook did not come with a pre-installed WLAN card. Thanks.

--
RJ

R. J. Salvi wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I just added a Ralink-based mini-PCI wireless card -- and small Hitachi
> antennas attached to MAIN & AUX antenna connectors on the card -- to a
> Compaq 2162US notebook PC. The antennas have about a 4" pigtail and
> they're easy to tuck under the door of the card. My problem...range is
> so-so and it doesn't stumble upon other WLANs in the neighborhood that
> it should see under normal conditions.
>
> Question is, might this notebook have a pre-installed antenna with the
> cable end tucked away somewhere? If so, where might I look?
>
> Fwiw...the notebook did not come with a pre-installed WLAN card. Thanks.
>
Specs are found here and they say there isn't wireless inbuilt.
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...331562&lang=en
All info is here
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/p...331562&lang=en

"Pen" <nospam@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:lcudnfJR6ffkvQPbnZ2dnUVZ_rCtnZ2d@comcast.com. ..
> R. J. Salvi wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> I just added a Ralink-based mini-PCI wireless card -- and small Hitachi
>> antennas attached to MAIN & AUX antenna connectors on the card -- to a
>> Compaq 2162US notebook PC. The antennas have about a 4" pigtail and
>> they're easy to tuck under the door of the card. My problem...range is
>> so-so and it doesn't stumble upon other WLANs in the neighborhood that it
>> should see under normal conditions.
>>
>> Question is, might this notebook have a pre-installed antenna with the
>> cable end tucked away somewhere? If so, where might I look?
>>
>> Fwiw...the notebook did not come with a pre-installed WLAN card. Thanks.
>>
> Specs are found here and they say there isn't wireless inbuilt.
> http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...331562&lang=en
> All info is here
> http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/p...331562&lang=en

Thanks...I saw the specs prior to my original post, but I wasn't sure if
mfrs. might at least pre-wire the units for future upgrades. Thanks again.

--
RJ

"R. J. Salvi" <rjsalvi@nospam.ambianceacoustics.com> hath wroth:

>Thanks...I saw the specs prior to my original post, but I wasn't sure if
>mfrs. might at least pre-wire the units for future upgrades. Thanks again.

I'm not sure this applies to your Compaq 2162US, but the Compaq 2120US
was retrofited with this abomination:
<http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/antennas/laptops/slides/compaq-2120us.html>
That's one of two rather lossy antennas mounted on the *HINGES* of the
laptop. It's a terrible location. If you look carefully, you can see
where the black coax cable was crunched by the hinge (which eventually
shorted the cable). This is what Compaq did when there was no
suitable antenna location in the top of the LCD section. As would be
predictable, the range of the 2120US was much less than I would have
expected thanks to the antenna locations. Check if yours are in the
same location.

There's some interesting ideas for improving the antenna location and
connection for laptops here:
<http://repair4laptop.org/wireless_lan_antennae.html>
Sorry, but nothing on your specific laptop.



--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558