dv9000 Wireless Issue

[andr3wmac]

I have a dv9000 sitting around with dead video and decided to give it a go today. Reflowed the nvidia graphics chip with a heat gun and the video works fine now but the wireless isn't working. Operating system doesn't detect any cards (i've tried 2 HP wifi cards, same part number). Wireless light just stays orange whether the switch is enabled or disabled. No options to enable/disable in BIOS.

Any ideas?

[thesloc]

Re: dv9000 Wireless Issue

I have a dv9000 sitting around with dead video and decided to give it a go today. Reflowed the nvidia graphics chip with a heat gun and the video works fine now but the wireless isn't working. Operating system doesn't detect any cards (i've tried 2 HP wifi cards, same part number). Wireless light just stays orange whether the switch is enabled or disabled. No options to enable/disable in BIOS.

Any ideas?

guessing its a Southbridge issue.

That probably needs reflow too.

[andr3wmac]

Re: dv9000 Wireless Issue

I'm guessing the southbridge is the chip near the actual wireless slot.



Is that the one? Should I reflow the whole area (chip+ mini pci-e slot area) or target the chip specifically?

[andr3wmac]

Re: dv9000 Wireless Issue

Went ahead and reflowed that chip. No luck. So I figured screw it, stripped everything off it, propped it up and put it in the oven on 375C for 7 and 1/2 minutes. Still no wifi. Everything else works fine, USB included. I've got copper shims in there, temps are good, just no damn wifi.

If reflowing the whole board didn't work does anyone have an idea why it isn't working? Apparently it's a common problem after they overheat. I've read of people fixing it by plugging the vents and using benchmark programs to heat up the computer. Surely baking it in the oven would have achieved the same effect..

[shovenose]

Re: dv9000 Wireless Issue

get a USB wireless card that's really short.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/X-Media-NE-W...item4d0e0100ec
we use these at work they're decent. Avoid the PWI and Tenda ones they look similar but really suck!

[andr3wmac]

Re: dv9000 Wireless Issue

Hah, that's funny, that was my next step. Still, not a very satisfying solution, but I've tried everything I'm capable of at this point.

[spidey]

Re: dv9000 Wireless Issue

did you try a non-hp card ?

[andr3wmac]

Re: dv9000 Wireless Issue

Nope, that's a good idea though. Just tried it and here's the result:

104 - Unsupported wireless network device detected
System halted. Remove device and restart.

That's gotta be worth something right? At least it's detecting the wifi card and the fact it's not a supported one. Light is still solid orange and doesn't change when I flip the wireless switch on/off.

[DJduck]

Re: dv9000 Wireless Issue

Every time a Pavilion is about to die due to the Nvidia chip, for some reason one of the first symptoms is wifi failure.

[dj_ricoh]

Re: dv9000 Wireless Issue

Yes! wifi card and the optical drive.
got 2 boards.

[andr3wmac]

Re: dv9000 Wireless Issue

The motherboard is a DA0AT9MB8A3 rev A. Anyone have a block diagram and/or schematics for this board?

This board doesn't appear to have a north bridge so I'm guessing the north bridge functions are built into the CPU? There's a smaller nvidia GPU next to it. The block diagrams I've found for dv9000s (obviously not the same as this one) show the wireless pci-e going into the north bridge. I'm curious if the wifi on this board is going into the cpu or the south bridge.. or the gpu?

Also, I'll have to read into mini PCI-E but how is it the BIOS are detecting an incompatible wifi card but I'm not picking any mention of the card in the operating system even with a compatible one in..

[t.j.]

Re: dv9000 Wireless Issue

hardware faillier can cause os to fail! rewrite os for $hits an giggles hopefully!

[Pragmatiko]

Re: dv9000 Wireless Issue

I think you need to reflow or better reball the GPU again

[spidey]

Re: dv9000 Wireless Issue

dont reflow, just use no-hp one by modding bios. search and find a whitelist removed bios for you model.

[andr3wmac]

Re: dv9000 Wireless Issue

Good news! It works. Turns out my testing methods were flawed. I'm positive it wasn't working after the GPU reflow. I booted into windows and the card wasn't detected by 3DP Chip. I booted into linux and there was no mention of it in the kernel logs. After that, however, to speed up the testing process with the different wifi cards and reflows I was simply booting a linux live cd and checking if there was wireless detected. I should have been checking the kernel logs. I just did and it detected a broadcom wireless card, but didn't have the driver to enable it. I installed the driver and the light turned blue.

So, at this point I'm not sure if the reflow of the southbridge worked, or if the reflow of the entire board worked, but either way wifi is working again. That's something I suppose, though I really wanted to avoid nuking it in the oven for this specific reason. I'm left wondering what the actual issue was. For me that's what it's all about. I care more about what the problem and solution is than I do about the outcome. Aww well, there will always be another broken dv9000 to play with sooner or later.