I have a HP Pavilion zv5434rs laptop with a Broadcom 54G mini-Pci card. There are no linux drivers for this card and I would like to replace it with a linux supported mini-Pci card. My understanding is that form factors on mini-Pci cards are not standardized. Does anyone know what mini-Pci card I can buy that would replace the one I have? I sent an email to one venders tech support group and received a reply that excluded HP laptops.

Also, is this something I can replace myself or should I send it out to a pc shop to do? I tried reading "Laptop repairs for Dummies" but the author seems to think that some repairs are best not tried at home. Any opinions on this?

Thanks in advance to anyone who answers.

First of all, where did you hear that they are not standardized? I'm pretty sure that that is not true.


Secondly, perhaps more importantly... why do you want to change cards?
What is the exact card that you have?

Some of the broadcom cards are now natively supported under Linux with the bcm43xx driver, others work quite well in ndiswrapper.

I don't blame you for wanting to replace Broadcom. They are a pain. As far as I know the company ignores the linux community. There is/was an online petition from linux users to Broadcom.

Ralink builds drivers for linux and the linux kernel incorporates them. There are some nice little usb cards for sale on Ebay with ralink chipsets.

About the two replies I've had,

My understanding is that the antenna connections are not all in the same place on mini_Pci cards so if you want to just plug and play you need an exact replacement. The response I got from one vender reinforces this because they specifically said "if you don't have an HP...." in their reply.

As to why I want to replace the card, I have been unable to get my wireless working. I've been trying for two years. Even installing ndiswrapper does not work. I've about come to the conclusion that the card itself is defective. And I do not want to replace it with another Broadcom. Don't need/want the hassle. The machine has a built in nic so thats what I use but I want the convenience of a wireless. If I can't get a replacement I'll go for a pcmcia or usb wireless card, but I'd rather go with a built in.

Thanks again for responding.