Tips or Tricks for Proper install of tiny m.2 WLAN card internal anntenna connectors?

[Zarathustra[H]]

As title says, any good suggestions here?

Apparently the connectors are much smaller on the new m.2 WLAN cards compared to the older mini-PCIe WLAN cards I am used to.

I couldn't see shit at all, they are just too tiny. (yest I am closing in on my mid 40's and that is probably why...)

I just spent 45 minutes trying to install them and failed, killing the WLAN card in the process by mashing the shit out of it. God it is even difficult to focus on them with a phone camera, they are so small.

Don't understand why they had to make them so tiny. The old standard on the Mini PCIe WLAN cards worked just fine...

I got them on a couple of times, but then the little fuckers just popped right off again, so next time I tried squeezing harder, with the result seen above...

Anyway, any tips or tricks for how to do this without destroying the next one? I've ordered a damn magnifying glass stand and a set of tweezers... hopefully that will help here, This is a real pain in the ass.

 

[pendragon1]

ouch.
i hold them by the wire and use a spudger to hook it over the edge of the ring and apply pressure to snap it on

 

[Zarathustra[H]]

ouch.
i hold them by the wire and use a spudger to hook it over the edge of the ring and apply pressure to snap it on

I probably need a new optical prescription, but on the newer smaller ones I can't even see the damn edges. I'm doing it blind and by feel.

 

[toast0]

Well, there's always wired ethernet. Or usb wireless, maybe.

 

[Zarathustra[H]]

Well, I swallowed my pride, and bought my first ever pair (or pairs, they came in a 3 pack) of reading glasses.

The lowest strength at CVS is 1.0, which is too strong for me, but Amazon had 0.5. (I'm probably closer to 0.25, but that's the smallest I could find).

I also ordered a lighted magnification lamp and some tweezers.

It's amazing what actually seeing what you are doing can accomplish.

Just like that the old mini-PCIe Latitude E6540 from 2013 - courtesy of this clever little mini-PCIe to M.2 adapter - now has "Wifi 7" (It will never sound right to say that, I preferred the chapter names)

The short black wires with the tiny connectors link the wlan card and the adapter, which then connects to the slightly larger (and more manageable) wires that the older mini PCIe systems used.

Of course, the house only just got upgraded to 802.11ax (Wifi 6) but having the latest doesn't hurt I guess. If a difference of $10 saves me from ever doing this again, I'll take it

For what its worth, the BE200 card appears to be one Gen 3 lane.

The E6540 shipped with Gen1 capable WLAN cards so I had no idea what speed it would actually connect at. Gen 2 appears to be it, which should be overkill for even "Wifi 7" (at least for the typical 2x2 implementations this card supports)

I mean, Intel states in its specs that it is 5.8Gbps capable, but those are "wifi numbers" not real numbers. Similarly a 2x2 "Wifi 6" card is supposedly capable of 2.4Gbps, but I've never seen one - even when connected to an exceptional router - connect at over 1200mbps, and then when connected at that speed I've never seen them achieve real world speeds over 300Mbps. So a single lane of Gen2 ought to be fine

Anyway, getting old sucks. This is going to take some getting used to.

 

[Zarathustra[H]]

I mean, Intel states in its specs that it is 5.8Gbps capable, but those are "wifi numbers" not real numbers. Similarly a 2x2 "Wifi 6" card is supposedly capable of 2.4Gbps, but I've never seen one - even when connected to an exceptional router - connect at over 1200mbps, and then when connected at that speed I've never seen them achieve real world speeds over 300Mbps. So a single lane of Gen2 ought to be fine

Actually going to have to take that back. "Wifi 6" seems to perform at ~880Mbps with external https type traffic.

iperf - while great for wired networks - must just not be a very good test for wifi speeds?

Either way, a single Gen2 lane is 500MB/s full duplex. That's 4Gbit up and down at the same time. I doubt this will become much of a limiting factor especially since Wifi is half duplex.

There is probably some overhead on the PCIe bus, but probably not enough to change this analysis.

 

[Nobu]

Yeah, I struggled a bit last I tried messing with those. Once they're lined up right, it's just a matter of rocking them a bit until they pop on. But lining them up is a bitch.

 

[Zarathustra[H]]

Yeah, I struggled a bit last I tried messing with those. Once they're lined up right, it's just a matter of rocking them a bit until they pop on. But lining them up is a bitch.

The first time I did it I got them on once, but then I accidentally popped them on when manipulating the adapter, and it was when I attached them the second time that I started mashing shit.