Wifi card antenna cable got ripped (Triton 500)

Khelgar
Khelgar Member Posts: 44 Devotee WiFi Icon

While reconnecting the wifi card, one of those tiny antenna cables got damaged after trying for a long while to click the thing in place. Not sure if it is possible to buy and replace those antenna cables coming somewhere from the laptop. And it is already a hassle to work on the inverted mobo of the Triton 500 (model with the 9750h).

What are my options in repairing this? Are there any wifi cards - except for the usb ones - that do not require antenna connections? Or is it possibly to buy and simply replace those cable without soldering etc.?

Answers

  • StevenGen
    StevenGen ACE Posts: 12,155 Trailblazer

    Easiest way is to get a small soldering iron and flux and solder that black antenna wire to the Wi-Fi/BT cards pin, as you never take the Wi-Fi/BT card out, and fixing this wire permanently will make no difference and soldering that /wire to that pin, will be even better than that silly little clip that manufacturers use, that is awkward and users never know if they click into place or not and that is why you broke it. If you don't have the experience of soldering, then take your laptop to a tech in your area and get them to do this very simple soldering job that shouldn't cost you much.

  • Puraw
    Puraw ACE, Member Posts: 13,384 Trailblazer

    Bring/send your laptop to Acer Services in your country to replace the antenna cable, costs will be minor.

  • Khelgar
    Khelgar Member Posts: 44 Devotee WiFi Icon
    edited May 2023

    Costs will be minor? Let's see. This happened while changing the thermal paste. I must've also falsely attached some cables in the process, since the laptop is really hard to work on due to thinness and inverted mothermoard. What i put in report:

    1. The main issue aka one of the tiny antenna cables of the wifi-card (wifi still works, just slow)
    2. The cpu fan not working (could not attach the cable correctly, managed to do it for gpu fans though)
    3. Some keyboard buttons were not working (on second try everything worked though, even though this was in my report)
    4. Laptop monitor is not working after the repaste process (again must've attached the cable incorrectly, but you can still get screen as normal through HDMI/external monitor)

    I sent the Laptop to Acer with these issues and guess what? They said the whole mainboard is defect - despite the laptop loading into Windows just fine and everything aside from aforementioned issues working - and want to change it for 1500 euro! Such a rip off. For that price you can get a new device with better specs instead of repairing this 4 year old device.

    I'm not even sure if they tested it properly since keyboard was working properly despite what i wrote in the report. They probably read it and put "keyboard defect" in the invoice without testing for easy money?

    I also got a Predator 500 and now dread it if it becomes problematic one day even though it is way easier to work on. Remind me to stay away from Acer from now on.

  • Puraw
    Puraw ACE, Member Posts: 13,384 Trailblazer

    Not a fair complaint after admitting "I must've also falsely attached some cables in the process, since the laptop is really hard to work on due to thinness and inverted mothermoard." and "ripping the antenna cable". Maybe you also did not disconnect the battery doing all these "repairs" Lessons learned, don't work on the MOBO and limit upgrades to battery, SDD/HDD and RAM (even wrong RAM sticks can damage a MOBO according to a yesterday post).

  • Khelgar
    Khelgar Member Posts: 44 Devotee WiFi Icon

    The thing boots up and runs just fine other than the aforementioned issues so the mobo is obviously not dead. Why would i pay the price of a new device with better specs for such a repair just because i'm out of warranty? What sort of customer service is this? Wrongly attaching some tiny cables worth 1500 euro you say? They could even simply solder the antenna on place and attach the cpu-fan corretly or something in a few minutes. But sure, easy money is easy money.

  • Puraw
    Puraw ACE, Member Posts: 13,384 Trailblazer

    Glad you managed to get your laptop to work again 😀