Upgraded Wireless Card and Added Bluetooth

I Purchased an HP NC9420 C500 802.11N 300M Wireless PCI Express Card and a Dell Bluetooth module for my Dell Mini 9 off eBay. I wasn't absolutely certain if the HP wireless card would work or not. I couldn't find anyone one the Hackintosh sites who had used one and reported success, but it had the Broadcomm chips that Apple uses in the Airport Extreme cards for all of its hardware, so I felt that it was a safe bet.

I got them in the mail on the same day and eagerly disassembled my Mini.

Fortunately for me a contract employer put me through Dell certification testing the end of last year, so I have access to all of the take apart instructions, though as it turns out these Minis are so simply put together that it really isn't that complicated. But, it is always a little perplexing to work on a notebook computer and not know how to get that last little screw out or retaining clip to release or whatever you need and the slightest amount pressure in the wrong place at the wrong time, in the wrong direction and you hear a sickening snap. Or you get the job all done and you are so pleased with your self and you have these three or four screws left over and for the life of you, you cannot figure out where they should go. You take the thing back apart and put it back together another two or three times and you can only reduce that number of leftover screws by one or two.

Anyway, the wireless card was a no brainer, the access panel is on the bottom of the unit and requires no disassembly of the unit. But, the Bluetooth required removal of the keyboard, disconnecting the keyboard cable, removal of the palm rest, disconnecting the trackpad cable, inserting the bluetooth cable into its slot, plugging the bluetooth cable in, plugging the trackpad cable in, replacing the palm rest, plugging the keyboard cable in, and replacing the keyboard.

After all of that was done and all of the screws were put back in place all I had to do was power back up the NetBook and everything was recognized and worked just like their Apple counterparts. The wireless card connected to my router at 802.11n and at speeds up to 130mbps and the Bluetooth icon was in the menu bar.