Welcome • User Guide
ToS • Privacy • Canary
Donate • Bugs • License

©2025 Poal.co

687

Windows 10 support "ends" in a few weeks, trying to rig my old HP notebook up to Mint or something just in case it takes down my desktop

Hit a classic problem of the wi-fi adapter not seeing most available networks. Troubleshooting suggested checking to make sure it can handle 5Ghz networks. With some searching I see it has a "dual band" adapter, and set it to prefer 5GHz band... and it still doesn't see my wifi.

I can't mess with the router too much tonight, house is busy with netflix slop.

My question, would a Linux distro be able to take advantage of the 5Ghz band? Assuming Windows is just being unhelpful.

I got it hooked up to ethernet now seeing if updates help. I haven't used this laptop since 2020.

I just want to find a way to make sure the hardware works before I switch the OS.

Windows 10 support "ends" in a few weeks, trying to rig my old HP notebook up to Mint or something just in case it takes down my desktop Hit a classic problem of the wi-fi adapter not seeing most available networks. Troubleshooting suggested checking to make sure it can handle 5Ghz networks. With some searching I see it has a "dual band" adapter, and set it to prefer 5GHz band... and it still doesn't see my wifi. I can't mess with the router too much tonight, house is busy with netflix slop. My question, would a Linux distro be able to take advantage of the 5Ghz band? Assuming Windows is just being unhelpful. I got it hooked up to ethernet now seeing if updates help. I haven't used this laptop since 2020. I just want to find a way to make sure the hardware works before I switch the OS.

(post is archived)

You are currently inside a comment thread.
Click here to see all the comments (35).
[–] • 1 pt (edited )

If it's not working you could always change the wifi card in the laptop. It's super easy. Open up the laptop and find the wifi card; it's about the size of a book of matches. There's two tiny wires with brass colored tips that connect to the mobo. Remove those gently then pull out the card and replace.

Easy peasy.

I'm using a 2013 dell with linux mint (installed right over win whatever) and it works a treat. Good luck!