I think I need to get a new WIFI network card but need advice

Hi everybody,

I have an old laptop which has a Intel Centrino Wireless-N 100. with Windows 10 Home

Recently, the WIFI keeps getting lost continuously and only returns after running trouble shooter. The message always says that "The Default Gateway isn't available"
After running different tests and doing things suggested on Youtube (only from professional people), it still happens.
I spoke to a technician I used to know (it was nice speaking to him after some time) anyway he said that probably the WIFI adaptor card is on it's way to microchip heaven and that the bottom line was to change it.

So my question is what one? He said about USB and internal but I have no idea.
Any help would be gratefully received.

Hello and welcome DCIMorse!

By today's standards the Intel card built-in to your laptop is pretty slow, so I wouldn't bother replacing it like-for-like. There are some potential alternatives for the internal card that are faster, but I couldn't see anything other than generic no-name ones when I had a quick look. So that leaves a USB solution.

Judging by the internal card's age, I'm guessing your laptop doesn't have USB3, so it'll have to be a USB2 WiFi adaptor.

If you tell us what router you have then we can probably recommend an adaptor to suit.

The internal WiFi card on your laptop is, luckily, very easy to replace. I would go for an Intel AC-7260 card like this one:

Amazon.com

Unplug the power supply from the laptop. Flip it over, remove the battey, on the bottom there is a large panel held on by 2 screws. Take the screws out and push (slide) the panel to the rear and everything is right there under the panel. Just be careful removing and re-installing the two antenna connectors.

The first 34 seconds of this video is taking off the panel. The WiFi card is pretty self explanatory - remove the two antenna connectors from the card, remove the two screws and the card will pop-up. Remove the old card, and insert the new card at the same angle the old card came out. Hold the edge down, reinstall the two screws, carefully re-install the two antenna wires.

Repair Asus Laptop Disassembly A53 Series X53S K53SV A53S Fan Cleaning - YouTube

Thank you for your replies,

The Router is a Home & Life from Zyxel and can do 2.2 Ghz and 5GHz.
The computer itself has one USB 3 (they had been out about a year before purchase) and two USB 2 ports.
It was suggested that it might be better to get an internal one as I could use the internal antenna which run around the (monitor?)
I have undone this computer several times to clean out, update RAM and HDD.

Hope this helps

Why tie up a USB port when you don't have to?