[REQUEST] HP Elitebook 8440p Whitelist Removal

[andyp]

Hi

Is it possible to remove the WWAN slot whitelist on a HP 8440p?

The latest bios for this laptop is here:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=321957&prodSeriesId=4095872&prodNameId=4095879&swEnvOID=4053&swLang=13&mode=2&taskId=135&swItem=ob-98118-1

I dont have a WWAN card, so cant give a PID.

(my aim is to put a mini PCI-e USB WiFi card into this slot - when I try this I get error 105, as it is not on the whitelist)

Thank you!
Andrew

[camiloml]

The laptop for sure came with a wifi card installed, tell me its pci id please.

[andyp]

Hi Camilo

Thank you for looking!

The HP 8440p laptop has two mini PCI-e slots. A 'WiFi' mini PCI-e, and a 'WWAN' mini PCI-e (which only has USB pins connected).

The original WiFi card was a Intel® Centrino® Ultimate-N 6300 AGN with the following hardware id's:
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_4238&SUBSYS_11118086&REV_35
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_4238&SUBSYS_11118086
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_4238&CC_028000
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_4238&CC_0280

But I required a Broadcomm based card, so replaced this card with a Broadcomm 43xx chipset card, which works perfectly (amazing luck....). The hardware id's of this (working) replacement card are:
Broadcom 4322AG 802.11a/b/g/draft-n Wi-Fi Adapter
Hardware Ids
PCI\VEN_14E4&DEV_4353&SUBSYS_1510103C&REV_01
PCI\VEN_14E4&DEV_4353&SUBSYS_1510103C
PCI\VEN_14E4&DEV_4353&CC_028000
PCI\VEN_14E4&DEV_4353&CC_0280


Now my problem: I need a second WiFi card, and wish to fit a mini PCI-e USB WiFi card into the WWAN slot - it needs to be USB based as the WWAN slot only has USB pins on the mini PCI-e slot connected (so I can't use the original HP Intel 6300AGN card here as it requires the full mini PCI-e pins).

So the USB mini PCI-e card I found is a QCOM QCM-Q802XKG. It has the following properties:
Device description
RT73 USB Wireless LAN Card
Hardware ids
USB\VID_18E8&PID_6229&REV_0001
USB\VID_18E8&PID_6229

This is the card I would like whitelisted for the WWAN slot (but eliminating the entire whitelist for the WiFi and WWAN slots would be the ultimate...). Currently it gives error 105.

Thank you again for your help :-)
Andrew

[camiloml]

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/45117524/bios-mo...71_NWL.rar

I doubt you can flash it but give it a try.

[andyp]

Hi Camilo

Thank you. Before I try to flash this, should I prepare any particular rescue media, etc?

Do you think it just wont flash (rather than there is a high chance of bricking the laptop)?

Thank you for your help
Andrew

[camiloml]

I think it will refuse to flash, the hpqflash utility included in the original bios is rather new than the patched one able to flash mods, so it's possible it will not know how to handle your bios. Just try.

If it flashes ok there's chance of brick (recuperable by USB Stick) or it works (with whitelist removed or not).

so try whitout fear, if it bricks ensure you have another computer near to prepare de rescue USb stick.

[andyp]

Hi Camilo

I tried flashing the bios using your file - unfortunatly no success :-(

Got the following error:
The bios image is not compatible with the system
Family of bios in rom update = f86C8
Family of bios in system = s86SM

Any other thoughts?

Thanks
Andrew

[camiloml]

What i think initially, that hpqflash can't handle your machine. Your bios family is 68CCU.

From HP Page about sp54571...

"This package creates files that contain an image of the System BIOS (ROM) for supported notebook models in the 68CCU ROM Family"

I have to check if any other sets of hpqflash utility can do it.

[camiloml]

i added a couple of hpqflash utilities, download again and try with them.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/45117524/bios-mo...71_NWL.rar

[andyp]

Unfortunatly no joy........

"unable to read bios version from cab file. please ensure the cab file is intended for this machine"

Do you think I can chage the PID/VID of the usb mini pci-e wifi card to match that of a working WWAN card?

Andrew