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If you’re trying to upgrade your Wi-Fi card, you might run into a problem because many laptops have a BIOS setting called a whitelist. This whitelist only allows certain Wi-Fi cards to work, so installing a different one usually doesn’t work.
In your case, your notebook originally comes with a Realtek 8188GN Wi-Fi adapter. This is a single-band card that only works on the 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi band. To fix any connectivity issues or improve your Wi-Fi experience, start by making sure the 2.4 GHz band is enabled on your device.
Next, update your Wi-Fi driver to the latest version designed specifically for that card. For the Realtek RTL8188CE adapter, HP provides a Windows 7 driver called “Realtek RTL8188CE 802.11b/g/n Wireless LAN Driver.” You can download this driver from HP’s official support site, using the following link: sp57049.exe. Installing this driver might improve your Wi-Fi performance or fix connection bugs.
If updating the driver doesn’t resolve your problem or improve your Wi-Fi speed, consider other options. Instead of relying on your internal Wi-Fi card, you can purchase a USB Wi-Fi adapter. These devices are small, easy to plug in, and often support both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands, giving you more flexibility and faster speeds.
Look for a dual-band Wi-Fi 6 adapter with Bluetooth built-in. For example, this one on Amazon supports Windows 7 and provides fast internet and Bluetooth connectivity: USB Wi-Fi 6 Adapter. Simply plug it into your computer’s USB port, install the drivers if needed, and you should see improved Wi-Fi connectivity without the hassle of BIOS restrictions.




