Can I install own integrated wireless?

It is highly unlikely that the MiniPCI card will work without the antenna wires and MiniPCI cards do not come with these wires.  If you do a search on this forum, I beleive you will find that you can order the antenna wires, but they are not at all easy to install. 

Steve

Hey Steve thanx for the reply. I totaly understand u. I realy dont want to go thru opening the laptop all up to pass the antenna wires thru.  BUT. lol. As u say without the antennas they will not work. But what if i just get the antennas and instead of pulling them thru to the lcd screen i just lay them into the PCI bay neatly curled up or sumthing ontop of the card. Will this at least give it sum minor chance do u believe? (btw is there any chance the mini PCI slot is dead and is just there for no purpose? i.e it is not intended to work?) thanx

It's my understanding that the MiniPCI slot on the B-120 works just fine, even if you didn't order it with a MiniPCI card.  There is not enough room in the MiniPCI area for you to put the antenna wire.  Why go to all this trouble when you can just geta USB wireless adapter and it will work just fine. 

Steve

Steve, i know your right mate. It is just i will be using my laptop in many hotspots and i dont like the idea of something always sticking out of the side. Then again ill just have to live with it. lol

I have never posted here before but I thought I'd let others benefit from the wealth of problems I have been having with this very same issue as I can not find much out about it as well. According to Dell when they build an Inspiron B120 without wireless they not only leave out the wireless card and antenna, they use a different motherboard. I learned this after being told to purchase a mini-pci card (I bought the Dell internal wireless 1370). It works at very close range to my D-Link Gold series wireless router which I purchased to be used with this system, if held at the right angle, for a very horrible and slow connection when it works at all. When I inquired about the antenna issue I was promptly advised I needed that and was sold the top plastics (top cover/back of LCD screen) which does indeed contain the antenna, but only the upper portion of it. Upon contacting Dell again (and after having purchased 2 parts which I now can not use) I was advised that the motherboard that comes in the wireless systems has the second half of the antenna soldered to it, and that what I had been advised to purchase thus far was wrong. I would have to replace the motherboard to get internal wireless. I was advised to return my system and re-order it with the internal wireless as an option instead. Since I received my notebook as part of a promotional deal through United Savings Bank I am not able to do this despite the fact that 2 of Dell's employees have urged me to do so and promised that I was able to. I should not be surprised that they were wrong as I have been lied to at nearly every turn about how to proceed with this issue. In short, while I USED to really like Dell and thought they were a stand-up company that helped people, they appear to have degenerated into a company that II would not recommend to anyone. Next time I purchase a laptop, desktop, or parts for anything I'll go with someone else and I'd recommend that everyone else do the same if you want to save yourself a lot of time and money. I'm still trying to get this resolved, but the outcome is looking grim. Good luck to the rest of you.

ahh i see.. so u also had ordered a B120 without wireless integrated by dell? cs if u see the post above urs it aint sounding too good lol... also have u ever seen any of these antenas that are realy small and just lay into the PCI bay besde the mini PCI wireless card.. do u think those would somehow do the job instead of tearing apart the whole laptop? im seriously not up for taking it apart...

thanx in advance..

Yeah, I read the post above mine and I think that person was seriously misinformed by Dell--new motherboard??? Are they kidding?  Perhaps, the B120s that came with internal wireless had one of the wires soldered on, but you absolutely do not have to get one of those motherboards in order to have internal wireless--look at my b120.

I have seen the wireless antennas that you lay in the pci bay.  I can attest to the fact that they do work (I put one of those in my Compaq laptop)--but they don't work very well if you're far from the router.  I would either take the laptop apart and install antennas correctly or use a wireless usb adapter--the antennas that sit in the bay are usually a waste of money.

You do not need to remove the entire bottom plastics. To install this card there is a door that needs to be removed and the card inserted. Here is a link to the service manuual.

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins1300/en/index.htm