AX200 Bluetooth only works by taping pins 51 & 20

[Budholio]

I have an AMD A8-6410 in a 2014 Toshiba Satellite C55D-5310 that I was trying to update the wireless card. The old wireless card was a Qualcomm Atheros C204N3 and didn't work well (poor connectivity, took forever to connect on waking). I bought an Intel AX200 to replace it. I swapped it out and everything seemed fine, until I noticed there was no bluetooth anywhere, as in the computer did not recognize any bluetooth capability. After trying all the standard fixes (reinstall driver, reboot, update BIOS, etc), I finally stumbled upon a YouTube video that suggested taping off the 20 & 51 pins. Low and behold, it works! I put a small piece of packing tape over the pins, and now everything (including bluetooth) works perfectly. I have three questions:

1. Why did taping off these 2 pins work?

2. Is there any potential for damage by taping the 2 pins?

3. Is packing tape ok to use for taping the pins, or should I scrape the pins?

Thank you for your help!

[Budholio]

Forgot to mention, Windows 10 64x 

[David_G_Intel]

Hello Budholio

Thank you for posting on the Intel️® communities. 

Before making hardware updates or changes to a laptop, you should first check with the manufacturer to confirm the compatibility of the new components. This card may not be compatible with the laptop and taping the pins could work around this limitation.

We do not recommend any physical alteration to a component, as it could be harmful to the card, the system, and the user. We can troubleshoot your system and verify if everything is up to date, but we highly recommend checking for compatibility first.

Regards, 

David G 

Intel Customer Support Technician 

[Budholio]

Thank you for your reply. I tried to check what wifi cards would be compatible with my Toshiba Satellite, but I could not find any information on this. Additionally, since the computer was manufactured 7 years ago I doubted whether Toshiba would even recommend upgrading the wifi card. The old card was all but useless, and as there was no useful compatibility information online, I chose to gamble the $20 to see if it would work.  I suspect many people are in the same boat as I am--old laptop but want the newest wifi card they can get--but there is no information out there on what works or doesn't. 

Do you know why taping the pins could have worked? I've heard hypotheses that the pins taped are for physical Bluetooth on/off buttons, and that by taping the pins you are essentially keeping the switch "on" as it were. Is there a way to know what certain pins do on the AX200?

[David_G_Intel]

That information is not publicly available and out of scope of this support. You can check the Resource & Design Center for Development to get Technical Resources and documentation.

• https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/design/resource-design-center.html

Please keep in mind that this thread will no longer be monitored by Intel. Thank you for your understanding.  

Regards,  

David G  

Intel Customer Support Technician