Adding a second Mini PCIe to a 3820TG-3022

[tgoode]

Warning - This not a tutorial - If you don' have the skills, don't bother. Get someone else to do the mod for you (not me - I have no interest in doing this for other people).

Several people were pondering the possibility of buying a UMTS model of the 3820 and removing the UMTS module to install a mini PCIe SSD or otehr periphrials. Otheres wondered and discussed about soldering a second PCIe slot to the unpopulated header on the motherboard of a non UMTS model.

I decided to do it. I mean what the hell, I have already voided my warrantee with my CPU upgrade.

Here is the motherboard before the modification...



The space for the Mini PCIe slot is marked by the solid white rectangle on the left side of the photo. The slot is located on the botom side of the motherboard.

To perform this modification you will need a fine tip soldering iron, very fine solder, flux, flux remover, a Mini PCIe slot (4mm or 4.5mm height), and an Acer 3820TG.

I bought this slot, but I also couldn't wait so I scavenged one from a dead laptop mobo. I don't recommend scavenging this part. Buy a new one. Its easier and more reliable.

Disassembly instructions are elsewhere in these forums so I won't repeat them.

Soldering it is easy if you have the skills or experience. Place the component, solder the anchor pads and then solder the legs.

Here is the after picture with the scavenged part I used...



After you get it back together, plug an existing, known good mini PCIe card into the slot then turn on the computer. If its working you will get a "detected new hardware" dialogue for both the added slot and for the card plugged into it.

Here are some screenshots showing two cards in the h/w manager...

[Wally33]

Would the initialization of the WIFI card suggest that even though this slot is designated for WWAN in UMTS models, it has full mini PCI-e x1 connectivity rather than only USB data lines found in most WWAN slots in other notebooks?

I'm sorry if this is blatantly obvious and Ive missed something but i just thought i would ask :P

[niffcreature]

OMG awesome.
I wonder if this would work with an MXM slot

Maybe there is some pci-e system reallocation to do similar to with the vidock, camillus

[Wally33]

If you are wondering whether an MXM card can be connected through this slot then the answer would be no as MXM spec requires an x16 PCIE connection. Is that what you were talking about or are you looking at soldering an MXM header onto a laptop motherboard? which already has the solder pads?

A DIY vidock would be plenty feasible using this connection and I plan to do that soon