For those who don’t know, the Broadcom WiFi that comes with Dell XPS 13 is not supported by most current Linux distributions (kernel version < 4.4).
After a 2 months of using a USB ethernet adapter to connect to internet on my XPS 13 2015 I have recently received my replacement wireless adapter. I’ve bought an Intel 7265 Dual Band Wireless-AC from Amazon as suggested by multiple sources on the web. It took 2 weeks to arrive.
Opening the back panel was very easy. The whole process of replacing the adapter took less than 10 minutes.
The adapter worked as soon as I booted both into Windows 10 into and Fedora 23. Now I can actually use this laptop in the way it was supposed to be used, without any cables hanging from it.
References
- Dell XPS 13 9343 Official service manual
- Dell XPS 13 teardown on IFIXIT
- XPS 13 on Oliver Caldwell’s blog (very similar name, I know!)
- XPS 13 (2015) on ArchWiki
Did you have to take out the battery? or could you just replace the adaptor without taking out the battery?
the only thing you need to take out is the back cover. The WiFi adapter doesn’t have anything else covering it
Do we need to whitelist the new Wireless Adapter in Dell Bios and how hard is it to remove the wires from the old adapter and put them in new adapter?
I’ve heard you need to be gentle pulling the two antenna and sticking them back on to new card so it won’t break etc
I didn’t need to do any changes on the BIOS. It worked on both Windows and Fedora.
I don’t remember well but I think I lifted the cables up using a straight-headed screwdriver or my fingernails. I didn’t need to use much force.
What driver did you use to install on windows 10. I have use intel wifi driver back in JAN 2016, however installation was blocked, said the wifi card was not compatible with XPS 13 9343, please contact OEM. So I believe it was block by “whitelist”.
I don’t think I installed any drivers.
Wifi routers are connected from the main line.. to make it go that lil bit further.. you know in wired connection you have the adapters you put between 2 wires to make it longer.. do that