Does anyone know how I can find the Wifi and Bluetooth Units on any Tablet Computer if it is integrated into the circuit board?

Also, does anyone know how to disable or remove the Wifi and Bluetooth Units by hardware only(not by software) e.g. by short circuiting or by taking out a component, etc?

 

Take detailed photos and someone here can likely identify the chips and/or their antennae.

Cutting power to those ICs will disable the radio but I'm not sure how the system will respond to that. Cutting the antenna would cut the range, but it would still be transmitting a short distance.

Why would you want to do this at the hardware level instead of software? Eliminating the drivers from the OS should disable them.

 

smells fishy??

 

Take detailed photos and someone here can likely identify the chips and/or their antennae.

Cutting power to those ICs will disable the radio but I'm not sure how the system will respond to that. Cutting the antenna would cut the range, but it would still be transmitting a short distance.

Why would you want to do this at the hardware level instead of software? Eliminating the drivers from the OS should disable them.

Thanks for the reply.

It is for use at work where no Wifi or Bluetooth is allowed as it may interfere with sensitive medical equipment.

I have yet to buy a Tablet Computer as I was waiting for suggestions or replies on this forum.

 

Yeah you just turn them off. or put it into "airplane mode" ,etc..

Or just buy a pad of paper and a pencil because its just about as useful as a tablet without any connectivity.

 

All those doctors running around with their iPads - I can pretty much guarantee they haven't altered the hardware. Maybe they use airplane mode as suggested. Visitors walk through with their iPhones, so I can't believe you have to resort to extreme measures to disable your device.

 

I'm using a pen and paper at the moment but a Tablet would be easier and I can sync with my PC when I get back to the office. And I can assure you that no "doctors with ipads" or "patients with iphones" are allowed in our lab.

I can buy a Tablet and try to disable or remove the Wifi & Bluetooth. Does anyone have any suggests which Tablet would be best to try and is the Wifi and Bluetooth in the same Unit?

 

I'm using a pen and paper at the moment but a Tablet would be easier and I can sync with my PC when I get back to the office. And I can assure you that no "doctors with ipads" or "patients with iphones" are allowed in our lab.
...

Considering the WiFi range is a couple hundred metres it's quite possible your lab is being bombarded already by nearby Wifi Routers and people walking past with Wifi devices, not to mention the much higher transmitted signal strength from mobile phones sending voice or SMS data which transmit for kilometres.

If you still want to do this, just pull your device apart and post some photos. It should be easy enough to identify the antennas and RF modules/ICs.

Just don't blame us if you brick it!

 

again..why? thats the whole point of airplane mode. It turns off all radios.

 

This is the Asus motherboard, where is the Wifi and Bluetooth chip and where are the power connections which I need to cut?

 

Just because you turned off wifi/bluetooth does NOT mean that the device does not have other types of radiated emissions that could be a problem with these "sensitive" devices.

Just the power supply and many other functional circuits can have emissions that could disturb other devices.
In fact doing what you want could easily "increase" emissions not eliminate them.

Are you going to send your device to a test lab to verify its EMI/EMC compliance? No you aren't because its typically a few thousand dollars per session.

What happens "IF" you actually start cutting some traces/removing chips because of some information given to you on the internet and then forget one or miss something and go into this "lab" and KILL someone because you have NO way of proving that you have actually disabled anything without some other equipment to verify that have disabled all emissions.

Have you discussed your plans with this lab manager/boss or whoever is in charge?
IF they have a rule requiring no electronic equipment then thats it.. No tablet for you..
Now if you would like to continue in a professional manner then I suggest you bring it up to them and see about getting approval to use something like "airplane" mode.

NO F-in way in hell would I allow some untrained individual to just bring in a tablet into an area where they are banned just because he "thinks" he made the device safe.

 

Mcgyvr makes a good point. It might be irresponsible to help you try this.