Antenna on PCI card, broken?

Perhaps if you gave us the brand and model.......

Right angle reverse SMA connector. The antenna just screws into the connector. There's usually a knurled nut at the base.

However, there's a potential problem with the right angle connector. It's really easy to extend the antenna perpendicular to the board and use the antenna as a lever to brute force rotate the connector up and down. Normally, the RT angle SMA connector is quite stiff and will not rotate in place. However, I've seen connectors loosen after brutalizing the antenna. When that happens, the center pin between the right angle sections of the connector breaks internally. This results in the ultimate intermittent RF connection. The problem is obvious when tested with an ohms-guesser.

I have two boards that have this problem where I'll be replacing the connector shortly. When I removed one connector, the center pin just fell out after unsoldering. I think I killed both of these by not being very careful when I moved the computer in the back of my truck. The projecting antenna probably hit something and broke the connector inside. Next time, I'll remember to unplug the antenna before transporting.

Should find that it is an SMA connector that just screws onto the connector on the backplate.

Sorry about that, I had assumed they all shared a similar design. It's a Linksys Wireless-G PCI Adapter WMP54G.

I've had a look at it again, and it definitely doesn't screw onto the connector on the back-plate.. It seems to be broken or probably missing a part.

Thanks for reply David. Much appreciated.