Acer 1410 & Intel 5100 Wireless

I'm really trying to like my new Acer 1410. Everything was working great until I tried to connect thru the wifi. Turned out the connection was really weak. This is in my house where all my other laptops have had no problem connecting.

So I try for a couple of hours trying every setting possible on my router and on my laptop settings. Finally, I open up the bottom of my laptop and find out the black wire that goes to the Intel Wireless card isn't even connected! In fact the metal connector itself is missing entirely! Thanks Acer for wasting my time!

So me not knowing much about electronics, I cut off a 2 inch wire (with connector) from my old laptop's wireless card and taped it to the new laptop's open black wire. Plug it in and now the signal is better, but it still sucks. Any advice anyone? I really would rather fix it myself if I can. Would it work better if I solder the two wires together? Or is the Intel 5100 a POS and nothing is going to help it?

Thanks for any help in advance.

 

You would have to solder it, just taping it won't make a physical connection. If you don't know enough about electronics, you should ask a friend who knows this stuff or better RMA your 1410. It's better to have a continuous wire from connector to antenna without a cut/resolder in between, because it might alter the impedance.

 

Thanks. I'll RMA, but one last try.

Do you know where I can buy one of those metal connectors so that I can just crimp on? Fry's Electronics? Radio Shack?

 

I'm sorry, I don't know.

 

Ok. so I call Acer and tell them the story. The Customer Service Rep proceeds to tell me there will be a charge because I open the panel with the RAM and the wireless card. then he asks me for my Serial Number. Of course, I refuse. Ridiculous.

So I'll call back tomorrow and pretend that I have no idea why the connection is so weak and then will be subjected to what im sure will be hours of step by step software "fixes" by the rep and then finally I will send it in and pray that the technician actually takes me seriously and opens up the panel to see the problem. Oh please, laptop gods, please don't let me get a rep that just assumes there's no problem and mails it right back to me.

Sorry for the whining guys. If any of you have any suggestions of how I should deal with the CSR, please let me know.

Thank you.

 

@wbbgjr
I've thought a little bit more about your problem and might have found a intermediate solution. You could cut some short pieces of wire from a fine wire brush(those wires are very stiff) and put them between the cut wire and the original wire with the missing plug. You could stick one piece of wire in the center conductor and two or three in the shielding conductor put the cut wire and the original together(be careful to properly align them so that you don't short out the two conductors) and then put on some tape. It's a ghetto solution but it might work.

 

I got rid of the 5100 altogether and bought a 5300 for around 25 Canadian bucks. The 5100 i had was a POS and the signal kept on getting cut off.

 

Their system might identify you by your phone number (caller id) and ask you if you are calling about the same problem. If that happens you might want to call from a different line. Good luck.

BTW, my card works fine. Signal strength seems to be on par with my other laptops.

 

Thanks. It should be worth it to get it fixed then.

I called up their warranty services and the guy gives me a phone number, which turned out to be the paid software support number. So I called the warranty services back again and get a different guy. This guy was much better and ended up told me to use the recovery management software to set the computer back to default and if that doesn't work still then they will take the laptop in for service.

Anyone have experience with their turnaround time?

I'm still debating whether or not to try to find a local computer/electronic repair to get this thing fixed.

 

After much googling, I finally found a discussion about Intel 5100 wireless problems on the Acer 1410. I worked with Acer Support back and forth for about a week to try to resolve my problem. Out of the box, I ONLY get "Local Access Only" from the wireless. Support had me try EVERYTHING!! Nothing worked. Then I contacted Verizon FIOS to see if it was a router problem. He accessed my desktop and did some tweaking. He finally realized that the wireless adaptor in the Acer would not accept an IP address (either by hard-coding OR automatic configuration). So, he said it HAD to be a hardware or software issue on the Acer. Acer support then gave me a couple of more things to try (they just go down a list I assume). NOTHING worked! So, today I returned the Acer and exchanged it for a new one. As I feared, the SAME problem. I don't know what to do now. After reading the above posts, I'm wondering if it could be a missing or disconnected antenna wire at the wireless card. Here's my question: I get "Local Only" with FIVE bars (STRONG signal). Does this exclude the possibility of a missing or disconnected wire? Do the people above get Local Only, but no Internet? THAT is what is happening to me. I can't believe TWO Acers in a row would have the same exact problem, but it happened. From my symptoms, does anyone have any ideas what could be causing my problem? Thanks for any suggestions. Really frustrating spending a week trying to get (2 brand new) computers to connect to the internet wirelessly with no help from tech support. Thanks!

 

Are you sure that your router isn't blocking access via MAC address. This would probably prevent you from getting an IP address. I highly doubt that this is the same wireless issue with both computers. Are you the one that setup your router? It might also be some sort of firewall problem.

 

Hmmm, I'm NOT sure. I would assume that the Verizon Fios support guy would have checked that yesterday. How can I check that? BTW, the router was originally set up by the installer of my Verizon Fios system many months ago AND I have 2 OTHER computers which have NO trouble connecting to the internet wirelessly. Does that info give any more clues?
Meanwhile, I'll see if I can find any firewall blocking it. Out of the box, I believe only Windows Defender and a trial of McAfee is on here. I'll poke around. Hope you can tell me how to see (and fix) if the router is blocking the internet via MAC address. I'm not computer savvy about MAC addresses.
I really like the features of this little Acer - sure would like to get it working.
Thanks for your suggestions and I hope you can let me know how I can check on the MAC address situation.

 

Depending on the type of router there should be instructions online. Did the tech that was out to setup FIOS also configure your other computers to use wireless? If so, he might have seutp Mac-Address filtering. Since every network card on a network (wireless or otherwise) has a unique identifier (a MAC address) some routers are setup to filter on this identifier to make it harder for others to access your router. I personally don't do this anymore because I accidently locked myself out of a router I gave a friend when her address wasn't in the router. Then, I had to reset the router but it wouldn't reset, etc, etc....

What type of router is it? I would definitely check online for the documentation and get into the router setup to set what is configured there. It really sounds like something on the router side. As you mentioned is is unlikely that this is a firewall issue since the Acer is fresh out of the box.

I hope this helps.

 

Thanks for all that info dbasham! It makes more sense than ALL the weeks worth of Acer support suggestions put together! I'll get to work on this tomorrow. I have a good feeling that this may solve it. Wanna work for Acer support? I'll recommend you to them.
Yes, as I recall, the tech that set-up my FIOS configured my other 2 computers to "talk to" the modem/router (It seems to be a Verizon brand). So, your suggestion sounds like it is right on the money. I hope I can figure out what to do once I get into the router. I suppose I can call Verizon and tell them of your suggestion and I'm SURE they'll be able to configure the ACER (or change a setting in the router) - whatever is necessary to put everything in sync. If they can't....I'll turn to you!
Hope I won't have to bother you again - thanks so much for the tips.

 

I hope this ends up helping. Basically you just want to disable MAC address filtering if it is enabled. This should be relatively easy with all major router models out there. What brand and model router do you have?

Hopefully that tech also gave you the login info. If not there are ways to reset the router back to its default so you can login. There are also Web sites out there that list the default admin logins by manufacturers. If you find the user manual for your router (which should be pretty easy) it should also have the default login.

I hope you are on the right track with the router MAC stuff. On a side note do you know if the tech enabled a WEP or WPA key that you need to input? It is possible that you just aren't putting in a security key and this would be another reason that the WI-FI can't authenticate. It seems that both Acer and VZW would have thought of that to but you never know. Hopefully that didn't come across as a simple question but I just want to make 100% sure since I don't know your knowledge level. If you don't have too much experience with this stuff it may also make sense to buy a "geeK" friend a beer and a pizza and have him/her come check stuff out.

Oh and thanks for offering to recommend me to Acer but I doubt that they could afford me although I would like to get back to Asia again soon.

 

I got into the Router (Actiontec MI424-WR Rev. D). I copy/pasted all the info I could find but am hesitant to post it here publicly for fear of being hacked. There are Mac addresses, IP addresses etc, - I don't know if that info would allow someone to hack me. Is there some way I could send it to you? I am at SonnyDaye1(at)aol.com. Thanks! Sonny

 

One more thing. I have read in some forums that some Acers have been found to have the wire (antenna) NOT connected to the wireless card. COULD this be what is causing my problem? HOWEVER, even though I get "local only" (NO internet), I DO get a strong signal (5 bars). Does this mean that there is definitely NO chance that the antenna is NOT connected? Can we rule out THAT scenario? Thanks!

 

The user manual is here: http://support.actiontec.com/doc_files/MI424WR_Rev._ACD_User_Manual_4.0.16.1.56.0.10.11.3_v6.pdf

Since you are getting a signal the wires are connected. One general question to make SURE that this is the router is whether you have tried connecting this laptop to another Wi-Fi hotspot. Maybe try a hotel or a Starbucks or something to make sure that works. If this is the case (aka Wi-FI works elsewhere) I say it is something with the router/connection.

Back to one original question, were you given a WEP or WPA key for your Wi-FI connection when the people set this up? Most of these things get setup with security (unless they use MAC filternig) so you would need to use that key to connect. Not having the proper key will also cause a "NO IP" scenario.

Also back to another question. "Do you know any geeks?" If so I suggest buying one of them a beer to lure them to your house to fix this. If you don't have experience with this stuff (or an interest in it) then it could take you a while (already has) to figure this out.

Sending me the info won't really help much since I don't know anything about this router. I also can't spend hours troubleshooting this with you (sorry). My suggestion is to call VZW back and ask them what kind of security their techs setup when they were out there. Have them help you make a connection based on what they techs did (either with a security key or via adding in a MAC address to the router). BTW, I assume that you figured out how to login because you wouldn't have router details otherwise.

Here is some interesting stuff from the manual (confirm that you tried this):

4.2 Connecting a Wireless Client
To connect a wireless client to the FiOS Router:
Note: The following procedure assumes the FiOS Router’s default wireless
settings are intact. If they have been changed, use the new ESSID and wireless
security settings. For more details, see the “Connecting a Wireless Windows XP
Client” section of this chapter.
In the wireless client’s configuration interface, enter 1. the FiOS Router’s
ESSID (found on a sticker on the bottom of the FiOS Router’s case) in the
appropriate text box or field (this varies depending on the wireless client’s
manufacturer).
2. Enter the FiOS Router’s WEP key (also found on the sticker on the bottom of
the FiOS Router’s case) in the wireless client’s configuration interface.
3. Save the changes and exit the wireless client’s configuration interface. The
client should now detect and join the FiOS Router’s wireless network. If not,
check the wireless client’s documentation, or contact its manufacturer.

 

Thanks so much for your continued support. I just got back from driving around and I WAS able to connect to the internet at 2 different locations. So it is NOT the computer! Yay!! Sorry Acer for thinking bad thoughts about you.
I have WEP and I DO know the key (sorry I didn't tell you that earlier). I'm calling Verizon Fios now and give him the info that it is NOT the Acer (he said it WAS - either software or hardware). Looks like I may be getting close to being able to use this neat little machine ...after a WEEK of aggravation. I'll let you know how I make out. Thanks again!

 

Well we know it is not the laptop now (sorry we doubted you little fella). If you are using WEP and that seems to be connecting fine I bet it is MAC filtering.

I also wonder whether DHCP was properly setup (lots of stuff on this in Chapter 5). If DHCP isn't setup right then you also wouldn't get an IP address. Make sure DHCP is enabled. You may also want to check that Firewall access control on the Router isn't blocking you by default. The more I think about it the more I think that DHCP hasn't been setup properly which may be why you aren't getting an IP address. Have VZW look into this.

 

After a lengthy session with Verizon Fios support, it seems to be a problem that they have run into before. He said there have been issues with Acer wireless drivers communicating with the Verizon routers. He's sending me a new router but highly doubts that the issue will be fixed. Since my other 2 computers are fine with the router, the problem definitely lies with Acer.
I've tried their updated driver for the Intel Wireless, I've tried an updated driver from the Intel site. Is it possible that a driver exists SOMEWHERE that will fix this problem? How frustrating.

 

Well that is odd. I don't see why drivers would not be able to communicate with the router but I guess I have seen strange things like that before. Are you still on Vista? It is possible that Windows 7 would fix this (I am on 7).

 

I'm calling BS on that statement. I don't know the answer, but I bet this ISN'T it. Of course I could be wrong. My guess is dbasham ideas are in the ball park. Good luck.

 

Befriend a geek!!! You would be amazed what networking geeks will do for beer and/or pizza. You must know a nerd out there somewhere.

I think it probably comes down to either DHCP or Mac Address Filtering although I don't see where you can setup filtering in this router (hard to tell without seeing the interface).

 

I am the original poster with the problem that turned out to be disconnected antenna on the wifi.

To answer your question, no, I was able to access the internet as long as I was within 5 feet of my wireless router. I also have Verizon Fios and I'm using their wireless router.

I just received a replacement laptop from Amazon. I eventually decided to complain to Amazon and they shipped out the replacement with one-day shipping! However, keep in mind that I bought the laptop with one-day shipping so that kind of makes sense.

I will not be able to test out the wireless card with my Verizon Fios router until Friday, but early indications is that I have no problem with getting strong signals from other wireless routers. I don't see why I would have a problem with Verizon's.

I think you should have the Verizon router replaced. You've tried two laptops, so it's most likely not the laptop.

 

Did the 5300 wireless card solve the problem of the poor wireless connectivity in the 1410 for you?? I can only get a signal if I'm right next to my router, and I've had other laptops with same router, with no problem. I'm willing to try a different wireless card if that solution seems most successful for others with the "weak" or "disappearing signal" syndrome.