[GUIDE] to properly solve wireless connection problems on the M17x

Guide to properly solve M17x wireless connection problems​

with Dell Wireless/Broadcom WLAN cards
by Glzmo​

Since many new Alienware M17x All Powerful users, especially those using Windows 7 as their operating system are experiencing various problems with their wireless connection and are posting threads asking how to fix them over and over again, I've decided to write this guide to show them how to properly solve these common issues. The solutions in this guide have been created and designed for Windows 7 64 bit, but they may also work in Windows Vista, although these problems have been mainly experienced by Windows 7 users in the past. It could very well be that the problems will start occuring in Vista as well with newer drivers and Windows Updates.
Also note that this guide is for the original M17x All Poweful laptop (based on the Nvidia mainboard chipset and Intel Core 2 CPUs). Following many of the steps in the guide (namely the ones specific to the Nvidia mainboard chipset and Broadcom if you have a WLAN card from a different manufacturer, for example) may or may not work for later revisions of the laptop like the M17x-R2 (based on the Intel Mainboard Chipset and Intel Core i CPUs).

I. Can't connect to wireless Network and or see the Wireless Adapter when the Ethernet cable is unplugged
If you sometimes or always can't connect to the wireless network, can't connect to the wireless network when the Ethernet cable is unplugged, can't connect to a wireless network unless you reboot once to get it working and other bizarre problems with being unable to connect to a wireless network, continue with section I.a.. Otherwise, continue with section II..

I.a. Disable Device sleep on disconnect
Some newer Nvidia Ethernet drivers have a feature called Device sleep on disconnect. This is the culprit. Normally, it should only put the Ethernet adapter to sleep when the cable is disconnected, but it's buggy and thus kills the wireless connection as well.
Follow these steps to disable this feature on your Nvidia Ethernet Adapter:
1. Open the Windows Device Manager by hitting Win+Pause, then click on Device Manager on the left side.
2. Double-click on Network adapters.
3. Double-click on NVIDIA nForce Networking Controller (yes, that's the wired Ethernet adapter indeed).
4. Click on the Advanced tab.
5. Select Device sleep on disconnect.
6. Set the Value to Disabled.
7. Click OK and wireless should work again (might require a reboot afterwards, but probably not).

I.b. Install different (older) drivers that don't have the Device Sleep on disconnect feature.
In case the above doesn't work or you just aren't comfortable with these drivers, follow the instructions below (if step I.a. has been successful, you won't need to follow these steps). Make sure to create a System Restore point before you continue:
1. Click on the Windows Start Button in the Task bar.
2. Click on Control Panel.
3. Click on Uninstall a Program.
4. In the list, double-click Nvidia Drivers.
5. Mark Remove only the following.
6. In the box below, check only the Nvidia Network driver.
7. Click on Remove and follow the uninstaller instructions.
8. Reboot the system if prompted to.
9. Download a different (older) Nvidia driver.
10. Install the older driver.
11. When asked which drivers you wish to install, choose only the Network driver.
12. Follow the installer instructions and reboot your system if prompted to.


II. Low or fluctuating Wireless connection speeds
If you have problems with low wireless connection speeds (such as speeds dropping over time, speeds being far lower than they should be, network-related lag/stuttering in online games, slight packet loss, internet connection loss while LAN is working and other odd things) or wireless connection speeds fluctuating wildly for no apparent reason, install the Dell Wireless drivers version 5.60.18.8 instead of the standard Broadcom/Dell Wireless 1510 drivers. Any older drivers will usually cause sub-par connection speed and other problems. Note, however, that you may have to install the driver manually via device manager as the driver might be intended for a different laptop and the setup program may not work. Make sure to create a system restore point before you continue.
Here is a step-by step on how to manually install the driver:
1. Download the Dell Wireless drivers version 5.60.18.8.
2. Extract the R29128.exe file using an extraction utility like WinRAR or simply execute it and abort the installer.
3. Open the Windows Device Manager by hitting Win+Pause, then click on Device Manager on the left side.
4. Double-click on Network adapters.
5. Double-click on the Broadcom 802.11n Network Adapter entry.
6. Click on the Driver tab.
7. Click on the Update Driver button.
8. Click on Browse my Computer for driver software.
9. Click on Let me pick form a list of device drivers on my computer.
10. Click on the Have Disk Button.
11. Click on Browse.
12. Select the folder you have extracted the drivers you just downloaded in step 1. into.
13. Select the sub-folder DRIVER_US (if you are in the US), DRIVER_JP (if you are in Japan) or DRIVER_ROW (if you are in the rest of the world), depending on the region you are in.
14. Click on the Open button.
15. Click OK.
16. Select the driver that says Dell Wireless 1510 Wireless-N WLAN Mini-Card from the list (you may have to have to scroll down to see it - it shows up as second to last in the list for me).
17. Click on the Next button.
18. You will get a warning that the driver you are about to install may not be compatible with your hardware. Ignore the warning and proceed with the driver installation.
19. Reboot your system if prompted to do so.
20. Your new driver should now be installed properly and your wireless connection speed in order.


III. If everything else fails (or you've just had enough of the trouble stemming from the Dell Wireless 1510/Broadcom card)
Replace the problematic Dell Wireless 1510 card with an Intel Ultimate N WiFi Link 5300 A/G/N half-mini card (use the bluetooth antenna as the third antenna or buy yourself an extra antenna for it). It works fine with the M17x, has better connection speeds at both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands (the latter has really bad speeds on the Broadcom/1510), it's not required to jump through hoops to get it working properly, it works with the standard drivers and Intel keeps their drivers up to date. It's also a lot more reliable and faster as well, especially on the 5Ghz band, but also on the 2.4GHz band. The newer Intel® Ultimate N WiFi Link 6300 half-mini card has been said to work great as well. Other cards should work without problems, too.
Warning: The following steps are for advanced users with at least a bit of technical knowledge and experience in disassembling/assembling computers and laptops. Before you continue with the following steps, be aware that damaging your laptop while performing the upgrade could very well void your warranty. You have the sole responsibility for it, proceed at your own risk. You may also want to download, carefully read and follow the M17x Service Manual which includes illustrations and more instruction on how to perform the following steps.
Step-by-step instructions for replacing your old Half-Mini PCIe Wireless LAN/WiFi card with the new one:
1. Download the latest drivers and wireless utility/tool from the manufacturer of your new Wireless LAN card in preparation for the upgrade while you still have a wireless connection.
2. Uninstall your current Wireless LAN drivers and utilities.
3. Shut down the the laptop, close the lid and unplug the power cord.
4. Turn it over so the bottom is facing upwards.
5. Remove the battery by pushing the battery release mechanism and taking the battery out.
6. Unscrew the two screws marked P in the battery compartment.
7. Unscrew the one screw marked P next to the battery compartment.
8. Turn the Laptop over so the display is on top again.
9. Open the display.
10. Slide back the palmrest (the part the touchpad is on), which will expose the Mini-PCIe cards.
The half-sized one in the middle is the WLAN card, the full size one on the left is the bluetooth card.
11. Unplug the WLAN antenna wires from the WLAN card (it's recommended to remember the positions of the antennae).
12. Optional - If you only have three antennae and your new WLAN card has three plugs, unplug the blue antenna wire from the blootooth card as well.
13. Carefully open the metal retention mechanism of the WLAN card with your fingers or a screwdriver if your fingers are too big.
14. The WLAN card will pop out and remain in the slot at a ~45° angle.
15. Take the old WLAN card out.
16. Plug the new WLAN Half-Mini PCIe card in at a 45° angle and press it down until the retention mechanism arrests it.
17. Plug the white and black wires that were connected to the old WLAN card as well into the new card. Plug in the wires the way they were plugged in on the old card. If your new card has three antenna connections, plug in the third antenna (if you didn't have four antennae, use the blue bluetooth antenna or an aftermarket one if you don't want to use bluetooth functionality - you may also be able to run a card with three plugs with just two antennae, but the connection might suffer from it).
18. Align the palmrest with the holes on the front and on the sides and slide it back on.
19. Close the laptop screen.
20. Turn the laptop over again.
21. Screw the three screws you have removed earlier back in.
22. Plug the battery back in.
23. Turn the Laptop around, plug in the power adapter, start up your computer.
24. Once in the OS, it should install default drivers and you're ready to go and enjoy the better wireless connection. Optionally, you can also install the latest drivers and utility/tool from the manufacturer of your new WLAN card that you may have downloaded in step III.1. for more improvements.

To learn more about tweaking the settings of your Dell Wireless card, check out the official Setting Advanced Properties: Dell Wireless WLAN Card User Guide.

Hopefully this guide will help you solve your wireless connection problems and allow you to enjoy full wireless connection speeds on your Alienware M17x laptop.



Addendum: References and Quick Links used in the Guide

Dell Wireless driver version 5.60.18.8
Download the driver for the Dell Wireless 1510/1520 mini-card used in this guide.

Latest Broadcom 943xx Wireless Drivers
Download the latest Broadcom drivers as an alternative to the slightly older Dell driver which may or may not solve more issues. Some have been seeing better success than with the 5.60.18.8 drivers with this one (you'll have to use the 802.11n Network Adapter driver or similar instead of the Dell Wireless 1510 Wireless-N WLAN Mini-Card entry in step II.15. the guide when using this driver).

Setting Advanced Properties: Dell Wireless WLAN Card User Guide
Official Dell Manual/Guide about the various Advanced Properties of Dell Wireless cards.

Intel Ultimate N WiFi Link 5300 A/G/N Half-Mini card
Link to buy the Intel Ultimate N WiFi Link 5300 A/G/N half-mini card from dell.com to upgrade from the crappy Dell Wireless 1510/Broadcom card that comes with the M17x.

M17x Service Manual
Link to the download of the M17x Service Manual in .pdf form. It describes and illustrates how to take disassemble/reassemble your M17x for servicing purposes.

Download the latest driver for your WLAN card
Link to the WLAN driver download page over at laptopvideo2go.com. The latest drivers, official and beta versions of the most popular WLAN chipsets are usually posted there.

This Guide is a work in progress. I'll update it as I see fit.

Feel free to link it in various threads to spread the information.

 

Excellent job Glzmo. Thanks for another outstanding guide! Added to the General Info sticky (yes, it will be reorganized soon - when I have some extra time).

 

Nice Job Glzmo + rep .. I know i ran into this problem ...

 

will this work for ein vista?

 

You shouldn't be seeing issues with Vista. If you are, create a thread (describing the issue) and we'll troubleshoot them.

 

That's correct. At least it shouldn't be necessary yet. It's entirely possible that newer drivers will cause the same issues on Vista in the future, however. Then again, it's also possible that they won't. Let's hope it's the latter.
These solutions should be safe to try on Vista, although I'm not sure if the drivers I linked to are Vista compatible, perhaps somebody with Vista installed could check it out and let me know.

 

alright, ill test it out...

 

Glzmo, I'm trying to manually install the driver as per your last fix but it gives me a long list of possible adapters, which one do I pick?

 

Dell Wireless 1510 Wireless-N WLAN Mini-Card, as detailed in Step II.16.. Isn't it on the list for you? Try to scroll down the list, it second to last in the list for me.

 

I'm using the 'Dell Wireless 1390 WLAN mini-card', sp far so good, I'm on Vista. I've been having these ridiculously slow speeds for ages and no amount of messing about has managed to cure it.

I'll see how this pans out.

 

Cheers mate, I was posting the same time as you. I'll try that one, I hadn't noticed your reference to that driver.

 

Well, perhaps the 1390 will work as well, but the 1510 is the actual card that comes with the M17x, so I'd use that driver. Let me know how it pans out for you, since you're on Vista.

 

The Dell Wireless drivers typically include the necessary support for all of the cards. So, if you grab the 1390 release, chances are the 1510 code is included as well. The INF will either have your DeviceID or it wont. If it does, it will install.

 

Thanks Gizmo, nice to have this issue defined and resolved.

 

Ty ! Greetins from vnezuela !

 

hi guys, i did exactly what it said in the guide but I still can't get my wireless working under windows 7, basically it's always disabled, I can't reenable. any ideas ?

 

anyone ? 10char

 

Did you try pressing the wireless button?
Also, is it disabled in the device manager, or not there at all, or do you just don't get a connection?
Is there a wireless icon in the task bar and how does it look?
If it's there, do you get a list of any wireless networks when clicking on the icon?

 

Device manager sees it as enabled

Control Panel\Network and Internet\Network Connections shows it disabled, and the wireless utility doesnt see it so I guess thats cos its disabled

btw its working fine in vista

 

Hm. Do you have an Ethernet cable connected by any chance? Perhaps you could post a link to a screenshot of what you see.
Also, check your advanced power profile if any wireless power saving is enabled and disable it if it is.
It would also be good to know which driver versions you're using (check each device in the device manager in the driver tab) for Ethernet and Wireless LAN.

 

http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/4202/wrfsefsfs.jpg

 

Alright, try Section II. of the Guide. It looks like you're still running the Generic Broadcom driver - that might help.
Also check again if you followed section I. of the Guide correctly. Perhaps you missed something important.

 

hi m8, i re did all that but it's still disabled...


btw thanks for ur help

 

Hm, I don't know what it could be then. Try to install some older (Vista) drivers for the nForce networking controller and possible even the wireless adapter (does it say Dell Wireless 1510 now in your device manager or still Broadcom, by the way?). Also make sure that your wireless network is really available (check your router/access point status, set your laptop up next to the router/access point, etc.). You could also try to uninstall and re-install the On screen Display.

 

Update: Added a few more details and extra steps to section II. to hopefully avoid some of the confusion that came up.

 

Thanks Glzmo. A short and quick fix to an annoying problem I was having after upgrading to Windows7 Ultimate.

 

I.a. did not work for me.
I.b. do anyone have a link for a other chipset driver for windows 7 64bit?

 

Try the Windows Vista 64 bit drivers from Dell's M17x driver download page or use the ones that come with Windows (simply uninstalling the newer ones should have Windows load the default ones).

 

Thank you so much for the great guide. Was having some stuttering in online games and after following this guide everything is working great!

 

Thanks so much !! nvidia Ethernet driver was causing the problem

 

Thanks, I bought one of the SSD drives and tried a clean install with the DVDs included with the system (win7 hp & resource dvd with win7 drivers).

I was fighting with this for hours last night and actually found that by uninstalling the GPU driver, it made the wireless work again.

I reinstalled my GPU (which broke my network again), then disabled the setting in I.a and all works now.

Thanks!

This and the thing where my keyboard lights aren't accessible from commandcenter are those types of gotchas that get you six months down the road. I bet this is how alienware keeps you buying new computers. Frustration from troubleshooting gotchas.

 

Glzmo,

I have downloaded directly from the Nvidia site (yesterday), i think it has changed with a new driver version

Should be nice...

Quote:
I.a. Disable Device sleep on disconnect
Newer Nvidia Ethernet drivers have a feature called Device sleep on disconnect. This is the culprit. Normally, it should only put the Ethernet adapter to sleep when the cable is disconnected, but it's buggy and thus kills the wireless connection as well.

 

Interesting. Which chipset/ethernet driver version is it (maybe post a direct link to the driver download)? Also, do they just disable the device sleep on disconnect setting by default or is it actually fixed so it doesn't affect wireless this time around?

 

You can download it as complete motherboard driver set

Strange thing is you can not see it with Firefox only with IE
the "motherboard" button, with Firefox you only see "Graphics driver" button

http://www.nvidia.com/object/nforce_win764_15.51.html

Windows 7 64-bit Driver Versions:
•Ethernet Driver (v73.14) WHQL
•Network Management Tools (v73.16) "Sedona"
•SATAIDE Driver (v11.1.0.33) WHQL
•SATARAID Driver (v11.1.0.33) WHQL
•RAIDTOOL Application (v11.1.0.30)
•SMBUS Driver (v4.74) WHQL
•SMU Driver (v1.71) WHQL
•Installer (v7.57)
•Audio Driver (v1.00.00.59)

 

Has anyone got the link for the original broadcom drivers?

Since installing the new ones, I've had less drops but my MW2 in multiplayer has consistantly low ping, so I want to check if it's actually these drivers causing the issue... (tried everything else imaginable, the drivers are the only thing I've changed recently.)

 

Low ping is good. High ping is bad.

The original drivers can be found on Dell's driver download page for the M17x.

You could also just roll back to the previous driver in device manager, assuming you installed the new one over it before removing the old one first.

 

Sorry high ping lol, I probably wrote that thinking of the low number of bars being bad, currently I get 1 (red) or two (yellow).

Thanks for that, I'll use the ones on the site.

 

Okay, I tested this and I still have to disable device sleep on disconnect with this driver to even connect to my wireless network. I did a clean install of the driver (including uninstall/driver sweep, etc.). That means this driver doesn't fix it, unfortunately.

 

I'm getting some interesting problems... Similar to problems described in the second part of your guide.

While I have no problem seeing and attaching to a network, it occasionally (between every 15 minutes and every 30 seconds) has to be repaired by right-clicking the wireless icon. The error is the same every time, "the default gateway is unavailable". Repair fixes the problem and then I am back up, but sometimes only for a few seconds.

I am downloading the Nforce drivers as well as the dell drivers to see if either of these fixes the problem for me.

 

W7 x64

10char

 

i had the same issues with win 7 ult 64,,,,,went to vista ult 64 ZERO ISSUES......sucks so it really got frustrating to me because i wanted it to work with win7 and i reloaded it and did no updates for win 7 and ..now zero issues........hope that helps ,....i dont update win ...its still in the new phase

 

Well the new nvidia drivers *seem* to have helped.. My steam download has been going for a full 5 minutes now without stalling.

I'm only getting ~650kB/s, though. Previously I was getting in the 2MB/s range.

EDIT- All appears to be working properly now. My Steam download finished without issue (it did go back up to ~1MB/s) and now I'm off to play some Bioshock. Thanks for the guide!

 

I'm curious, did you end up installing only the new Nvidia chipset drivers to fix the issue or the Dell Wireless/Broadcom 5.60.18.8 drivers as well?

 

I've just installed the latest Broadcom 943xx Wireless Driver version 5.60.18.41 and will be testing it a bit. So far everything is fine, connection speeds seem to be a tad bit better than 5.60.18.8 and ping in games appears to be a little lower as well. But that could be coincidence, I haven't tested them enough yet. If anybody would like to test them, go ahead and report back here.

 

Ok, after updating the Nvidia chipset drivers, the connection was *better*, but still tended to drop out. So I tried the dell drivers specified in the OP. With those drivers, I couldn't connect *at all*. I mean, it wouldn't even see my router or my neighbors' routers.

So I rolled back to the old broadcomm drivers, and rebooted again. Now I can see the networks, but I can't effectively connect. I'm using a wired port right now. I've also tried a second router, no joy.

What gives?

UPDATE - Tried the Broadcom 943xx wireless driver version 50.60.18.41 linked inn the above post, and when I chose "have disk" and navigated to the driver, it pulled up a couple of asus adapters (G and N were the two variations), so I just picked the generic Broadcomm N adapter that was also listed.

*tentatively* it seems to be working. I'm not holding my breath though. I'm going to switch back to my Linksys router now (using my old belkin that I replaced because it crashes under heavy loads like torrents). Will report back in a few.


UPDATE 2 - OK, if you're reading this I'm now back up on my Linksys. Sheesh. I haven't had a network adapter cause this much pain since I was running a PowerPC and dialing in to AOL.

 

Im interested in who has successfully got this working, and it had worked properly for over 1 day?

I've been fighting with a clean Install of Windows 7 for 5 days now, and now Im getting tired of missing sleep.

I originally tried the original Win7 drivers from dell. hit the fam and the WLAN AND LAN stopped working together.

first method I tried was Gizmo's method that everyone tried already. http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=436486

that did not work. tried the NVIDIA 1.49 drivers from their site. Dont work.

---------------------------


Once again started over from scratch and I installed all these drivers in the same order. These all come direct from Dell Windows 7 drivers.
I UNCHECKED Ethernet drivers when installing the "nVidia CP79 Chipset R232573.
I SKIPPED installing the Dell Wireless Broadcom Drivers (04).

M17x LAN & WLAN worked about 2 hours on windows drivers. No updates. nothing else. next restart BOTH wlan + LAN stopped working.

no sleep on disconnect options


Once again I am back at the drawing board.

 

FINALLY...

Dell/Alienware actually acknowledge that they have a problem....

http://support.dell.com/support/top...&component=-1&lang=-1&doclang=en&toggle=false

Now if they could just get their acts together and get a legitimate fix released.

- Denver

 

Can anyone confirm that this actually works?? I could have sworn I've tried this already. The instructions are almost a copy and paste of Glzmo's breakdown. Im gonna call Dell up and start screaming today If it does not work.