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    Wireless Problem

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by Kishkumen, Aug 31, 2011.

  1. Kishkumen

    Kishkumen Newbie

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    My friend recently helped me with a clean install since I don't know a lot about laptops, and this one is my first one.. I have an Alienware M17x R3 with this card "Card, Wireless, Half Mini-Card, DW1501, 4313" (Dell Wireless WLAN 1501 Half Mini-Card) and is not working after the clean install. It used to work pretty well from factory install, as I said, since I don't know much about laptops, I accidentally deleted the recovery part so I can't use AlienRespawn (HUGE fail from my part) so I went to dell drivers and download and found this.

    Install

    1.Double-click the new icon on the desktop labeled Dell_Wireless-WLAN-1501-Half_A00_R289411.exe.
    2.The Self-Extracting window appears and prompts you to extract or
    unzip to C:\DELL\DRIVERS\R289411. Write down this path so the executable (I.e.
    Setup.exe) file can be found later.
    3.The Self-Extractor window appears.
    4.Click OK.
    5.After completing the file extraction, if the Self-Extractor
    window is still open, close it.
    6.Click the Start button and then click Run.
    7.Type C:\DELL\DRIVERS\R289411 in the Open textbox and then click OK.
    8.Follow the on-screen installation instructions.

    I found that on the description of my wireless card and the problem is that when I download that the setup.exe mentioned in the step 2, isn't there... it just unzip a lot of .dll and .sys files (You can try downloading it to check what I'm saying) so I can't really install the driver.

    Please I don't know what to do about this and I use a lot my wireless card, any help is welcome.

    Thank you a lot
     
  2. custom90gt

    custom90gt Doc Mod Super Moderator

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    Do this:
    Right click on my computer
    click on manage
    In the window on the left, click on device manager
    under network adapters you should see your wireless card or unknown hardware
    right click on that and click update driver software
    click on browse your computer for software
    in the next screen click on browse and go to that folder (C:\DELL\DRIVERS\R289411)
    Select ok
    it will install the driver for your wireless card
     
  3. Kishkumen

    Kishkumen Newbie

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    Thanks a lot, I will try that when I get home after work! :)
     
  4. TheChrisRich

    TheChrisRich Newbie

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    Wow! Thanks for the tip custom90gt!

    I have this odd issue with my m17x where on a factory reload almost everything works except the WiFi! Of course as I let the software update and patch stuff something breaks and suddenly almost all the PDFs on my flash drive (especially the ones coming from my internet fax service ( metrofax.com) my work uses) won't open.

    Eventually I get so annoyed that I either install a program call fox it reader or reload from the factory settings. The fox it thing is not nearly as nice as adobe's pdf reader and I have no idea why it keeps getting corrupted.

    Nerd friends are telling me I am probably getting infected with a virus that's exploiting adobe's security? Either way the biggest issue with a factory reload has always been the WiFi card. Seems like each time I fix it, the PDFs soon fail to open. If work wasn't paying all the bills I wouldn't give a darn about the faxes, but sadly I still have bills to pay! ;)

    Will try your advice when I get home! Sure would be nice to be able to wander around with it and still be online!
     
  5. custom90gt

    custom90gt Doc Mod Super Moderator

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    hah no problem guys, hope it works out for you. If any other devices are flagged there (with a yellow exclamation mark), or have a question mark, let me know and I'll give you a hand finding the drivers.
     
  6. Arazath

    Arazath Newbie

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    I got the same problem as this guy, but I can't use this method to fix my problem! I got a clean install of Windows ultimate 64, and several of my drivers won't work. My main objective is to get Wlan up and going so I can fix the rest from my own computer.
    Anyway, I tried using the method explained above, but I ot stuck after the "network adaptors" part. I got two things under that tab. Two bluetooth devices, Personal area network, and RFCOMM Protocol TD. Just to try, I right clicked and updated from (C:\DELL\DRIVERS\R289411), but it say both are the latest update.
    Even my hightechy-techy fiend is clueless. Anybody got a fix for this problem?
     
  7. Trome71

    Trome71 Notebook Deity

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