I think I have a defective wireless card

I believe my new Inspiron 1420 has a defective wireless card.

My computer's wireless internet connection to my router works just fine for about 15 minutes and then the connection cuts out. When I hover over the taskbar icon with my mouse, it says, "Limited Network Connectivity." Then, after a minute or two, the The taskbar icon changes to a red X and says "Not Connected," and I am unable to connect to the internet.

When I check Network Connections, Wireless Network Connection is permanently disabled. Even when I right-click the Wireless Network Connection and click Enable, it remains in a disabled state.

I have tried Windows Vista's "Diagnose and repair." I have also tried uninstalling and reinstalling Intel's 3945 Wireless ABG software from my laptop's driver page on Dell's web site. Nothing works.

 

hmm... You may, if this has been happening ever since you got it, you have a defective one, if it started kinda randomly, you either have a virus or need to do a system restore to the point before it happened

 

darksaber, not to worry, Dell came out with an update to this problem, well, for the 1520 and 1720, but I think this utility should still work here on your PC, it fixed my issues...

http://support.dell.com/support/dow...-1&impid=-1&formatcnt=1&libid=5&fileid=217662

 

I don't see how that update could only apply to 1520's and 1720's as the same exact card is in the 1420's, but is the light on when it disconnects or no? Sometimes I have problems were after resuming or something from sleep my wireless card is DISABLED and the light isn't even on, and I can't fix it unless I reboot. I also sometimes after a cold boot have a disabled card <_<

 

I agree with DoubleBlack... I think Dell should have made that update available for ALL the new inspiron users

 

I wonder what percentage of new Inspiron users are having (or will be having) this problem.

 

Is anyone else having the experiences I am, or is that what this fix was designed for?

 

Your not alone mate, my PC has wireless and works fine but my 1420 stays connected for 1 minute or so then drops out and wont see the network. I tried the link to that fix and it's a no go. Sure would like some suggestions.

 

Have you tried updating your drivers?

 

why don't you disconnect power to your router, and then reconect it. A simple router reset could be a solution

 

You made a huge mistake.

 

who made a huge mistake?

 

Haha, "I think I made a huge tiny mistake."

I tried updating the drivers and adjusting settings on the router.

I'm in the middle of trying out this patch now: http://tinyurl.com/3chq48. Only problems so far is that the connection resets periodically -- every few hours Firefox says doesn't load a page and says, "The connection was reset." A quick refresh fixes the problem, but it's still annoying.

 

For the SECOND time, when people are experiencing problems is the Wi-Fi light ON or OFF?

 

What router do you have? Was the problem occurred since day 1 or just recently?

Try get the latest driver from Intel, also the latest firmware for your router.

 

I was having a problem with my wifi too during the first few days. First of all, it was open because it can detect networks, except my own! so at first i thought it was the router, but my fiancee's laptop (also Vista) can connect to it, so it must probably my 1520! so, i tried adding our network under Manage Wireless Networks, copied my fiancee's settings, but still, it cannot connect even if i checked the settings "connect even if the network is not broadcasting" and "connect automatically when the network is in range". I didn't know why it cannot find our network, but can find other networks (and i can successfully connect to the unsecured ones, you know!). So, we thought of checking the device manager, under control panel > hardware and sounds. Click on the Network adapters, and checked my Wireless card's properties. We went to the advance tab to cross check the differences. Though my fiancee and I have different wireless cards, it was easy to determine which of the property goes with each other. I made this change:

property:
AD HOC CHANNEL 802.11 a
value:
AUTO

and miraculously, it immediately saw our network and connected to it. Now i don't have any problems with it anymore. I hope this post can help people with similar problems.

 

from what ive read on the net, this is a vista problem. I just build a desktop with a TrendNet wifi card. it keeps connection for quite a while, then drops, and will only reconnect with a reboot. ive tried about 5 net cards in this thing, they all drop.

oddly enough, after updating my 1210 with various vista updates, it does it now too. also tried a few new routers, and changing distances, all to no avail.

 

DoubleBlack, the light turns off.

My router is a Linksys WRT54GS, although I don't really think this has anything to do with it. I started experiencing problems around Day 3. I've tried downloading Intel and Dell drivers. And my router has the latest firmware.

 

I've done several reboot's throught the routers (D-Link DI-624) software with no success, but I'll try a hard reset when I get home, thanks.

I'll also give wawi's solution a go aswell.

 

Try enable SSID broadcast to see if that helps.

 

SSID broadcast on the router has always been enabled.

I think the problem is that the Intel 3945 drivers don't play well with Vista, and Dell won't release new ones until late August/September: http://www.dellcommunity.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=si_wireless&thread.id=36018.

 

Anyone having 3945ABG issues on Vista, here is a GUARANTEED fix, and all I ask is for a rep point from you

First, go to Device manager. Then go to the Intel PROSet 3945ABG network card under the Network Adapter's tab, and right click and select Update Driver Software. Select Browse my computer for driver software, then make sure to select the Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer. You want to select the one that says "Intel® PRO/Wrieless 3945ABG Network Connection (Microsoft)" and make sure it has Microsoft after it, and NOT Intel.

Don't ask me why this works, but it does. Also, you can NEVER AGAIN use ANY Intel Driver (even those that worked before). You MUST continue to use the Microsoft Driver until Intel fixes it (which I wouldn't give my hopes up for). Dell blames Microsoft, Microsoft blames Intel, Intel says they do not provide support for OEM devices. But I GUARANTEE you this works, and you will never again have this problem - just NEVER, NEVER, EVER touch your drivers anymore. If you do, you'll have the same problem. If you are feeling daring though, you can always revert back to the Microsoft Driver after you realize you f'd up

 

On the Dell Community Forums, I read that Dell is supposed to update the drivers to fix these connectivity issues for good in late August/early September.

 

This looks like a good fix. I tried this and I'm sitting in bed typing this now. However I did get the tech at University to set up the Uni's wireless network on my laptop so I'm not sure if he might have changed something aswell. But it does seem unlikely that anything the tech done changed anything, Thanks darkone.

 

I'm back. The windows driver fix didn't work. After 20 mins of pure bliss it dropped out again and didn't recover.

I then rang and got extremely frustrated with the Dell rep. That doesn't need any explaining. That got me now where.

The one thing I did get out of the dell rep was the suggestion to ring D-Link about my DI-624(even though she wanted me to ring them to get my SSID ). I rang D-Link and after not long at all she suggested changing the channel that my router used to 1, ,6, or 11 and taking it off auto select (my router had channel 13 selected with auto select on at the time). I changed the channel to Channel 1 and un-ticked auto select, applied the settings, and it worked instantly. I've been using the wireless on this laptop for about 15 mins and it hasn't dropped out yet so all looks good.

So anyone having trouble with this...

CHANGE THE WIRELESS CHANNEL ON YOUR ROUTER TO 1, 6, OR 11 AND TURN OFF AUTO SELECT!!!

Best of luck.

 

If the tech did anything, it was updating drivers. Driver updates are typically more reliable, not worse...so not really his fault <_<

But just stick with the Microsoft driver, and never touch it again until you get a new laptop with the 4965AGN or something...

I'm not sure about the channel, because all of mine are standard 1, 6, or 11 so I don't have experience with that...but change your router to 11 and use the Microsoft Driver and see if that fixes anything

 

Yes I've meaning to post another reply for a while, just wanted to say that the channel fix doesn't right off darkones solution at all. I'm positive if I didn't try the Microsoft driver as darkone suggested I wouldn't even be able to see the network The channel fix is just something to make sure you've done if your going through the steps.

I'm pretty sure the tech just set up some thing relating to the WAP-Enterprise network, didn't look like he was doing any driver updates.

Best of luck to everyone else having trouble with this and thanks to everyone that helped me

 

I modified the AD HOC CHANNEL to the same number as my router uses (as Wawi's instructions) and it works ; my router uses a different channel because it conflicts with other wireless equipment.

My old laptop can detect the wireless signal without any adjustment. I am surprised 1420 (with wifi 4965AGN) cannot detect the wireless signal and need to manually adjust AD HOC CHANNEL setting.

Thanks a lot!