Wifi Catcher!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HEy,
Has ANyone gotten their WIFI catcher to work? WHAT's supposed to happen when it is working?
I've enabled it in QUICKSET already, but when my computer is OFF and I use it, All i get is ONE BLINK of a green light, and that's it. IT works when I'm my computer is ON (when im in vista)... but doesn't work when it's off. Is it defective? I'm using the DELL broadband card (not the wirless N one), just the b/g one.

Please help.

 

I'll be following this thread....

The point of the WiFi catcher is to allow you to quickly tell if there's a WiFi network around without powering up the laptop. AFAIK, it's just a simple blink-if-present sort of thing.

I tried the catcher on Monday when I received the laptop, and it worked just fine. With the 1520 off, it blinked when I pulled the switch forward, indicating that there is a Wifi signal, as it should. Then I tried it again this morning and lo-and-behold, no blinks. It doesn't do anything now. Wifi is working fine on the laptop and in my home, and the only difference is that I went through a whole slew of windows updates over the past few days.

Not sure why it just quit on me. It's not a big deal as I'd rarely use the feature anyway, but it kind of sucks that it just quit on me. I'll have to tinker with drivers and BIOS settings tonight and see if I can get it working again.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=164647

 

So, I take it they're coming built into the laptops now? Good idea. I got a Iogear Wifi hotspot finder I use quite a bit before I pull out my laptop.

 

From a search that led to the Dell website...

Dell™ Wi-Fi Catcher™ Network Locator

The wireless switch on your Dell computer uses the Dell Wi-Fi Catcher™ Network Locator to scan specifically for WiFi wireless local area networks (LAN) in your vicinity.
NOTE: For more information about the wireless switch, see wireless switch.

To scan for WiFi wireless LAN, slide and hold the switch in the "momentary" position for a few seconds. The Wi-Fi Catcher Network Locator functions regardless of whether your computer is turned on or off, in hibernate mode, or in standby mode, as long as the switch is configured through QuickSet or the BIOS (system setup program) to control WiFi network connections.

Because the Wi-Fi Catcher Network Locator is disabled and not configured for use when your computer is shipped to you, you must first use Dell QuickSet to enable and configure the switch to control WiFi network connections.

For more information on the Wi-Fi Catcher Network Locator and to enable the feature through QuickSet, see the Dell QuickSet Help. To access the Help file, right-click the icon in the taskbar.

 

I don't believe this is correct. I tried the catcher before I even powered the laptop on for the first time. It worked as expected. I have a WiFi network (WPA) in my home and can also detect a couple of the neighbors AP's too. The catcher LED blinked a couple of times when I pressed the switch, and no fans.

Now, two days later, it doesn't work. Sleep,Hibernate, or totally off, plugged in or on battery, I get no green light. No blinks, no fans, no nothing. WiFi works perfectly when it's powered up. The only differences are that now the notebook has been used on a WiFi network, Vista downloaded and installed a couple dozen updates, I've disabled UAC, and installed a handful of applications (Office, Picasa, antivirus, etc). One (or several) of those things changed something in the configuration.

 

I have intermittant use of my wifi cather both in windows and while shut off...

Sometimes in windows it brings up that network display box but sometimes it doesn't. I get the feeling it tends to be after resuming from a low power state but haven't really tested it much... not sure how much I will be using it but I am rather unhappy with how unreliable it seems to be.

Seems odd to me that any windows setting or software could effect how it works in hybernation or sleep mode...

 

Amen to that. It seems to me that the button should do nothing more than what a $20 keychain WiFi finder does. It should be entirely hardware based, and OS changes should not have any affect on it what-so-ever.

It is totally bizarre that power states, administrator-account shutdowns, and Vista drivers seem to alter the functonality of that button when the notebook is powered down.

 

My WiFi catcher has worked flawlessly since the day I received my lappy. It works when I have a low battery, in all modes of power state and even after I disabled UAC.

 

If you think that brief blink is how the WiFi catcher supposed to work, I am sorry to say you are wrong. The WiFi catcher should show a green light for good signal and yellow for weaker signal that sustains for quite a few seconds. My Vostro has gone through from the non-working blink (sometimes not even blink), to working after administrator shut down, to finally fully functional in over a month. When it was not working, the tech support told me to re-install the WiFi driver and Quickset. Then I got it to work only after shutting down from administrator account. It stayed that way for around 3 weeks with multiple test. More than a week ago, I have re-installed the chipset driver, Notebook System Software, etc. Then I suddenly found it is now working when it is hibernated or power off in any condition.

Log-on using the real administrator account would create an extra token and that may affect the pre-boot status in certain security setting. That may affect the function of the WiFi catcher under certain condition.

 

Then I stand corrected. I had assumed the blinking green light meant that it found a WiFi signal. Perhaps this new user needs to go check their software settings. Another case of RTFM.

 

I think the OP has the non-working half second blink instead of the steady green/yellow for >3-5 seconds (which you may still consider as a blink). If yours only blink for half second, it is not working properly.

 

Indeed, then mine was never working correctly (or simply not enabled properly) because when it did blink, that's all it did.

Since I haven't touched any of the 'QuickSet' software, I suspect that very well may be the problem for me. A big thank-you to both you and Hiker for pointing this out. I'll take a look at that software this evening and see if it helps. Thanks.

 

In that case my wificatcher does not work... it blinks on one of the vostros I have (which is being returned today) and the other only rarely blinks. Never holds solid (even when I am near wifi) and never has been anything but a quick green blink...

Seems these things are pretty unreliable....

I have checked the BIOS and have the latest quickset.

 

I know how frustrated it is. Dell has not been very helpful in solving this mysterious problem. I guess my problem occurred after re-installing the OS. I suggest you to first try shutting down from the real administrator account to see if the WiFi catcher works. A user account with administrator right is not the same. What version of Vista do you have? The administrator account can be activated in all versions but in different ways.

 

I am using a Dell OEM Vista Ultimate I bought off someone... so there is no reason I should be having any issues as all the stuff is from dell (drivers, OS and obviously hardware) other than apps I have installed in windows which also should make no difference.

 

I just check for you guys, my WiFi catcher when triggered showed a green light for ~7-8 seconds before it came off.

 

I am using the same OS and had the same problem for a month. It is still not clear to me how it was finally fixed. It may be the order of driver/apps installations.

 

For your reference, here I cite the paragraph in the Vostro1400 support training document:

begin quote>>
The LED indicates the presence of a network as follows:
*Flashing green - The system is searching for a signal.
*Solid green - The system has detected a wireless signal and has good strength.
*Solid Yellow - The system has detected a wireless signal, but it is moderate to weak in strength.
*Flashing Yellow - An error has occurred while trying to detect a wireless signal.
*Off - The system failed to detect a wireless signal.
<<end quote

Interestingly, the same button can be used to determine a no-POST situation if there is a problem with the power button.

 

Interesting, the only driver I don't have is the bluetooth driver because it screws my sleep function... it may be somehow tied in as I think the bluetooth and wireless are tied together (using dell wireless not proset).

billscho are you using the dell bluetooth driver? There are only a few downloads I didn't take from dell, I think dell system utilities and intel matrix driver (matrix driver I didn't becuase the dell OEM disc has it built in)

This is the kind of thing that pisses me off... I don't really need it, I probably will hardly ever use it if it gets working, but it should work and it annoys me that it doesn't

 

I don't have internal BT since I have a USB dongle already. I think the crucial drivers/apps related to the WiFi catcher functions are: Notebook system software, WiFi driver, and Quickset. The chipset driver may be critical too and I don't think the Vista disk has the appropriate chipset driver for Vostro 1400.

 

1) 1520 in off state: moved switch & held it for 10 seconds, nothing.

2) Booted to Vista, checked the QuickSet properties. It was activated already. For good measure I de-activated, saved, then activated & saved settings. If I flip the switch in Vista, it pops up the Catcher box with signal strength - three networks detected: mine, and two neighbors. So the switch itself is working.

3) Closed lid, powered down to hibernate (not Sleep, not Off). Waited until all of the blue activity & power lights were off. Moved the switch, got a green blink again. Moved the switch all the way back to 'Off'. Moved it all the way forward, solid yellow light for 7-8 seconds, and that would be right because I was a long way from all WiFi points. Woo hoo, it's working!

4) Carried the 1520 into the room with my WiFi AP & tried it again. Nothing. No blink, no green, no yellow. Flipped the switch all the way back to 'Off' again, then forward. Green blink. Tried this several more times, nothing but a green blink.

Weird!

More tinkering is in order for later....

 

Interesting, nothing different for me going to off first....

 

Wow.. I guess lots of people have the same problem as me... I've enabled the setting in quickset.. (funny tho, it was already pre-enabled when i got the computer)... all i get is the quick green blink... that's it. It works in vista but thats it.
I haven't created any user accounts... so im guessing the one im using is the administrator account. Still nothing....

 

I am new here and I am having a similar problem. This might be a log post. Here we go. I got my laptop a few weeks ago. I'm not sure if the switch ever brought up the networks box, and I am sure I never saw the light flash once... ever. It doesn't flash in sleep, either. I'm running Vista on my 1520. Also, I think I remember that in the connect to a network box, there used to be a picture for a linksys router, a netgear router, and so on. Blue and black thing for linksys, and a different color and shape for netgear. They were basically a tiny picture of the type of router the network was broadcasting on. Now it just shows as the generic windows picture for a network. I figured that a windows update must have changed these pictures. And it may have also screwed up the catcher LED light, too. Even though I didn't try the switch until AFTER some updates, I realized that I had only installed one update before I noticed the change in the icons for the routers (so it might be related). The only update that I installed before I noticed any of these changes was the Windows Update software 7.0.6000.381. I figured that this was worth mentioning because since my system was brand new and not that many changes were made to it, I was able to narrow down a single possible culprit. Note that I'm pretty sure about the correlation between the icons and the update, but it could be a shot in the dark for the actual LED light not working problem. If you guys and gals could check if you have the router icons or the generic icons, it might be useful information.

If anyone reads this and has a fully functional Dell WiFi catcher on their laptop, please let us know! Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

 

More tinkering...

I checked all of the versions of my Notebook System Software, Quickset, and the WiFi drivers. All are up to date with the latest versions posted on Dell's support site. I reinstalled Quickset for good measure, but not NSS nor WiFi drivers (standard Dell B/G WiFi). Vista itself also claims to be completely up-to-date with all of the recommended updates installed.

I checked the BIOS settings. I'm running the latest A03 BIOS. I thinkered with the WiFi Catcher options there, disabling them, rebooting, renabling, etc.

I tinkered with the WiFi Catcher options in Vista, WiFi+Bluetooth (I have the integrated BT), just WiFi, etc. Reboots between changes.

The shutdown state does not seem to matter; Sleep, Hibernate, or Off - the results are the same.

I have one account on the machine, and it's the admin account. I've tried it with both UAC on and off. It does not seem to make a difference either.

I believe that one process that I found on another thread here seemed to helped. I disabled the Catcher from the Quickset app & rebooted. Then I renabled it and rebooted again. Then I shut down and it seems to be slightly more functional now. At least now, I'm getting blinks instead of nothing.

So as of right now, my WiFi catcher is sort of working. I'm now getting one of four light-states when I press that button. 1) Nothing, 2) a quick, quarter-second green blink, 3) a fast, half-to-one second green blink, and 4) a solid yellow light that lasts for 7-10 seconds then quickly fades out (even if I'm 3 feet away from the AP). 80% of the time it does 2 or 3.

If I move the switch back to 'Off', leave it there for a few seconds, and then move it back to 'On' and try the Catcher, it will sometimes work once (state 4) and then revert back to 2 or 3. Sometimes flicking the catcher switch (rather than holding it) will reset it as well, and it will work again - just once. A few times it just would not work at all (state 1), and rebooting, then shutting down seems to put it back where it works 90% of the time on the first try, but then fails afterwards.

For me, the feature is simply too unreliable to be useful. I didn't even know the 1520 had this feature when I ordered it, nor do my usage patterns really dictate that such a feature would be useful. I know where there is and isn't WiFi where I will be using the notebook 99%+ of the time. Hopefully some future update will actually fix the problem, but until then I'm chosing to not care about it.

 

By default, the real administrator account is hidden in all version of Vista. If you have not changed the user setting, you are just using a standard user account. Having one single account does not mean it is the real administrator account at all.
Here are a couple links for reference to activate the real administrator account.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=112123
http://www.computerperformance.co.uk/vista/vista_administrator_activate.htm

 

thansk billcsho.. ill try that.

 

You are welcome. Do try that.
Although I finally got it to work properly, it is still a mystery for me how the WiFi catcher function is regulated. I don't think Dell's tech support has any idea either.

 

It's good to hear that you got it working. Would you mind shining a little light on what to do to get it functioning properly?

 

Works flawlessly since delivery on my D630 (Vista); doesn't work on my D420 (XP); AAMOF, I don't even get a light AT ALL on it. When running, it DOES bring up the WiFi catcher box on the screen, but that's it.

 

As I said earlier, it is still not clear what made it to work finally. First, I activated the real administrator account and re-install the WiFi driver and Quickset. Then it works after shutting down from administrator account only. Turning of UAC or giving administrator right to other user account do not solve the problem. Then I tried disabling the WiFi catcher in BIOS and in Quickset and re-enable it, still made no difference. I gave up after that. Three weeks later, I had problem with the flash media driver and re-install the chipset driver, Ricoh driver, and Notebook System Software. It is not clear whether any of these are related, but I found WiFi catcher working flawlessly the day after.

 

I completely reinstalled Vista, all updated drivers, etc. Still doesn't work. Enabled the true administrator account, that doesn't seem to make a difference either. Still just getting half/second blinks, no blinks, or the occasional solid-yellow for 5-6 seconds even if I'm standing right next to the AP.

I'm going to try to reinstall the NSS and WiFi drivers this evening while logged in as the administrator and see if that makes a difference.

If it doesn't, I'm just going to forget about it and order a WiFi detector T-shirt from ThinkGeek...

 

I have had my Vostro 1400 2 weeks and just today I realized there was such a feature and mine reacts as yours does ie ONE BLINK

I am confused. There would be no BLINK when it is on...would there? When I move the switch to the right with the machine on and activated I see the "Network Locator Available Networks" comes up showing Networks in the area....so no need for a light.

I called Dell support tonight. He recommended upgrading the BIOS to A03 and if that doesnt work return the machine for a new one as it is within the 30 days!

 

Much to my surprise the upgrade from A02 to A03, doing nothing else, resolved the WiFi catcher problem .

 

I was waiting for the BIOS update to solve the WiFi catcher problem, but then it was suddenly working 2 weeks ago. I wonder if there is any other improvements in the A03.

 

Just a brief update for anyone following this thread. My 1520 is already on A03, so I don't think the firmware is the be-all-end-all fix to this.

I visited my in-laws this weekend, a few hundred miles away from my home. The Wifi catcher worked perfectly at their house. Nice, solid green light when near their AP, yellow when further away. The big difference is that their AP is completely open and unsecured. And yes, I know it isn't usually a good idea but they're not too concerned about their neighbors (squirrels, birds, pine trees) stealing their bandwidth.

So, does the wifi catcher only respond to open, unsecured access points? My home network and all of the neighbor networks are secured (WEP or WPA). When tinkering with my home wifi network, I can occasionally pick up the faintest whiff of another neighbor's unsecured network. It's not usable, but the SSID shows up. Coincidentally, the likelyhood of seeing that network is very similar to how often the wifi catcher lights seem to work. In other words, the times when the catcher works, at home it's always a solid yellow and perhaps it is this network that it's detecting, and not my own.

This fact coupled with the weekend experience makes me think that perhaps the WifiCatcher-when-off-LED's only respond to open WiFi networks. Can anyone confirm or deny this?

I thought I'd deactivate my WPA security and test it out sometime this week, but I was curious if anyone has experiened this.

 

No, mine response to the routers at multiple locations that are WEP protected. That also includes routers of different brands and chipset (D-Link, Linksys, Belkin, USR, Motorola,...). Do you have any 2.4GHz devices at home that my interfere the WiFi reception at home?

 

I'm well aware of 2.4ghz devices and their impact on 2.4ghz 802.11b/g signals. I do have a seldom-used 2.4ghz phone in the room near the router, but have never experienced any problems with it or the AP. I have experienced WiFi problems when an operating microwave oven is nearby, but that isn't the case here. I don't believe that the wifi catcher would be influenced by a 2.4ghz phone when the wifi signal itself is fine when I'm actually using it. I'll try shutting it off that phone sometime and seeing if that will help, but I do not believe that it will make a difference.

My AP signal is fine. It works perfectly (really well, in fact!) with the 1520 and other PC's in the house. It's just this silly wifi catcher blinky LED feature doesn't work all that well at home, yet worked perfectly at another location, which is baffling.

Thanks for the info.

 

The good thing is you know it is not a hardware problem in your case.

 

Just got mine today and it isn't functioning properly either.

 

I also just received my Dell Inspiron 1420 and the WiFi Catcher light does not blink when the computer is turned off and not connected to any power. If I have the computer off and it is connected to the AC adapter and the battery is charging then if I hold the switch for a few seconds and let go the LED will blink yellow for a split second while the battery indicator blinks off. I know how this feature is supposed to work because I went to the Dell Store and tried it on there Inspiron 1420 and it works perfectly. Just hold the switch when the computer is off and the light will stay on for a few seconds indicating if there is a wireless network around. Not sure why the newer models are having this problem but the Dell Technical Support are of no help and are not acknowledging that there is an issue.

 

Hey guys and gals, this is just an update on the status of my Inspiron 1520's WiFi catcher. I have absolutely NO idea what could have sprung mine to life, but after having my laptop for a few months now, it works most of the time. Sometimes, I have to "pump" the switch a half dozen times for anything to respond, but hey, that doesn't take all that much time. If my laptop is off, on standby, or hibernating, the light near the switch will work 85% of the time. I have WiFi in my humble abode and it does seem to get a correct reading of the signal strength. If I'm in the same room as the router, it's a solid green for a handful of seconds. If I'm in the basement, or further away from the router, it shows yellow. It tends to show yellow if the signal strength is 60% or less of the full clarity. When the laptop is on, the LED light is not supposed to work. A "WiFi Catcher" box will appear in the middle of the screen with the names of the networks and green bars for their strength. The neat thing is that I actually USE this feature from time to time, now that it works. One thing I did try was to go into BIOS and disable all wireless features, boot windows, reboot, and then turn the BIOS wireless features back on. However, I'm not positive that this fixed the light, but it is worth a try. I did no un-installation of any software, and my light/switch works most of the time now, and I'm not too displeased with it!

I forgot to mention that you should remember, or even write down, the settings that all of your wireless options were set to before you go and mess with them. This is to prevent anything from not working if you were to set it to a different (wrong) setting after the rebooting. It probably won't hurt anything if you change one to a wrong setting, and the laptop may even default back to the correct setting, but it would be wise to put them exactly back where they were to prevent any OS confusion.

 

That is my guess too.

 

I know I'm bringing up an old thread but mine works fine I think.

I hold the wificatcher switch for 3-5 seconds and a blue (everyone else has green?) light comes up and stays on for 5ish seconds.

Haven't tried to see what happens when I'm out of range of wifi.

 

wifi catcher won't detect N networks tho.

 

What's a N network?

 

theres a b g n. N is the new one.

 

I got green or yellow depending on the WiFi strength.

 

I've been trying to figure out this wifi catcher thing on my new XPS M1330.

When the computer is on it sometimes brings up a box listing AP's. Other times it doesn't do anything. I read somewhere in my google search that maybe it doesn't function when a Vista IE webpage is open.

When the computer is off/hibernate, the catcher led does a very quick falsh of BLUE (yes blue) then it turns amber (yellow-orange?) for about 8-10 seconds then off.

It seems that the amber is indicating a moderate to weak wifi signal found, but I'll stand inches away from my wifi router and it still jsut shows an amber light when I would think it should be green (or blue??) for a strong signal.

When I check the signal strength of my AP with the computer on it is very strong/high.

Very strange. It seemed like a cool feature but is pretty flaky.

Speaking of flaky the Quickset software is SUPER FLAKY. I get things popping up with NON-corresponding buttons are pressed. Once in awhile I'll press wifi catcher and the Quickset Display brightness bar popped up. Other times I'll press the up arrow (without Fn) and the Quickset Brightness bar will pop up. Sometimes the volume bar will display sometimes it won't. Flaky.