Wireless connectivity, XPS M1330 with Intel 4965 Mini Card

I just bought a XPS M1330 with Intl 4965 802.11 a/g/n Dual-Band Mini Card, Windows Vista Operating system.

My wireless connectivity is not working properly. Spent 3 hours with tech rep from Dell and was told that sometimes the model software interferes with Vista Operating System. Until Vista update is released on March 15th, the bug may not be fixed.

Alternatively, I should change my linksys router, which is 802.11 b. It might just work. Apparantly, the hardware of the model and the software driver is working properly.

Any guidance...

Seems strange that Dell will be selling a laptop with configurations which don't work...

Alexjaa

 

well, i think you kinda answered your issue. the wireless intel card only picks up a/g/n, like you wrote. it didn't advertised that it can pick up b.

read somewhere on this forum that this intel wireless card only picks up g/n, no b. try a wireless g router.

 

It may be called 4965AGN but it does support 802.11b.

"The Intel® Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN product is an embedded 802.11a/ b/g/Draft N¹ PCIe* Mini Card network adapter card that operates in both the 2.4GHz and 5.0GHz spectrum, delivering high throughput and a host of features that enhance today's mobile lifestyle."

http://www.intel.com/network/connectivity/products/wireless/wireless_n/overview.htm

 

You may have need to go into the wifi card drivers to enable 802.11b.

 

Mines been on b networks without doing anything. A lot of hotels only have b and I've never had to switch anything in the drivers.

 

Hello,

I had the same problem XPS M1330 with Windows home premium edition. I was able to fix it by downgrading the intel 4965 driver from some 12.x version that ships with dell to 11.5.0.32 from this link:

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/con... Vista* Home Premium, 32-bit version&lang=eng

Hope that helps you too

 

Well, I thought as much and bought a DIR-655 router from D-Link. Same issue, the signal still doesn't work well.

 

I thought as much. Looks like you know this wireless card quite well. It didn't work even with DIR-655. Any suggestions...

 

Thanks for giving the link to the driver. I installed the driver. It is working a little better but still drops the connection every 8 to 9 seconds. Looks like Intel 4965 wireless card just doesn't work on XPS M1330 and windows Vista. Don't know what else to do...

 

That is not true since I have the same card under Vista and I haven't had a problem yet. Admittedly, I am using my connection in G mode most of the time, though.

 

I have exactly the same combo....
(1330, 4965 and 655)

I don't plug in the RJ-45 - ever. The (draft n) connection is solid as a rock and also faster than the 10/100 wired Ethernet would be.

You have a problem, but the 4965 certainly DOES work on XPS m1330 and Vista - and works very well.

 

It does work I had that card shipped with my M1330 had no problems using netgear 3com belkin and maybe d-link wireless routers.
Now using Gigabyte card with new router (these can to me via a swap from a friend).

Check your wireless band on the radio and router if your not using band N set them to B+G bands. and make sure to save settings.
Failing that there is a Hot Fix patch which correctors some wireless issues KB932063 you can try.

 

My Intel card picks up wireless B; that is the standard for my university network.

 

Thanks. Looks like 4965 is working at least with some similar combo's as mine. I have tried everything but the signal just drops every 8 to 9 seconds. The internet works but more often than no it stalls while accessing new pages because the signal is dropped. Don't know what the reason might be. In fact my old laptop, Inspiron 4150 works better to access the internet. I guess the wireless card in that is just "B"

any other possibilities..

 

Not true.. It may not work on yours but I've seen the 4965 work extremely well on several M1330's.

Amazingly well actually.

 

I have a 1330+4965 and I actually bought a dlink DIR-655 xtreme N router today @ BB. Works great...good speed and range compared to my old dlink super G MIMO router. We have a 4 floor condo and the router is 2 floors down from our bedrooms. With the G, I got "good" to "low" connection and decent speed and 24 to 54 Mbps. With N, I now get "very good" to "excellent" and connect at 117 to 130 Mbps. So I can say with certainty that this is a winning combo...especially in terms of range which is what I need.

Since your still having problems, I'd say have Dell replace the wifi card or send it back for a replacement.

 

Gosh I hope so because that is the wireless I ordered with my
new one coming.

 

Well, I spent another 3 hours with Dell tech support and they have done the following:

Changed the wireless card
Reinstalled Windows Vista
Updated all the drivers
The problem still persists. The wireless just disappears every 8 to 9 seconds and then reconnects.

They are sending a motherboard to be replaced. We will see.

By the way, I found the same problem on another XPS M1330 laptop in the Best Buy store.

 

I have the same problem too.

Basically if you run a ping test to your local gateway and the outside world, you see packet loss at a regular interval.

I've had this laptop since the start of 2008 - and I don't remember that this problem existed when the laptop was new. I'm also loathed to think that it's hardware as:

a) others show the same problem
b) hadware generally works or it doesn't. This failure mode doesn't fit hardware failure

I'm going to start rolling back drivers to see if I can eliminate the problem.

John.

 

OK - some initial results:

v12 - packet loss
V11.5 - packets loss
V11.1.1.22 - NO PACKET LOSS (8/8/2007)

It looks like 11.1.1.22 was what came with my laptop. It was in the available driver list when I went to update the driver and selected from drivers that were available on my computer.

I suggest those having problems try 11.1.1.22and report back here.

Cheers,

John.

 

Thanks. I will try that. I had 10% packet loss with not just one XPS M1330 but with three of them. I hope it is the driver. How do I find this driver?

 

John:

Just to add to my note, if it is only the drivers. That is good news. But I will be so upset with the Dell Tech Support because they have made me waste so much time doing things which were not needed. btw, what is config.

I have, vista ultimate-32, T7500, 4GB, dir-655, intel 4965

 

john, my WiFi-catcher signal bar also disappears every 8 to 9 seconds. Did this signal bar stopped disappearing after your driver update?

 

I disabled the wifi-catcher so unfortunately can't comment.

I diagnosed the problem by running ping tests for a few hours towards both my local network and the internet. I was seeing about 9% packet loss on both traces and it was regular dropping of the packets (note, the actual signal didn't drop at all).

You might have the driver already installed. Go to control panel, open device manager. Find the wifi network adapter and open properties.

Choose "Update driver". Instead of choose the best driver, select the option to choose from the list of drivers on the computer. You should then have a list of the drivers installed (or pre-installed). Hopefully, you'll find the right driver from that list. Otherwise you need to hunt for the driver.

My config is M1330, 3Gb, T7500 and Vista Home Premium.

I found this link for the 11.1.1.22 driver:
ftp://ftp.dell.com/network/R164259.EXE

Hope that helps,

John.

 

Thanks. The link was very useful in finding the driver. I installed it and there is no packet drop. My config. is not that different than yours. Sometimes the internet seems slower than my b wireless card on inspiron 4150 (almost 6 years old). That still bothers me, but it is a great improvement.

At least it looks like a software problem and not a hardware problem. So, I am sure over time the drivers will work better.

Thank you for the suggestion.

 

I am having a problem with my new m1330 with the Intel 4965 wireless card connecting to the internet through my 802.11b router . It can see the network and says its connected locally and to the internet but when I open IE it doesn't connect. The Intel 4965 should be able to connect to 802.11b routers like it says here.

edit: nvm, I got it working by going to the device manager and went into the wireless card mode and changed it to b/g

 

I have the same problem on my M1530 on windows XP.


I am having a problem with my new M1530 with the Intel 4965 wireless card connecting to the internet through my 802.11g router . It can see the network and says its connected locally and to the internet but when I open IE it doesn't connect. Then it connects but then seems lose the connection and reconnects and lets me surf again then i lose it again?

If i have it set to G mode only or Auto it seems i only get 5.5mb it just seems to keep losing connection? Speeds goes from 54mbps down to 5.5 or even 2?

IS there any drivers that can fix this please.