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Wireless Network Adaptor/Wifi Problems
Hi, I have a Dell Inspiron 1501 that I purchased about three months ago, running Windows Vista. It has been working great and I love it. When I turned it on today, the wifi couldn't find any wireless networks. This was strange, because it usually always finds ours and a few of the neighbors. My roomate's is fine, so that eliminated the possibility of a router problem. Checking through some things through Network and Connectivity Center, I went to "Wirelss Utility" and ran the tests - it gave me the message "WLan IEEE 802.11 wireless networking hardware is not functioning properly". I talked online to a member of GeekSquad (Best Buy) and he told me that it would be better for me to go and try a USB wireless network adaptor because most likely the one I have is onboard the motherboard (most laptops are this way now?) and they would have to replace the entire motherboard. Would that mean I would have to reinstall EVERYthing, Windows Vista included? I tried to reinstall the driver from the recovery cd and it seemed to install just fine - but still getting the "x" over the connectivity icon. Please advise - I'm vary wary of Best Buy - I have heard the horror stories1
- No warranty that I know of, unless there was a 6 month included in the package.
Update:
Today I did every diagnostic and test that I could possibly do, from opening up BIOS, etc. I opened up the laptop case, got under the keyboard, disconnected and reconnected the mini-card. It seems ok, nothing seems broken. It still tells me to install wireless hardware and drivers. When I run Dell wireless WLAn Card Utility it gives me an error message "The wireless network adapter can not be accessed". When I run diagnostics under this, it fails all tests and tells me contact hardware provider.
I went today to Best Buy where they told me they do not sell these mini-cards in store, and to order one from the website. Until then I went ahead and bought a USB Network Adapter and am online fine again - but I would like to eventually get rid of it and repair my system.
If I were to order one from the Dell site, open my laptop back up and get under the keyboard, would I just have to install the new one? Will my computer automatically recognize it? Is this a difficult process? I figure this would be much safer and less expensive to try before even thinking about a new motherboard.
Thank you in advance!
techfanatic
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Posted September 17th, 2007 11:00