Question

Troubleshooting problems with Wireless Internet Connection and Dell Laptop

Asked by: reedy2k

I have 3 computers in the household, 1 desktop and 2 Dell PCs

We have a wireless router (Belkin Wireless G Plus MIMO F5D9630-4)

The desktop is hardwired to the router and I can browse to the router and connect to the Internet perfectly

One Dell Laptop can connect wirelessly without a problem

The problem is with the other Dell Laptop (Inspiron 1520) which has such trouble connecting wirelessly

It often says signal strength is good, but has "Limited or no connectivity"

It came with a Dell wireless connection manager, but I have tried disabling this as my other Laptop doesnt have this and connects fine via Windows WCZ

Using either method the problematic Laptop just doesnt want to connect all the time, perhaps only 1 in 10 times after lots of repairs, reboots, router restarts it is possible to get it online

Its not an issue with distance from the router, I have sat 2 yards from it and tried everything I know how



What else can I try to troubleshoot this?

Thanks alot

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Asked On
2008-05-23 at 09:38:35ID23428165
Tags

Dell

,

Inspiron

,

1520

Topics

Wireless Network Access Points

,

802.11 Wireless Access Points

,

PC Laptops

Participating Experts
3
Points
400
Comments
14

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Answers

 

by: cincojonesPosted on 2008-05-23 at 09:47:44ID: 21633742

On the Device Manager can you tell me which card this laptop uses, have you tried uninstalling the Dell Manager and just uses Windows, have you tried uninstalling the wireless card, rebooting and let the PC recognize it on start up?

 

by: pzozulkaPosted on 2008-05-23 at 09:48:39ID: 21633754

I had this problem before on multiple occasions, and found that the fix 75% of the time was just re-entering the PassKey manually. If it is trying to connect wireless with a PassKey saved in its cache, it might give you that "Limited Connection" error.

Try going to View Available Wireless Connections, and disconnect from your Limited or No Connectivity connection. Then refresh, and manually hit Connect when it finds your Wireless Router.

It should ask you for the PassKey/WAP key.

 

by: reedy2kPosted on 2008-05-23 at 10:16:28ID: 21633961

It is a Dell Wireless 1490 Dual Band WLAN mini-card

 

by: cincojonesPosted on 2008-05-23 at 10:22:59ID: 21634010

Under Dell WLan, is the radio enabled?

 

by: reedy2kPosted on 2008-05-23 at 11:03:54ID: 21634310

I dont know where you mean

 

by: cincojonesPosted on 2008-05-23 at 11:45:21ID: 21634681

 

by: reedy2kPosted on 2008-05-24 at 04:41:47ID: 21638700

well I have uninstalled the Dell utililty as instructed so I am just using windows

@pzozulka this does seem to work sometimes, but there must be a fix so it connects on startup every time.....

 

by: PhilonatorPosted on 2008-05-27 at 05:51:41ID: 21651387

I hate this problem, solutions that have worked for me in the past

-verify your wireless key is correct
-make sure the wires on the wireless card are physically snapped in (they were loose one time, inside the laptop screwdriver required)****Check this one first, I bet it is your problem***
-another time it was the hardware card had to replace it
-sometime the powersaver will disable the wireless cord, make sure the laptop is plugged in
-verify your wireless drivers are up to date, they update them about every two weeks (do this second)**use the ones from Dell/intel/broadcom, not the windows ones to manage your wireless**  If you want a paragraph explanation on this let me know.
-sometimes there is a physical switch on the laptop to turn on/off the wireless
-is there a chance that DHCP is not being sent by the WAP?  Or the laptop is set to a manual IP?

 

by: pzozulkaPosted on 2008-05-27 at 08:49:48ID: 21652901

Inputing the PassKey manually did the trick for me most of the time, however, when this failed me, installing the most up to date DELL Network Driver did the trick for me.

 

by: reedy2kPosted on 2008-06-15 at 13:05:30ID: 21789569

Still going through the motions trying different things....

Sometimes when we do get online, IE6 can get connected, but for some reason Firefox cannot. What could be the reason for this??

 

by: PhilonatorPosted on 2008-06-16 at 06:09:45ID: 21793187

I have found that those browsers tie themselves to the connections.  If you close either of them and reopen them they should work then.  If firefox still doesn't want to work- make sure work offline (under the file menu) is unchecked.  If it still still doesn't work you may want to uninstall/reinstall with the lastest version.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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