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dell studio 1555 3yrs old wireless suddenly stopped working
planets
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hi guys, i am not very techy so would appreciate your help...
dell studio 1555
windows vista home premium service pack 2
dell wireless 1397 WLAN minicard
aol router d-link DSL-2640R
suddenly in the middle of being online the wireless stopped working. after 2 days of messing about i set up a new router exactly the same model...installed and router is working fine.
EXCEPT
my laptop won't connect to the wireless and i can only get online by using the ethranet cable...this is a problem as i am disabled so cannot sit for very long and needed the wireless for internet access whilst in bed.
when i try and connect to the network i get one of two messages:
1: could not connect to network as there was no response from the router
2. could not connect for unknown reasons.
3. occasionally it says it is a hidden network.
i have gone into the properties and it says "this device is working properly"
i opened Dell Wireless WLAN Card Utility and it can find the network and in diagnostics it passes everything when you run a test.
i am at a loss.
when i googled "dell studio 1555 wirelss stopped working" there were a few listings from a few years ago where this happened but i could find no solution.
anyone got any ideas?
thanks in advance if anyone knows, i may not be able to answer quickly due to only being able to use internet in the one room.
dell studio 1555
windows vista home premium service pack 2
dell wireless 1397 WLAN minicard
aol router d-link DSL-2640R
suddenly in the middle of being online the wireless stopped working. after 2 days of messing about i set up a new router exactly the same model...installed and router is working fine.
EXCEPT
my laptop won't connect to the wireless and i can only get online by using the ethranet cable...this is a problem as i am disabled so cannot sit for very long and needed the wireless for internet access whilst in bed.
when i try and connect to the network i get one of two messages:
1: could not connect to network as there was no response from the router
2. could not connect for unknown reasons.
3. occasionally it says it is a hidden network.
i have gone into the properties and it says "this device is working properly"
i opened Dell Wireless WLAN Card Utility and it can find the network and in diagnostics it passes everything when you run a test.
i am at a loss.
when i googled "dell studio 1555 wirelss stopped working" there were a few listings from a few years ago where this happened but i could find no solution.
anyone got any ideas?
thanks in advance if anyone knows, i may not be able to answer quickly due to only being able to use internet in the one room.
0
Comments
On my HP I can have it turned off and it stupidly says "this device is working properly"
yes there is an f2 button which turns wireless on and off tried this and i hadn't accidentally switiched it off!
A cheap USB is a fix and maybe you have an easy access slot for a mini PCI change.
do you know by chance if i got one of those plug in wireless cards whether a) it would work or b) what type of slot i need? this has got lots of usb hdmi and various other ports "eSATA "(dunno what that is never used it) also one with a picture of a square with lines either side of the square....
That means setting the same SSID, security type and security password. And of course making sure the WiFi section of the router is turned on.
If the SSID and password are not the same then your laptop will not connect automatically. And of course if the WiFi section is turned off the laptop won't connect anyway.
On ebay at £6.
edit - not read properly. Maybe it is a simple settings thing which could occur above too.
Passwords maybe need checking etc.
yup i had checked all that ns made sure it was all the same
nope nothing is disabled or exclamation marked everything supposedly working fine
oooo will check what the express card wiffi slot looks like thanks for that...thanks for the suggestions alan much appreciated it was weird how it just crapped out in the middle of reading something....
Hard to miss being 34 mm wide and a big hole in the side of the laptop if the dummy cap has fallen out.
it now appears that i can access my wireless router but only at certain times of the day, which suggests that there is a signal from somewhere interfering with my wireless signal/router does anyone know how to trace where this could be coming from?
Lion8tiger you are a star thanks!!!
so i had lovely wireless connection all night stayed up to monitor when it went off and what i could see.....went off at 08.15 when i checked on the inssider there were no channels showing clashing i was on 1 everyone else was on 6 bar one who was on 8 and 12.
when the wireless dropped out i connected with the ethernet and used xirrus wi-fi inspector to do a connection test and i got:
DNS Reachable (address) N/A (summary) N/A (Result ) N/A
Gateway Reachable same as above
DNS Lookup result pass
Internet Reachable ping 5 of 5 50 msec latency pass
my RSSI changed to -30 from -59
i don't know what any of this means can anyone translate for me?
it's driving me mad....heeeeeeeeelp
I know some routers can be set up with timers that restrict when particular devices can be used, eg limiting how long your kids laptops can be connected for example. Maybe there is some weird set-up like that.
Or there could be a setting that limits when the WiFi is switched on. Would seem a bit odd though.
what's weird is it has worked without ANY problem for over two years and it only started at the weekend i've been into the router to change channels hide and unhide the network etc to see if any of it made any difference....there doesn't seem to be any limiter either on my laptop, my WLAN card or the router....i'm starting to feel (just cos i can't think of anything else) that my newish neighbour has got some kind of electrical equipment which is interfering with the wireless signal....wireless worked again at 09.01 and the RSSI went back to -59 it's so odd!
eta OR is it possible the DSO is affecting it? (sounds totally lame but.....)
What is possible is that someone might be using a video sender or similar device that also uses the 2.4GHz band that WiFi uses. I have a feeling these don't show up on inSSIDer.
Might be worth trying another channel just to see if that improves things. And if possible try relocating the router to see if you can improve the signal you receive. You might be surprised by just how little you might need to move it. And if the router is close to other kit so the WiFi aerial is partially obscured moving it a little to open up the aerial could help.
BIB didn't think it would - it was a desperate flail as my wireless returned the exact moment my transmitter returned!!! heheheh
thanks for your help chris, i have moved the router as far as the wire would allow i will monitor that....and my neighbours returning form work to see if coincides with my wireless ceasing again.....i feel like a detective!!!
didn't make any difference...it still stops connection to the router at random times during the day
yup first thing i did....i downloaded the application above inSSIDer noted the channels everyone was on and moved to channel 1
eta didn't make any difference
edit: or you could look at using homeplugs and dish out some local radio interference of your own
just incase anyone else is having the same problems.....
i called a local computer tech man in my village, who said lots of people in the village have been having this problem, apparently the internet speeds were boosted but the lines were not reconfigured and you have to ring your internet service provider and they will reconfigure the line for you.
i've just done this so hopefully there won't be any other problems...thanks for all your help and suggestions...i think i might buy an extra long cat5 cable anyway just in case there are future problems as a back up ToyTown!
WiFi will work regardless of whether your broadband connection is working or not. Similarly your broadband connection will work whether your WiFi is working or not.
So if your WiFi signal is dropping out making changes to your broadband service should have zero effect on it. However if in fact your WiFi signal has been rock solid and it is your broadband connection that has been dropping out then obviously work on that side of things will have an effect.
oh that's a bit depressing
i hear what you are saying chris, i'm still not convinced myself this has sorted out but i can't tell yet as i have been able to get online at this time during the day, i will see if i stay online between 5pm and 11pm which is a regular time it has been dropping out.....keeping fingers crossed.
if i EVER get this sorted i will post solution though just in case anyone else is having similar problems.
eta they also took me through reconfiguring my router online
So if your WiFi goes down while you are surfing the interweb then it could look like the broadband has gone down. Even though your broadband is perfectly OK.
Similarly if your broadband goes down while you are using WiFi it can look like your WiFi has gone down. Even though it hasn't.
If you do get a connection drop while using WiFi then switch to using a cable. If that is also disconnected then chances are it's your broadband at fault. But if a cable does connect to the interweb OK then chances are it's your WiFi.
Also your router should have a load of indicator lights on the front to show what is and isn't working. So perhaps look up the function of each lamp and then see what if any go out on the router if/when you get a break.
Another way to check if it's WiFi or broadband is if you had some other device attached to the router, for example a network hard drive or printer. If you can see some other device on the network, or even the router itself, when your internet connection goes down then chances are the WiFi is actually working.
You can even test the WiFi connection with a simple PING test. Open a command prompt and enter
ping 192.168.1.1
then press enter. If your router has a different IP address then use that (if you have been into the config of the router it's the address you typed into the browser to access it). If the connection is working you should get four replies saying something like.
Reply from 192.168.1.1 bytes=32 time=101ms TTL=124
If it isn't working you'll get a Timed Out or Failed message.
You can even put a web address into a ping, eg
ping www.digitalspy.co.uk
That would test both the WiFi and the broadband.
Or s that a bit geeky??:D