Inspiron 15 5000 - 5558 cannot connect wifi

Question

I just received my new laptop Inspiron 15 5000 - 5558

But it always fail to connect my home wifi.

The machine show the connection is very weak.And I really cannot go any website.

My home wifi do work with my other machine very well.

The machine work well with LAN.

How to solve this problem?
How come I buy a new laptop from dell which can't connect wifi!?

casual_me · Accepted Answer

Not buying Dell's products anymore. NIB has problems shows Dell quality control is sub-par. Least painful is to buy a $10 USB nano Wirelss adapter TP-Link. I also lost over 2 hours trying to figure out the no wireless until I move the new notebook right to my router and lo and behold the wireless was able to detect my router's SSID. Range is good for 10 feet.

Driver has been updated to 18.12.0 (latest as of 8/10/2015). No difference.

Here is my update and the fix: Remove the 2 black screws holding the bottom cover opposite the battery (under the mouse pad). Carefully pry off the cover. The AC 3160 card is just above next to the hard drive. Since the wireless only works within 8 to 10 feet of router, this is the sign of loose antenna cables connection. There is a color white (for Wi-Fi) marked as #2 and black cable (for Bluetooth) marked as #1. I reseated both cables mating contacts and placed a kapton tape over them. I also removed the silver metal bracket and secure the card with just the original black screw. Now my notebook is working as it suppose to wirelessly without a hitch.

In my opinion the AC 3160 card and antenna mating coaxial plugs and sockets are too flimsy to have a proper contact fit.

Link and thanks to this site for disassembly steps:

http://laptopmedia.com/highlights/inside-dell-inspiron-5558-15-5000-disassembly-internal-photos-and-upgrade-options/

DELL-Ravi Ch · Answer

Hi,

I would suggest you update the drivers to the latest and check for issue resolution. Please punch in the system service tag or express service code from the link below. Then Click on System configuration tab and then Click on Components and find the wireless card of the system and then download the wireless card driver found under Network section.

http://dell.to/18r60nI

If you are not able to determine the wireless card. Please private message me the system service tag so that I can check and provide you the correct driver.

Please let me know if this helps.

phrodack · Answer

I am having the same problem

New Inspiron 5558

Windows 7 Professional 64 bit.

Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 3160.

Dell support site said they no longer support Windows 7 even though Dell just sold the computer to me. (Did not trust Windows 8)

Went to the Intel site for the drive update. Loaded 18.11.0.8. Still have the problem.

Nothing has change with the wifi' in the house. Running two others Dells, three Mac and several smart phones with no issues.

It appear to be distance issue with the machine

When I start the machine within the house but not in the same room. The other Dells in the same location have five out of five bars. The Inspirin shows about one our of five bars and will not connect. I move to the room with the wifi device, four out of five bars and it connects. I move back to the other room and the signal drops off to one out of five bars. It will eventually drop the connection

I need to make the machine work by Tuesday or return it. My son need a working machine with WiFi for college that works more than 15 feet from the wifi device.

Any proven fixes out there?

casual_me · Answer

Same problem, out of box and cannot connect to my home network. Just received the Inspiron 15 5000 Series (Intel(R)) - 5558 with Windows 10. Not impressed.

phrodack · Answer

Confirm it was a range issue. As long as I was at the desk with the wifi router everything was fine. About 15 feet away signal would drop to one bar and eventually fail.

Spent about two hours confirming the issue with the support desk.

Bottom line. It was a hardware issue. Note: The hardware check service tools at the Dell support web site will not diagnose reception strength as a hardware issue.

Dell service sent a different wi-fi card.

Bad card was an Intel AC3160. Replaced it with Intel AC7260.

Not impressed I had to do a card swap on a new machine. You would think a wifi signal reception strength check would be part of the final test at Dell to ensure the antenna is connected to the wifi card.

lily2 · Answer

I have the same problem and have received no help. Best solution... Return it.

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Inspiron 15 5000 - 5558 cannot connect wifi

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