Unsolved
This post is more than 5 years old
1 Rookie
•
9 Posts
0
18762
July 5th, 2013 05:00
Please help: Problems with Wireless Card/Internet Connectivity?
My laptop has been experiencing problems with internet connections. Sometimes when I browse the internet, its WiFi signal will just suddenly cut off, internet is disconnected and the modem will shut down to the point that it can't detect it at all. I don't believe that my wireless router is faulty here because it can still connect with other devices/laptops at my home perfectly well while my laptop's modem is down.
Even plugging an ethernet cable from the router doesn't help since the modem has completely shut down. No wireless and ethernet connectivity. This forces me to restart the computer which sometimes solves the problem (in worst cases I had to do over 5-6 restarts to get it to work again). I definitely believe that its a faulty wireless card that's causing this issue. Because when reboots don't help solve the issue and I go to the Control Panel, my laptop's modem is no where to be seen. It seems like the computer can't detect the hardware as if it doesn't have one at all.
Does anyone know what I should do with my laptop?
(I am posting this topic after several restarts)
Robin3
807 Posts
0
July 5th, 2013 05:00
Sounds like hardware failure to me. Is the laptop still under warranty? I see from previous posts you've already had a technician out to look at this. If the laptop is still under warranty you'll need to get them out again to look at it. If the laptop is now out of warranty you'll need to telephone the out of warranty help line where they will be able to offer you a replacement part at cost to yourself. Might be worth investing in a new laptop, especially if it's going to keep failing.
Blue9ite
1 Rookie
•
9 Posts
0
July 5th, 2013 05:00
Hi Paul,
I did that a while ago while doing restarts and it says in the Configurations part that "WLAN = Not Installed"
Blue9ite
1 Rookie
•
9 Posts
0
July 5th, 2013 05:00
Well, so far everything else on the laptop is still working perfectly fine apart from this issue.
The wireless card has already been replaced 2-3 while it was still under warranty. My two year warranty just ended this year. Either way, I think that if the laptop still had warranty the problem might comeback even if the card is replaced again.
Robin3
807 Posts
0
July 5th, 2013 05:00
Run a full diagnostic. Press F12 at startup and choose Diagnostics. Post back with results
DELL-Rajath N
6 Operator
•
1.8K Posts
0
July 5th, 2013 05:00
Hi Blue9ite,
I suggest you to update the BIOS and the wireless drivers and check if the issue gets fixed. Yoo can download the latest BIOS and wireless drivers from the following link by punching in the Service Tag and by clicking on the "Drivers & Downloads" tab:
http://dell.to/117d6Zu
Please let me know about your findings.
Robin3
807 Posts
0
July 5th, 2013 06:00
I would tend to agree with you there. I see one of the tech's suggested it might be a damaged wire near the top of the laptop where it runs below the LCD. If you're comfortable enough you could take a look yourself for any damaged wiring and check to see if the wireless adapter is installed properly.
You may want to update to the latest BIOS for your system if you haven't already done so in the hope that it MIGHT fix something...doubt it though.
Might also be worth just giving the out of warranty help line a call and get a price on replacing the mainboard?
Blue9ite
1 Rookie
•
9 Posts
0
July 5th, 2013 06:00
Hi Dell-Rajath N,
Thank you for replying. Someone on the phone actually suggested this to me last year, it fixed the problem for a few days but it returned again but I'll try and see if there are any new updates that I haven't installed yet like the one called "Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1030 WiFi Driver" which seems to have been released this year. I'll let you know if the problems comes back again. Cheers.
Blue9ite
1 Rookie
•
9 Posts
0
July 5th, 2013 06:00
Yeah I'll try updating the BIOS for now and get in touch with the out of warranty people then I'll update you guys with my progress in a few days time. Thanks for taking your time to read my previous thread as well and replying! :-)