DW1501 does not see 5ghz network

I have the same problem on a brand new Inspiron with the DW1501 card and a d-link dir-825 dual band router and spent hours with tech support. I have a studio that also has no problems with the 2.4 or 5 gHz frequency. Any thoughts

I've spent 2 hours with Dell and they can't fix it either. I've got a 90 day return option because I bought it at Costco. I'm not sure whether I'm going to return it yet, though. I'm not paying a cent for something I've already paid for!

I spent the day in the forums, I have a Studio 17 just past the 21 day return policy, cant get the issue resolved today, have tried calling,emailing,chatting, all failed.....

I hope we all can get some help on this, its frustrating.

Everyone,

Not sure if this will help. Try

Start, search, type

quickset

click on quickset. You should get a screen that looks like...

Click on Launch control options Wi-Fi Catcher. You should see a screen that looks like this...

Click on advanced settings. You should see a screen like this...

Make sure the Bands to scan has the proper box selected. If it's the correct one, change it to 802.11bgn, click apply, then change it to 802.11abgn click apply, ok

Rick

No Quickset Application in my Studio 1558 (just the DW WLAN App), but I too am having the same problem. Lots of time with Dell support ... they even sent me a new DW1501 card and the results are the same. I am now asking them to send me a DW1520 (which I think is an upgrade). The reason for this is I also have an Inspiron that had a DW1515 N card that I installed in the Studio ... and voila !!! The laptop connected with excellent strength and a speed of 130 mbs.

So as I suspected, the issue is with the card itself, or most likely the Win 7/64bit drivers written for it. I'll let you know how it goes with Dell tomorrow, but in the meantime, if anyone else has found a solution, please let me know.

Having the same problem on a Studio 1558 running windows 7 with a DW1501 wireless card. Have a Netgear 802.11n simultaneous dual band 2.4/5 GHz router WNDR3400. The DW1501 link speed with WEP is 54mbps, if I turn off WEP and go with no encryption I get 72mbps link speed. This is only on the 2.4 GHz radio, the DW1501 does not see the 5GHz radio network. Because of the 72mbps link speed does this mean that I am connected at 802.11n with a degraded speed. I know the the 5GHz radio on the Netgear is working because my MacBook draft-N can detect the network. I updated to the latest driver however noticed that the supported OS is Vista and not Win 7, it loaded OK so was not concerned. Should there be seperate driver for Win 7?

I did locate the quickset app in c:/program files/Dell/Quickset. When I launch the Windows Mobility Center Wi-Fi catcher is not a selection. In the quickset folder there is a seperate app for the Wi-Fi catcher. When launched I am unable to check the box to "enable Wi-Fi Catcher Network Locator". Not sure what to do next.

You're never going to be able to fix this. After hours of finally convincing the Dell rep (pretty disconcerting when you know more than the tech) that the DW1501 card was not designed to to receive a 5ghz signal regardless of what it says on the box, I returned mine to Costco and got my money back. I'm going on the hunt for an HP today so we'll see what happens.

Good luck!

Buy an HP..my new one works perfect!

What router are you using?

Thanks

Netgear RangeMax (WNDR3700) Tech at Dell said laptop may not be compatible with it.

Dell SELLS it on their site!

Hp 5Ghz speed is 168mbps, nice.

Sorry, it didn’t quote for some reason.  I was actually replying to PudgyOne since he's gotten it to work on his 1458.  Weirdly, on my 1318 which has a DW1395 2.4GHz card in it, it DOES have that tab on the wifi setup (BTW, if "quickset" in the search doesn't pull it up for you try "Mobility center") but on my 1458 which has the 1501 it has just the "Radio Control Options" tab.  Me no get it.

Also, this is what I got just last night from tech support on this card, though it doesn’t state data rates – odd.  Anyone got them?  It’s taken me three weeks to even get even this much!

Everyone,  Not sure if this will help. Try  Start, search, type  quickset   click on quickset. You should get a screen that looks like... Click on Launch control options Wi-Fi Catcher. You should see a screen that looks like this... Click on advanced settings. You should see a screen like this... Make sure the Bands to scan has the proper box selected. If it's the correct one, change it to 802.11bgn, click apply, then change it to 802.11abgn click apply, ok     Rick

I sure do wish I came and checked out these forums before I bought 2 Dell laptops (Inspiron 15r), thinking that I'd be able to use my 5Ghz Wireless N network with them.

Spent a while sharing my desktop with tech support last night, but other than doing some of the things I had already tried (re-installing drivers, changing channel for my 5Ghz network on my Netgear 3700 router), I still couldn't see any 5Ghz networks from the laptop.

While the Dell web site contains several documents which state that this card can handle 5Ghz Wireless N networks, most notably:

<ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed from this post by Dell>

and to a lesser degree (DW WLAN Card Features)

they appear to be sadly misinformed.

The DW1501 has a Broadcom vendor/device ID of 14E4:4727 device (you can see this if you view you adapter settings and click on Details, it's buried in one of the properties). On the Broadcom site I found the attached document:

http://www.broadcom.com/docs/linux_sta/README.txt 

which lists this device as the Broadcom product 4313, 2.4 GHz only model. Here's a link to Broadcom's page that also states that this device will only operate in the 2.4 GHz range:

http://www.broadcom.com/products/Wireless-LAN/802.11-Wireless-LAN-Solutions/BCM4313

I would love if someone could prove me wrong in what I'm saying here, but sadly it looks like this network card will never connect to a 5Ghz network.

It would have been jolly nice if Dell actually mentioned that the cards in these laptops only supported 2.4Ghz networks when people were purchasing them and if they fixed their documentation. If they had, I would have probably still bought these laptops and been prepared to buy a separate USB 5Ghz adapter. But the fact they chose to hide this information and in some places actually state incorrect info I can't help but feel a little cheated.

I felt the same way 20 years ago when I purchased a Gateway PC. That was the last Gateway PC I purchased.

'sadly it looks like this network card will never connect to a 5Ghz network'

 Proved this to the Dell tech a month ago. Unfortunate, it's not the tech's problem. Someone at Dell made this decision for whatever reason and has got caught. No more Dells for me!

This issue is also explored here http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/network-internet-wireless/f/3324/p/19338428/19737816.aspx#19737816 and it does indeed appear that the 1501, despite being technically an 802.11n router does not operate on the 5GHz band.

As other people have expressed in their postings, I feel ripped off by my first experience of buying a Dell laptop, and I think it's disgraceful that Dell have not made some attempt at reparation. C'mon Dell, you are burning your goodwill here big time - how about some solution for this issue?