TrueMobile 1300 Wireless network adapter malfunctioning

Question

I have an Inspiron 8500 with the TrueMobile 1300 Wirelss network card and it has worked without any problems since I purchased the computer seven months ago. Then, yesterday, it started malfunctioning. If I enable the wireless network connection it works for about two minutes then it quits working. That is, I loose the connection to my local network. When I display my network connections it lists the device as enabled, however, I cannot connect to any other network devices or access the internet. Also, when this occurs, any attempt to disable the device fails and you get the error message "program is no longer responding". So, I then end the task with the Program Manager and then the device becomes disabled. However, afterwards when I shut my computer down, it hangs on the final blue screen forever and would never shut down unless I press the power button for 5 seconds to manually power-off.

Also, FWIW, my Automatic Windows Update loaded a windows update yesterday morning and I am wondering if that update broke the TrueMobile 1300 device. This has happened in the past where Microsoft Windows Updates have messed up the wireless card and so I am wondering if that may be the cause.

Has anybody else observed this phenonoma and/or does anybody have any advice as to how I can get my wireless connection to work again?

Thanks,

Gordon

philsupport · Answer

ACTUALLY GLD3 MAN DOING A WINDOWS UPDATE ON YOUR BRANDED SYSTEM IS NOT ADVISABLE ITS MUCH BETTER TO DOWNLOAD THE SP1A FROM THE MICROSOFT WEBSITE RATHER THAT DOING AN AUTOMATIC UPDATE. THERE ARE ALOT OF BLUE SCREEN ERRORS, NO BOOT SITUATION AND FILE DATA CORRUPTION HAPPENING AFTER UPDATING. WE RECOMENT USING THE SP1A JUST ONCE: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/servicepacks/sp1/default.asp what you need to do now is to either do a system restore or uninstall all the hotfix'es you have under add and remove use the express one! tc!

gld3 · Answer

Hi Philsupport,

Thanks for your comments, however, I restored my system to its state prior to the Windows Update and the TrueMobile 1300 continues to malfunction as I described in my earlier post. In otherwords, the malfunction doesn't appear to have anything to do with the recent Windows Update. The TrueMoble 1300 will operate correctly for anywhere from 1 minute to 1 hour, however, it always then quits communicating with my network which then requires a re-boot. Then it starts working again until the same thing happens all over again.

Does anybody have any suggestions? I have also tried to "repair" the connection under "properties" afterwhich the program either stops responding or replies that it cannot access the IP address. Could this be hardware?

Thanks,

Gordon

DrGrov · Answer

Here's where this gets interesting...

I had the same problem with an i8500 and a Belkin 54g pcmcia wireless card. EXACTLY the same symptoms. (the firewire port also stopped responding when in use with an external drive).

Dell finally replaced the machine after going through the usual OS reinstall, etc. No change to the problem. With the replacement machine, it still occasionally does the same thing with the Belkin card (and some drives on the firewire port). I have the 1300 b/g card on order (in-stock but delayed shipping... go figure) and expect about the same when it finally arrives.

I'll post if I see any change.

Networking, Internet, & Bluetooth

TrueMobile 1300 Wireless network adapter malfunctioning

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