URGENT DRIVER UPDATE - Wireless 1350, 1370, 1390, 1450, 1470, 1490, 1500

Quick note when I updated for the 1500 draft n it will now only connect at 54 rather than 270 with my netgear 834 router.  Before it would connect at 270 but would consistently lose connection.  Is there a setting that I'm missing in the new driver to allow 270 draft n connection?

 

Thanks

Thanks Gina,

 

Dell had a great response time on this issue.  I'm sure people will feel a lot better about public hotspots now :)

 

For all the people who didn't want to install the linksys driver because they were concerned it would be different:

 

Linksys driver SHA1:  0848999093b7eb1671582627476e2d5e4373b080

Dell driver SHA1:         0848999093b7eb1671582627476e2d5e4373b080

 

This said, the card will show up with the correct name now and the dell package should be much easier to install

BTW...

 

When the upgrade works...the card is now listed as:

 

Broadcom 801.11n Network Adapter

 

The Dell part is gone...

 

Bob

If you don't find a setting try uninstalling all network adapters from add/remove programs then reinstall. Then let me know.

It looks like the reference driver straight from broadcom bundled with the utility.  Give dell credit for getting it out so quickly.  I'm sure there will be another fix later for cosmetic changes and the like.

 

As for the post regarding N speeds, check the driver properties (right click the connection, status, properties, configure, advanced) .  I don't have an N card, but there should be settings there that might be relevant.  You can likely also access many of these settings via the utility.

IBSS is definitely ad hoc.  I will load this driver on my USR card when I get home tonight and see what's there. 

IBSS mode has an option to indicate "802.11 a/b/g/n Auto" but it appears that is has to do with "ad hoc" connections.  Under Band preference or Bandwidth Capability only a/b/g are listed.  Am I missing something or has this driver omitted the draft n connection?

 

Thanks,

Directly to the router as reported by the dell wireless tool and windows xp.  On another post "Wireless 1500 timeline" it appears that the linksys drivers, which this appears to be identical to, were written for a broadcom ...49 instead of ...48 chipset and will only connect at 54?

 

Thanks,

Similar report here:  http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=si_wireless&message.id=28444

 

Is the belkin router using an atheros chipset?  I could see broadcom locking the speed at 54mbps if there were compatibility issues.

Can you tell me if you are testing the speed directly to the router or the speed online?

Here is link to thread http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=si_wireless&message.id=28276&query.id=247820#M28276

 

This is what I mentioned:

 

Re: Wireless 1500 Driver Timeline Options     bmpowell
Bronze
Posts: 3
Registered: 10-29-2006

Reply 8 of 9

Viewed 56 times

I realized I mentioned the Netgear WN511T (Marvell TopDog chipset) card earlier. I actually meant WN511B (Broadcom IntensiFi chipset). Sorry about any confusion there.

At any rate, both the Linksys and Netgear products using the Broadcom chipset seem to be using the BC 4329 as opposed to the BC 4328 that Dell is using. When I grabbed the drivers from these cards, I could connect at 54mbps but not at 802.11n speeds.

Apple does seem to be using the Broadcom 4328 chipset in their new iMacs, but these drivers are wrapped up inside of Boot Camp and cannot be easily obtained. 11-13-2006 10:34 PM

I just did some testing and it appears that the ability to connect draft-n to a netgear 834 has been disabled.  The old driver connects right up at 270 and the new driver at 54.  I tried this multiple times.  I double checked all the driver settings, they are identical.  I would be curious to know if the new driver will connect to a linksys draft-n at 270?

 

Thanks,

usually the same drivers are used for similar chipsets (check out broadcom's wired downloads for instance).  Often different options are then set.

 

The "dell" inf file lists:

 

; x86 - Win9x, Win2K, WinXP
;
[BROADCOM]
 %BCM430B_DeviceDesc% = BCM43XZ, PCI\VEN_14E4&DEV_4303
 %BCM430G_DeviceDesc% = BCM43XG, PCI\VEN_14E4&DEV_4320
 %BCM430G_DeviceDesc% = BCM43XG, PCI\VEN_14E4&DEV_4318
 %BCM430G_DeviceDesc% = BCM43XG, PCI\VEN_14E4&DEV_4311
 %BCM430A_DeviceDesc% = BCM43XA, PCI\VEN_14E4&DEV_4321
 %BCM430A_DeviceDesc% = BCM43XA, PCI\VEN_14E4&DEV_431A
 %BCM430M_DeviceDesc% = BCM43XM, PCI\VEN_14E4&DEV_4324
 %BCM430M_DeviceDesc% = BCM43XM, PCI\VEN_14E4&DEV_4319
 %BCM430M_DeviceDesc% = BCM43XM, PCI\VEN_14E4&DEV_4312
 %BCM430G_DeviceDesc% = BCM43XG, PCI\VEN_14E4&DEV_4310
 %BCM430G_DeviceDesc% = BCM43XG, PCI\VEN_14E4&DEV_4313
 %BCM430N_DeviceDesc% = BCM43XNM, PCI\VEN_14E4&DEV_ 4328
 %BCM430N_DeviceDesc% = BCM43XNG, PCI\VEN_14E4&DEV_ 4329
 %BCM430N_DeviceDesc% = BCM43XA, PCI\VEN_14E4&DEV_432A

 

Again, it looks like these are the straight broadcom reference drivers.  They aren't coded for dell specific cards or names, rather they list everything the package could possibly be used for.   You can search the inf file for BCM43XNM (or BCM43XNG) to find out what happpens when 4328 or 4329 chipsets are encountered.

 

Oh, and I should say I'm guessing a lot here :)