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27947
October 16th, 2008 16:00
WPA2-Enterprise, Dell 1390, Dell 1510, Intel 3945
1.5 year ago I got a Dell Inspiron 1505 with Dell 1390 wireless (apparently by Broadcomm) and Vista Home Premium. I was required to use WPA2-Enterprise at work and it did not work. Much hunting finally led me to Microsoft Vista networking forums and the answer that I might need Vista SP1 (not yet available) and might need Intel wireless card. Well, Vista SP1 did not solve the Dell 1390 problem, but Intel 3945 with SP1 *did* solve my WPA2 problem.
And now I've just gotten a Dell Studio laptop with Dell 1510 wireless, and Vista with SP1. This too does not work with WPA2-Enterprise!!! You'd think Dell might have listened and tried to get this solved. Worse yet, they don't offer Intel wireless cards as a normal option with Studio line, but they told me they could get Intel 5300 - and then they said I'd have to wait a month.
Needless to say, I'm very disappointed in Dell. Here is a problem that surely must afflict business customers, and a solution is known (use Intel cards, get rid of that Broadcomm dreck), but Dell is not taking steps to eliminate the problem.
kikomatsing
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October 16th, 2008 23:00
jmwills
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October 17th, 2008 05:00
glenn_n
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October 17th, 2008 19:00
You're probably correct - good point. But these are mini-PCI cards, hence swappable to all models. So Dell should (a) have usable cards available for people who need them, and (b) spell it out, make it really clear to their tech support that if someone has a problem with WPA2 (esp. Enterprise), don't argue or try to debug it, just get that card swapped. It's a pity that Dell support doesn't seem to know about this.
Also, Dell used to claim that WPA2-Enterprise was supported, maybe they no longer say so. I have heard that the problem is the drivers with Vista - these Broadcomm cards work OK in XP, so I've heard.
Larry R
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October 20th, 2008 14:00
I'm using a Dell Wireless 1490 (which uses the same firmware/driver as the 1390, just with the addition of 802.11a) and connecting using WPA2-Enterprise. I'm not sure if being in a Latitude is the difference, but it has always connected just fine for me.
If you are having problems connecting using that encryption method definitely make sure you have the latest driver from Dell installed. The router or access point you are connecting to might also be part of the problem as even now there are still a few compatibility issues that spring up wireless hardware (or, for that matter, in any other computer hardware).