WiFi not working

Bill,

Thinking that maybe the Windows 8 installation did not go correctly. I have heard that with Windows 8, sometimes you need to run DBAN to wipe the hard drive before installing for the best results.

As for th hardware ID, I should have been more specific.

Device manager, click on the problem device, details and nee the Hardware ID from the drop down list.

Rick

Rick

Here is the driver ID in the computer, BCMLWL63.sys

Bill

Rick

The computer is about three years old. I have replaced nothing in the computer other than installing Windows 8

The WLAN Card is a 1397, the driver, according to microsoft is the newest, Broadcom 5.100.245.20, dated 3/13/12 from microsoft.

Bill in Las cruces

w5uy,

I think so, let me get Philip in the conversation. Get your product keys using Belarc Advisor

Rick

The 1390 card worked fine in my Latitude D820 without any additional driver.

First did you install the Windows Vista or 7 Driver for the Dell Wireless Card? The wireless utility will likely not work with Windows 8 but the card should work natively. 

Go to add/remove programs (Press [Windows] and [ e ] and select uninstall or change a program) and remove anything in the list that says Dell Wireless...

Go to the Device Manager right click the Dell Wireless Card and select uninstall (see page 426-427 of Windows Reinstallation Guide) for illustrations.

http://philipyip.wordpress.com/dell-community-forums/

Restart your computer.

The driver should not reinstall via Windows and with any luck the card should work.

Are you running 64 bit or 32 bit version of Windows 8. Note the system has 7 drivers and its better to use some of these opposed to Vista drivers.

The Video should be native.

In fact the only thing I installed in my Latitude D820 was the Intel Update Utility, the Card Reader and Dell Quickset. Everything else should work off Windows 8 native Windows Drivers (Windows 8 update will find the Video Driver for the GM 945/965 Graphics).

Also your PC is 64 bit compatible is there a specific reason you chose to install the 32 bit version of Windows 8?

If you are going to clean install use the 64 bit version of Windows 8. This will allow you to upgrade your RAM to 8 GB in the future if you want to.

I assume your system came with Vista or 7 32 bit and you upgraded online. Microsoft in their great wisdom only let customers install the same bit of Windows shipped with their system and make no direct links to Digital River .isos.

If you have any other computer or can borrow a friends computer running the 64 bit version of Windows Vista, 7 or 8 use the product key you got to download media using the following links:

For the US:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/upgrade-product-key-only

For the UK:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows-8/upgrade-product-key-only 

Don't worry about using your product key on another computer, you are only using it to download the media but not install it. Follow the instructions on page 77 of Windows Reinstallation Guide. Make the .iso and save the .iso to an external hard drive and then create a bootable USB flash drive.

Then install the 64 bit version on your Inspiron 1545 using your product key.

Do not install any additional drivers apart from the following:

• Intel Update Utility

• Realtek Card Reader (Windows 7)

• Video should automatically be obtained from Windows Update

• Marvell 88E80XX 10/100 Ethernet Controller (Windows 7)

• Alps Touchpad (Windows 8)*

* If Touchpad doesn't work great uninstall the Driver

• Dell Wireless 365 Bluetooth (if your system has it)

Thanks for the reply---I had no idea that the computer was 64 bit eligible---when I got windows 8, I also got the backup DVD from Microsoft, so I have that available should it be beneficial to use it. I was hoping not to have to wipe the drive as I have quite a bit of programs already on the drive.  When I purchased the computer, about three years ago, I think it had Windows XP, but perhaps not. I used the windows program that came with the Windows 8 install so I did not have to do a clean install. Is this the only option available?

Bill in Las Cruces

Have you tried uninstalling the device from device manager and any software from add/remove programs and restarting.

Yes, I have tried this several times.  Any more suggestions before I begin considering wiping the drive?

I can't think of a great one just now. I guess you have tapped Fn and F2 a couple of times to disable and enable the adapter. Also have tyou tried disabling the card in the BIOS setup? Loading Windows and then re-enabling and loading Windows?