no signal after formatting and reinstalling os

Question

Here is what I did for my 8600.   1. erased all partition and formatted and partitioned into c and d. 2. installed xp pro on c   The problem is that wireless is not working any more. There is absolutely 'no signal' present right now. My computer picked up almost 5 signals including my router before i did above.   Here is what I have tried.   1. checked bio to see if wireless is on -> it was on 2. reinstalled drivers with latest one from dell website 3. formatted c (kept d drive) and reinstalled xp home sp2 from dell 4. checked device manager for proper driver installation   It really seems that wireless is completely off somehow. I'm suspecting that the factory partition originally came with dell because that is the only different setting between before and after formatting and reinstalling. Is there anyone who had same problem and solved?

volcano11 · Answer

Have you temporarily disabled all of the wireless security features of the router, or at least configured the wireless adapter to conform to the security featuers of the router? Are you getting an IP address from the router? There is nothing on the facotry partition that should have any effect on the ability to connect. You have either not configured the router and wireless card to correctly work together or you have not installed all of the proper drivers.

Steve

incommon · Answer

I haven't made any change on my router. My roomates are using wireless and theirs working just fine. I can't blame routers since I had about five wireless signals in my rooms. I would not complain if any signal is detected. But it is a completely 'no signal' situation. I was about to return this computer but just found out I have pay all shipping charge. I might just get new wireless card with that money and keep the computer. Well.. I don't know..

jagerM · Answer

I'm having the same issue...

My config.sys file was corrupted and I had to reformat the partition & reinstall XP pro...

Coming from Dell, it was a breeze...just install the wireless card and it was recognized...Now it seems that XP recognizes nothing...I've reinstalled all drivers with no luck...

Did you get a resolution on this?

volcano11 · Answer

After you reinstalled Windows, did you install the chipset drivers as the first device drivers installed?  Does the wireless network adapter show up in Device Manager when you expand the listing for network adapters by clicking on the + sign?  Does the wireless network adapter show up in Network Properties?   Steve

jagerM · Answer

After you reinstalled Windows, did you install the chipset drivers as the first device drivers installed? Yep    Does the wireless network adapter show up in Device Manager when you expand the listing for network adapters by clicking on the + sign?  There is no 'network adapters' option   Does the wireless network adapter show up in Network Properties? Network Properties is blank     There is a yellow question mark over 'other devices'...clicking on the + there reveals yellow question marks over 'ethernet controller' and 'network controller' Trying to reinstall drivers for these devices hasn't worked...I get 'there is no information on this hardware' no matter where I look...Including the manufacturer's disk.

volcano11 · Answer

jagerM,

Note that although your problem my be similar to incommon's problem, the original poster on this thread, I cannot be certain that yours is the same and it gets very difficult trying to deal with more than one person's problem in the same thread. But now that you seem to have sucessfully hijacked incommon's thread, please give us some more information. Which model computer do you have? Have you tried reinstalling the chipset drivers?

Steve

jagerM · Answer

Thread piracy will certainly ruin us all...   the rig is a 4700c and yes, I reinstalled the chipset drivers from the Dell companion disk after reformatting.

volcano11 · Answer

Which wireless network adapter is installed on that machine? Steve

jagerM · Answer

After the reformat, there is no network adapter installed as far as I can tell.

jagerM · Answer

a D-Link DWL g520

volcano11 · Answer

The question is - which wireless network adapter is physically installed on that computer? Steve

incommon · Answer

I guess my problem is little different. I see my dell 1350 WLAN mini pci card is installed in the device manager. I installed chipset driver as well. Amazingly it is still not working.

volcano11 · Answer

incommon, Does the wireless network adapter show up in Network Properties?  Is the adapter enabled?  Does the icon for the wireless network adapter show up in the system tray? Steve

volcano11 · Answer

jagerM,   Try download and installing the drivers from the D-Link site:   http://support.dlink.com/products/view.asp?productid=DWL%2DG520   Steve

incommon · Answer

Does the wireless network adapter show up in Network Properties?

Yes, under Network Adapter section in the device manager.

Is the adapter enabled?

Yes, it is enabled

Does the icon for the wireless network adapter show up in the system tray?

I do not know what you mean by system tray. Basically I see wireless icon in the 'My network places' and notification area(right bottom of the screen).

Networking, Internet, & Bluetooth

no signal after formatting and reinstalling os

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