Inspiron E1505 Internal Wireless Card Gone Bad?

Does the wireless adapter show up in Device Manager when you expand the listing for network adapters?   Have you tried power-cycling the router (turning it off then turning it back on)?  Have you tried power cycling the computer? 

Steve

Hi Steve! Thanks for your reply! :-)

The adapter does show up in the device manager list, the router has been power-cycled and the computer has been power-cycled.  I just did a driver uninstall on the adapter and the drivers were automatically re-installed upon restart, I suppose, because they are there again.  When I try to repair the connection, I get an error message saying the repair cannot be completed because "TCP/IP is not enabled for this connection."

I have been all over the place in every networking tab I can find to try to enable it, but I don't know where to go and what should say what.  Mind you, this is a computer that has been working with the same configurations, hardware and router for nearly two years.  Please tell me something I don't already know, and help me fix this! :-)

Thank you again!

Michele

Open Network Connections, right click your wireless connection and select Properties. Find the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), and make sure the box next to it is checked.  The, select it, then click on the properties button. Put a check mark next to "Obtain an IP address automatically", and, if necessary, put a check mark next to "Obtain DNS server address automatically".

If this doesn't fix it, go to Start > Run and type services.msc.   Find the DHCP Client Service and make sure that it is started and set to run automatically.  Let us know what you find.

Steve

Everything was fine up to the point where I had to type services.msc. My dang "v" is missing on the keyboard and the little membrane that I used to be able to press to get it to work is now gone too. :-(  This computer really isn't as trashed as it sounds, but alas, I have no way to type "services.msc!"  Is there any other way to get to the DHCP place?

Did you try to copy it from the message and paste it into the run box?

Steve

You don't need to be hooked to the internet to run the command, but you do need to run it on the computer that is having the problem!!!

Steve

Well, no, because I am not reading this on that computer as I have no Internet connection on it. :)

I guess I can hook it up through the ethernet cable?  That should work, right?  I'll try...

On the working computer, copy the message or just the text you wnat,  paste into a Notepad or Microsoft Word File.  Save the file, copy the file to a USB flash drive, flash memory card, or CD, then take the flash drive, memory card, or CD to the non-working computer, open the file, copy the text and paste into the run box.

Steve

A true "AHA!" moment! :-)  Will do the CD copy/paste and let ya know how it goes.. :-)

Okay, so after all that, everything checks out and says exactly what you said it should say.  I didn't have to make any changes, it was all already correct.  So now what?

By the way, thanks SO MUCH for trying to help, on a Saturday night, no less! :-)

Let's try something else.  On the computer with the problem, go to Start > Run and type cmd then click OK. In the command prompt window that opens, type ipconfig /all then hit the enter key. Forntunately no "v" key is involved here.  Write down the output from this command or select it and save it to a txt file, then copy this output into a reply to this message.

Steve

Hey Steve? I'm going to get really quiet for the next 8 hours or so...but I'll check back in the a.m. to see what you think about the latest ipconfig stuff. :-)

Michele

Here ya go:

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Plummy>ipconfig/all

Windows IP Configuration

        Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : NEWLAPTOP
        Primary Dns Suffix  . . . . . . . :
        Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
        IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
        WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

        Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
        Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom 440x 10/100 Integrated Cont
roller
        Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-15-C5-BF-20-D5

Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection 5:

        Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
        Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Networ
k Connection
        Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-18-DE-81-7C-A2

C:\Documents and Settings\Plummy>Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
'Microsoft' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

C:\Documents and Settings\Plummy>(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.
Copyright was unexpected at this time.

C:\Documents and Settings\Plummy>
C:\Documents and Settings\Plummy>C:\Documents and Settings\Plummy>ipconfig/all
The system cannot find the path specified.

C:\Documents and Settings\Plummy>
C:\Documents and Settings\Plummy>Windows IP Configuration
'Windows' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

C:\Documents and Settings\Plummy>
C:\Documents and Settings\Plummy>        Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : NEW
LAPTOP
'Host' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

C:\Documents and Settings\Plummy>        Primary Dns Suffix  . . . . . . . :
'Primary' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

C:\Documents and Settings\Plummy>        Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hyb
rid
'Node' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

C:\Documents and Settings\Plummy>        IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
'IP' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

C:\Documents and Settings\Plummy>        WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
'WINS' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

C:\Documents and Settings\Plummy>
C:\Documents and Settings\Plummy>Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
'Ethernet' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

C:\Documents and Settings\Plummy>
C:\Documents and Settings\Plummy>        Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Med
ia disconnected
'Media' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

C:\Documents and Settings\Plummy>        Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Bro
adcom 440x 10/100 Integrated Cont
'Description' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

C:\Documents and Settings\Plummy>roller
'roller' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

C:\Documents and Settings\Plummy>        Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-
15-C5-BF-20-D5
'Physical' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

C:\Documents and Settings\Plummy>
C:\Documents and Settings\Plummy>Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection 5:

'Ethernet' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

C:\Documents and Settings\Plummy>
C:\Documents and Settings\Plummy>        Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Med
ia disconnected
'Media' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

C:\Documents and Settings\Plummy>        Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Int
el(R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Networ
'Description' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

C:\Documents and Settings\Plummy>k Connection
'k' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

C:\Documents and Settings\Plummy>        Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-
18-DE-81-7C-A2
'Physical' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

C:\Documents and Settings\Plummy>
C:\Documents and Settings\Plummy>C:\Documents and Settings\Plummy>

Unfortunately, the ipconfig output is not helpful.   As a troubleshooting step, see if you can sucessfully connect to the router by wired ethernet.  That might help us eliminate some components as being the source of the problem.  Report back what happens.

Steve