very strange wifi problem

Question

Hi All, I am hoping someone can help with this. I have a new inspiron 1505 with a 1390 mini card Rev 3.6 (still making payments)   Everything was working fine for 6 months, until, I had a meeting, so I just closed my notebook and grabbed my router.   At the meeting I opened my notebook (I did not connect to any networks and did not demo my router) and did my presentation. and closed my notebook.   When I got home I plugged in the router and opened my notebook, clicked on the 'connect or disconnect' link and it was showing a big list of networks, none of which were in my range and it showed I was connected to linksys, but it was not working and guess that there was a linksys where I had the meeting.   I have my notebook set to automatically connect to 'linksys'.   I clicked the refresh button and it still was showing all of the 'other' networks.   Several more refreshes and it displayed that it couldnt find any networks.   I know that is not true because I install firmware into routers that are used in hotels and I allways have several networks available.   (I deleted all of my saved networks in the dell wireless utility dialog)   After a reboot I could see my linksys BUT my router 5 feet away was not showing up at all.   The router has 3 ssid's 'uplink', 'Public access', 'private access'.   After refreshing the list of networks it (they) finally appeared but when I went to connect, it said that it could not connect because no response was received from the router.   Right ow my 'connect to a network' shows 9 networks, 4 of which I have never seen before and my dell wireless utility shows 5, 5 is the correct number. these are entirely out of sync and all whacked.   Next I move my router to the next room and it shows all three ssid's and I can connect to them. I bring my router back to the same place it has been for the last six months and either the ssid's will not show up in the connect to network box or if it does, it says the it did not receive a response from the router.   I have moved the router back and forth 10 times, I can allways connect if it is in the next room, I can never connect if it placed in its original position of 6 months.   Another wierd thing is that now in the connect to network box, my linksys shows 5 bars and should only be showing 2, It shows two in the system tray and occasionally jums to 4 and is constantly disconnecting and reconnecting.   I did a system restore to two days prior to my meeting but obviously it didn't fix the problem.   Can anyone shed some light on what my problem is.

volcano11 · Answer

You are apparenlty using the Dell Utility to manage your wireless networks.  What happens if you disable the Dell Utility and use Windows to manager your wireless networks?   Steve

lorenww · Answer

how do I do this?   I was using my other computer to configure more routers and came back to this notebook and it went from 9 erronious networks to 'cannot find any networks', I dont get it.   I just click on the screens in the tray and click 'connect or disconnect', if there is another way please walk me through the steps. I am new to vista, dellwireless and need to make my wireless mesh networks appear in the connect dialog.   I really appreciate your help.   lw

volcano11 · Answer

If I had known you were running Vista, I probably would not have responded, as I know nothing about Vista.  Do you know which utility you are using?  I don't know what the Dell Utility looks like in Vista, but if it is similar to XP, it puts an icon in the tray that shows 4 bars with increasing height.  If you open that utility, there should be a box next to 'Let this tool manage my wireless networks'.  If that box is checked then the Dell Utility is managing your wireless networks.  If you want Windows to manage, uncheck that box in the Dell Utility.    Steve

lorenww · Answer

Yes there is an icon with 4 bars but I dont see any checkboxes nor can I connect to a network with it. To connect, afaik there is only the option of clicking on the screen icon.   If i click on the 4bar icon this is what I see. file shows import export. the tabs are: Link status Site monitor (right now site monitor is not showing all networks and the screen icon - connect to network is showing the correctnetworks???) Diagnostics (says everything is ok) Information.   I just set up some more routers and now the 'connect' shows 8 networks which now is correct (it was showing 9 when there were 5) and the wireless card monitor (4bar icon) shows 5.   I really need this to work for doing wifi demos and as it sits I am dead in the water.   further more I am not sure if it is a DELL issue or a Vista issue, It was working perfectly before the meeteing. I didn't change a thing and system restore did not help.   I think I made the biggest mistake by buying this notebook though.   I can only hopesomeone can help me.

volcano11 · Answer

Right click on the '4 bars icon' and select 'Open Utility' from the drop down menu.  It is on that page where you will see the box about managing the wireless network.   Steve

lorenww · Answer

I did the right click on the 4 bars and I get 'link status' and there are no other options in that dialog box.   the other tabs site monitor, right clicking only shows 'show information elements' with search, freeze and scaninterval.   one thing I dont get is that site monitor sometimes shows completely different networks than the 'connect to network' dialog   diagnostics says everything is ok.   information is, well, information.   I'm open to anything you can think of.

volcano11 · Answer

Since I've never seen Vista, you will have to be creative.  Look in All Programs and see if you can open the Dell wireless utility from there.  Look in Control Panel and see if you can open the wireless utility form there.   Steve

lorenww · Answer

I opened it up from the cp, wireless configuration utility. its the same as the icon with 4 bars and no checkboxes or links.

Basically all I did was close the screen, went to a meeting, came back and there were all kinds of networks listed, just none of the normal networks, after several refreshes it cleared the phantom networks but said "no networks available". Thats when all of the problems started.

Im beginning to think that the networks it picked up during my meeting are being held in some sort of memory (I deleted all saved networks) because when I go to "connect to a network" I sometimes see the correct networks, somtimes all kinds of "extra" networks and sometimes "no" networks.

Then on many occasions it will show a known good network but will not connect becase there was no response from the router.

OK something IS being saved somewhere. I have been trying to connect to one router for the last week and kept getting no response received, BUT this only happened when I was within 10 feet of the router, 20 feet was good.

I just now changed the multiple, ssid's , router name, domain name and host name in the router, (they all got changed to WiFi_Gator)

1/2 hr ago it refused connection and after the name change, connection, it works.

I also just changed the linksys ssid from linksys to Gator Base, now it is showing the correct two bars in the connect to network dialog box, just before the name change it was showing 5 bars??

Something is very strange with vista and the wireless utility. I have been going nuts with this all week because I need to demo my routers for hotels.

Now for the big question, HOW did just changing the ssid names fix things??

I am totally convinced that something was saved somewhere and somehow got corrupted.

Things are working but it still is not fixed. I really want to fix the problem on my notebook as opposed to changing the router names.

Perhaps this information can help someone to help me.

Thanks so much for your replies.

Networking, Internet, & Bluetooth

very strange wifi problem

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