Wireless adapter not detected!

I feel your pain, dude =/

Sounds like you're a couple steps ahead of me in actually purchasing a new card. I haven't done that yet.

From the Drivers disc that came with my laptop, it shows that there are two possible wireless drivers... PROSet, and WLAN... I have tried extracting both and installing them, but neither seems to have worked thus far.

It is absolutely essential that you know which device is actually physically present on your computer.  Check your original system invoice (although most people throw this valuable document away, you may still have it).  If you don't have it, the go to the following site, enter your Service Tag number then click on the Original Configuration tab.  This will give you a confusing list of the components shipped with your computer from which you may be able to determine which wireless adapter you have.

 

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/my_systems_info/details?c=us&l=en&s=gen

 

Steve

Thanks Steve, I appreciate you addressing my issue quickly and appropriately.

I was afraid that I would end up having to do a System Restore; looks like I have some long hours ahead of me in backing up files and data!

Unless you have any other suggestions based on the aforementioned wireless adapters mentioned in my previous post, I suppose that is my only option...

 

Shane

I am replying to StratosWraithe, as I cannot help two people with potentially different problems in the same thread. 

 

roborific, you will have to start a new thread giving details of your setup (computer model, make and model of the wireless adpater, version of Windows, etc) and the nature of your problem.   I will not answer any of your questions further in this thread, as it the thread belongs to StratosWraithe.

 

StratosWraithe, somehow you have lost the drivers for your wireless network adapter.   This could be due to spyware/malware, or a virus.  The first thing I would suggest is to use System Restore to restore your computer to a state it was in on some date prior to when you lost your wirelss connection.  

 

Alternatively, you will need to download and install the latest drivers for your wireless network adapter.  Since you don't say which wireless adapter you have, I cannot point you to the correct download.  This may work, if the problem that caused the loss of the drivers is not still existing on your computer.

 

Steve

Yes, you have the Intel 2915 ABG wireless card.   The first thing you should do is to look under the MiniPCI card slot door and make sure that the card is firmly seated in its slot.  You can find instructions on how to do this at:

 

<ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed from this post by Dell>

If that checks out, download the latest drivers from the following site:

 

http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&releaseid=R155386&SystemID=INS_PNT_6000&servicetag=&os=WW1&osl=en&deviceid=7039&devlib=0&typecnt=0&vercnt=7&catid=-1&impid=-1&formatcnt=1&libid=5&fileid=207280

 

Get this file to the Inspiron 6000 and then run it to install the drivers.  Report back what happens.  Hopefully your attempts at installing the wrong drivers have not messed things up.

 

Steve

System Restore does should leave all your data intact.  It only restores system files, program files, and drivers.  Of courses having a backup of all data is always essential in case something else goes wrong.

 

Steve

Steve,

 

Will do! Thank you for taking the time to help me out, I appreciate it. You've been incredibly helpful!

 

Shane

You didn't say so, but I am assuming that you checked to make sure the wireless adapter was firmly seated in the MiniPCI card slot and that didn't fix the problem.

I am also assuming that you downloaded the latest drivers for your wireless adapter and have the driver installation file available on your computer.

 

The next step would be to boot into Safe Mode (start tapping the F8 key after restarting the computer but before Windows loads).  Once in Safe Mode, go into Device Manager, expand the listing for Network Adapters, select your wireless adapter, then click on Uninstall.   Reboot to Normal boot, cancel the New Hardware Wizard, if it starts, then run the downloaded driver file and see if you can properly install the drivers.  Report back what you find.

 

Steve