Wireless issues with a Studio desktop

Question

I just bought a Studio desktop with the Dell 1505 WLAN wireless card option, as the computer will be in a different room than my router (this is a home network with a Linksys WRT110 wireless router connected to a cable modem). When I first brought the system up, I was able to connect to the network without problems. Everything works great for the first couple of days. Then I began to experience the following symptoms:

dropped connect, can't find any wireless networks
sees the network but has low signal strength
sees the network, has good signal strength, but when I try to connect, the connection goes away
when I am able to connect, another laptop on the same network (connected via wireless) loses it's connection

I have had varying levels of success by either powering off my system and powering it back on or power cycling the router. These work maybe 60% of the time. The rest still leaves me with no connectivity.

Tonight, I tried to move the system downstairs to be in the same room as the router. I again saw all of the above problems, with the only change seen in the signal strength when I was able to connect (excellent). But I still had cases where it did not see the network at all and when I did connect, the laptop lost its connection.

I cannot tell whether this is a router problem or a wireless issue on the Studio end.

Larry R · Answer

Try running the Dell Wireless Utility and check to see if there are other wireless networks nearby using the same channel are your router. It is entirely possible there are, and that they are causing interferrence with your connection. I had a similar problem at home and changing channels to one that wasn't used by a nearby network resolved the problem for me.

Also, do you have other 2.4GHz devices in your home (cordless phone, baby monitors, etc)?

krgarvens · Answer

I have tried the router on auto, channel 6 and channel 11 for the very reasons you described, especially the phone. I do pick up the occasional other network, although they are weak (and encrypted). The nearest house the could be broadcasting is several hundred feet away.

I guess I am not familiar with the Dell wireless utility. What is that? Is that on my system or something I need to download?

Larry R · Answer

If you have a Dell Wireless card then the Dell Wireless Utility (or Dell WLAN Card Utility in Vista) is included as part of the software/driver package. The utility is for running hardware diagnostics on the card, as well as providing connection information and a listing of networks the card is able to detect.  I primarily use the utility to see what networks are nearby to select the best channel to use on the router (e.g., the utility let me know all of my immediate neighbors were on channels 1 and 11, with a few weak signals on channel 6, so when I changed my router to channel 6 the interferrence problem I was experiencing went away).  If you are using WinXP, the Wireless Utility can also be used to control the connection instead of using the Windows Wireless Zero Configuration service, though in most cases letting Windows manage the connection is going to work just fine.

krgarvens · Answer

OK, I found and ran the Dell Wireless Utility. When I first brought it up, the Link Status page was all filled in with information and the graphs at the bottom were showing stuff. The Site Monitor page showed my network on Channel 11 and no others (although later, a couple of weak signals from other networks showed up on channel 6). The signal strength bar for my network was about half way. However, I could not connect to the network. In fact, the Vista network utilities could not find the network.

However, about the time I powered up my system, I was asked by my wife if I had turned on my computer, as she had lost her wireless connection on her laptop in another room (actually, her system is in the same room as the router). I ran the wireless utility and got the results above, but shortly afterward, the Link Status screen went blank, showing no status at all (graphs were blank as well. After some power-cycling of my box and the computers downstairs, connection was reestablished and I was able to connect to the network and to the Internet.

So I'm back where I started, with intermittent connectivity and my system apparently interferring with the rest of the network. I did find a driver update on the Dell site and am installing that. I find it interesting that this driver is dated 9/08, but my computer was delivered last month with a driver dated 12/19/06.

Larry R · Answer

I think at this point the best plan would be to contact tech support (the wireless support queue).  Just explain what you have already tried and the results of the troubleshooting and the call should go pretty smoothly.  Personally, I'm inclined to think the card itself is the problem in this case.

bhoward19 · Answer

Was there an eventual resolution to your problem? I am having same issues,.I have many Dell PC's with wireless, and only the 1505 card gives me trouble. It's unusable.

krgarvens · Answer

I should have posted this before. Yes, when I installed the updated driver, my problems went away.

tj_xps435t · Answer

Does said Dell 1505 Wireless-N adapter driver work with 64-bit Vista?

I received a Studio XPS 435T earlier this week but my connection speed tops out at only 65 Mbps, with about 80% signal strength ("Very good" and "Excellent"). The Airlink 101 N-rated PCI card in my old Pentium 4 system connected to the same Netgear N router at about 135 Mbps from the exact same location. BIG difference. I will try changing router channels to see if that helps. Thanks for the suggestions.

T.J.

Networking, Internet, & Bluetooth

Wireless issues with a Studio desktop

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