Wireless with inspiron 1545 is horrible

Question

I recently purchases an inspiron 1545 notebook with various upgrades, one including an upgraded wireless card to get faster speeds and signal strength. I have had problems with this laptop ever since i recieved it, i have an old laptop with a worse card which picks up my signal perfectly fine and the speed and signal stays constant. With this inspiron 1545 with a "even better" wireless card i have many problems:

losing signal.
poor signal strength and quality.
speeds going from decent to slower than dial up.

I will be checking this as often as possible and all help will be greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance.

PS: i would like to state that this is not my router, it works fine on my other laptop but not on this one. Thanks.

Edit: I am using Windows Vista Business x64 from Dell. I have tried this with windows xp aswell with the same issue, my OS is not the issue.

PudgyOne · Answer

mitch0715,

You can try updating the driver for your wireless card.

Try connecting at one of the Best WiFi Locations and see how your connection is. If you connection is fine at the WiFi Location, then contact the owner of the wireless router for you connection problems.

Rick

***Stealing internet from open connections is illegal.***

PudgyOne · Answer

Mitch,

I would first suggest that you update the firmware in the wireless router. I usually recommend changing the wireless router settings to these Recommended Wireless Router Settings, but you would need permission to change these settings.

Download EVEREST Home Edition, run as administrator. Click on computer, summary, scroll down and look at your network adapters. Letf click on it, then click on driver download. It will take you to the manufacturers website to download the latest driver.

Also, after you install the latest driver, tweak your wireless card.

Go to device manager(right click my computer, left click properties, left click hardware, left click device manager). Click on Network and then right click on your wireless adapter, left click properties, power management. Uncheck the box, allow computer to turn off this device to save power.

Rick

I just had to make that statement as it would be against TOS to help someone with stealing internet. :emotion-5:

mitch0715 · Answer

Haha yes, i understand. But i have all the latest, i have used driver magician and looked in depth myself. Thank you for ALL your help so far it is wonderfully appreciated. But it must not be driver or anything of that sort. And i have tweaked it without results, im sorry if this is frustrating but it frustrated me aswell.

Also, i do have full access to my router control panel, i have gone in, changed the channels, etc. Without results. I have simply run out of things to do.

mitch0715 · Answer

Yes, i am fully aware it is illegal and i am using my neighbors wireless internet which is approximately 50 feet away from me. I have had full permission from him to use his internet and i have full access to the control panel in the router with the administrator password. But the legalness is not the issue.

About the drivers, i have all updated drivers including wireless and yet i have this issue. For the wireless location, i have gone to many including a router that was 1 feet away from my laptop with the same problem, 54mbps speeds suddenly drop down to 1mbps and i cannot use the internet for a few minutes, it is rather annoying since i require a solid connection for some applications.

This issue has been all over the internet with the inspiron 1545 and i wanted to bring it here to the manufacturor to end it hopefully once and for all. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks for the insight Rick.

Mitch.

PudgyOne · Answer

mitch0715,

First, I don't trust any of these programs to install drivers. I don't even trust Microsoft to install drivers. They sometimes offer the wrong drivers and/or the drivers don't get installed correctly, causing many devices to fail. I only go to the manufacturers website and update the drivers, ONLY if I have a problem.

If it ain't broke, don't try to fix it.

I have my wireless router with the latest firmware, WPA-PSK(TKIP) Security(Personal), mxed mode, I use channel 11 and haven't had a wireless device that wouldn't connect to my network.

Try channel 11. Are you using any type of 2.4 gh cordless phones?

I do NOT use Mac Address filtering but I can use it with no issues.

Rick

mitch0715 · Answer

Well, i could swear i posted back to this with a bug nice long paragraph. Well lucky me the net im using must of cut it out and said i posted it when i didnt.

Anyways, i got off with dell and they said if i got closer to the router it would fix it, when it won't. I have come close to atleast 3 other routers and i have the same problem as i am now. I have no phone, no fans, no cordless phones, nothing 2.4ghz at all in my house. All the firmware is updated as far as i know, tried A/B/G bands and mixed. Channel 1/6/11, i have basically gone down the list of every troubleshooting idea i have seen and heard.

Anyways, i tried the Everest and it did not find any new drivers, i also tried the website and came out with no luck.

I have run out of ideas and i have used all yours Rick, Thank you. I saw somewhere that this could happen if you have too many network drivers? I'm not sure if this is true but there's two drivers for network, one from dell and one from windows i believe. If you can think of anything that would contribute tell me.

Thanks,

Mitch

PudgyOne · Answer

mitch0715,

I don't know if this will shed any clues. Start, accessories, command prompt.

Type

ipconfig /all (space between the g and/)

then copy and paste the log here.

Rick

Your other post was deleted because of the swear work was TOS

mitch0715 · Answer

Alright, as soon as i get home i will and i will post the log, i am currently on a different computer on different internet.   Mitch

mitch0715 · Answer

Okay i am home and opened the full ip config in the command prompt.

I was lazy so i took a few print screens and uploaded it to tiny pic (i tried uploading it to dell but it came out too blurry).

http://i42.tinypic.com/9kqel2.jpg

Also, i got done talking to dell after a very extensive 4 hours "troubleshooting" talk about my wireless card and they will send me a new one in hopes it will fix this problem, if not....i don't know what else to do.

PudgyOne · Answer

mitch0715,

That pretty much looks similar to mine. Try downloading new drivers for the 5100 wireless card. I installed new drivers and use these Recommended Wireless Router Settings, I use channel 11 and never had an issue connecting except when I installed Internet Explorer 8. Intell Website and Manual Driver download for the 5100 and 5300 products.

Here's my log to compare to.

C:\Users\Rick>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

   Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Rick-PC
   Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
   Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
   IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
   WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
   DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : myhome.westell.com

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : myhome.westell.com
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) WiFi Link 5100 AGN
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-22-FB-12-14-76
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
   Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::6d67:b30f:4b07:d6da%10(Preferred)
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.7.102(Preferred)
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
   Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Tuesday, June 23, 2009 7:28:18 PM
   Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, June 25, 2009 7:28:17 AM
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.7.1
   DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.7.1
   DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 218112763
   DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-11-AA-EC-7C-00-22-19-E0-84-92

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom NetLink (TM) Gigabit Ethernet
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-22-19-E0-84-92
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection*:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : myhome.westell.com
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : isatap.myhome.westell.com
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 2:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 02-00-54-55-4E-01
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
   IPv6 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 2001:0:4137:9e50:3457:3b5f:b7a0:fd11(Pref
erred)
   Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::3457:3b5f:b7a0:fd11%12(Preferred)
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : ::
   NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 12:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : isatap.{AAA606A2-0120-424F-9850-26BF0163F
9B1}
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Rick

mitch0715 · Answer

Oh okay. I have no conflict with the modem and router so that is not an issue.

I used utorrent and had a problem with too many peers connecting so i changed the global max. of connections to 10 or so and it fixed it, i only use utorrent once in a while.

Power management box is unchecked without results.

I am using windows vista, that tool will not work, thanks anyways.

Mitch.

mitch0715 · Answer

Yeah, they look almost the same except for different hosts and gateway ip's, that's why i have become so puzzled. I uninstalled IE8 and it is currently uninstalled and i still have issues, the other thing is, every driver is updated, i couldn't get anymore updated unless i made my own driver. Which i can't. Guess im stuck waiting for a new wireless card.

PudgyOne · Answer

Mitch,

My issue was the Verizon Modem/router uses the ip address of 192.168.1.1, so I changed the Linksys router(I used to have a Netgear) to 192.168.7.1 to prevent conflict.

If you use any type of peer to peer programs, like Limewire, BearShare, etc..., then ten to mess with your Winsock. Try running WinSock XP Fix and see what happens. If you installed all the latest drivers, then I use this tweak but that's all I did to mine.

Go to device manager(right click my computer, left click properties, left click hardware, left click device manager). Click on Network and then right click on your wireless adapter, left click properties, power management. Uncheck the box, allow computer to turn off this device to save power.

Rick

PudgyOne · Answer

Mitch,   Any time you use a utorrent or any type of peer to peer program, you will have issues for about a week after you stop using them. There is information on the internet.     Take care,     Rick

mitch0715 · Answer

Although this is not resolved yet, and utorrent is not the resolution because i did not have it on this computer for a while, i guess i am still looking for solutions.

Thanks anyways Rick, i'm sure you did your best and it is appreciated.

Mitch

Networking, Internet, & Bluetooth

Wireless with inspiron 1545 is horrible

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