Are you using the Dell wireless WLAN utility or WZC (Windows Zero Configuration) to manage your wireless network ?

 

 

Inspiron 1501

MK36 AMD Turion

2 GB RAM

ATI 200MSeries

I have tried to use both. I was able to get the WiFi light to come on after running the diagnositic tool in Dell Wireless Lan Utility. The light will remain on and still tells me that the radio is off. If I reboot the system the light will remain on until it gets to the point of reloading windows and then goes off and I am back into the vicious loop of running the diagnostics. Even with the light on, the utility tells me that the radio is off and to turn on using the Fn-F2 keys.

 

I have disabled the power management features mentioned in another posting; however, if I change these back to their enabled settings the light will go off.

 

If I try to repair the connection using the windows utility the light will go off and I have to go back and use the Dell Wireless Utility and run diagnostics to get the WiFi indicator back. Even using the windows utility it tells me the card is not on.

 

I can't figure out what the individual did originally to get it to work.

 

If you have any other ideas it woud be greatly appreciated.

 

Thank You.

Uninstall the Dell utility, reboot, and only use the Windows Zero Configuration tool.  My guess is one is turning the other off and conflicting.

I uninstalled the Dell Wireless LAN Utility and attempted to use the Windows Zero Configuration but no luck. I even attempted to repair the connection and this did not work.

 

The only way I can get the WiFi light to come on is through the diagnostics part of the Dell Wireless LAN Utility. Even with this light on it says the card is not on.

 

Any other ideas.

 

Thank You

Yes I have verified that quickset is loaded. I even updated based on the Dell downloads. When I press Fn-F2 I will get a white WiFi indicator on the towards the bottom of the screen  and will also get the indicator with a line through it if I push it again; however, this has no effect on the WiFi light.

 

This is driving me crazy because whatever the other individual did to get it to work for 30 minutes cannot be duplicated. I guess I will have to pay additional money to have them do it again but I will be pushing half the cost of the computer to begin with.

 

Here is the latest

 

1. Reloaded complte operating system. During the reload of system the WiFi light remained on the entire reload.

 

2. Installed Notebook Software and WiFi light remained on.

 

3. Installed Chip Set and WiFi light remained on.

 

4. Installed Video Driver and WiFi light remained on.

 

5. Installed Audio Driver and WiFi light remained on.

 

6. Installed Modem Driver and WiFi light remained on.

 

7. Installed ethernet card and WiFi light remained on.

 

8. Installed Dell Wireless Lan Card Driver and in the middle of install WiFi light went off.

 

9. Loaded Quickset and pressed Fn-F2 and still no WiFi light

 

10. Loaded new drivers from Dell and still not WiFi light; however, if I run the diagnositics the light comes on but the utility says the card is off (e.g. The Dell Wireless WLAN Card is still disabled. Press Fn-F2 to enable).

 

If you have any other ideas please let me know.

 

Thank You.

Even though there is no Wi-Fi light, is the card on and picking up a signal?

How do I determine if the card is on? That seems to be the issue. Windows Zero Configuration does not pick up any wireless networks and when running the Dell Wireless LAN Utility the utility tells me the card needs to be turned on and won't pick up any networks. I know the network is working because I have 3 other desktop computers in the house picking up the signal and working fine.

 

Device Manager tells me everything is working fine and I get the same response when I run the Dell PC Check from the website.

 

I thought the card was considered on when the WiFi light was on.

 

Is there some other way to turn on the card or even check if it is on?

 

 

FN + F2 toggles the card on and off.

Not that I am aware of.  Did you check for a driver update?

I thought of replacing the card; however, the technician who thought this was the problem replaced it with two brand new cards and had the same issues. It was only after he reinstalled the entire system that the card worked.

 

When I got home it worked fine for about 30-minutes and after removing some additional anti-virus and system cleanup tools he loaded I rebooted and it has not worked since. I even did the system restore back to before I removed the programs and that did not work.

 

He said he only re-installed the operating system and I have done this at least 5 times and no luck. I was hoping to get it fixed without paying additional expenses. I have already spent almost half the original cost of the computer not to mention the time in reloading the system.

 

It sounds like there is no way to tell if the card is good or maybe something else is technically wrong with the system but everything else works fine.

I have used the Fn+F2 key and it did not work.

 

When I press the Fn+F2 key I get a brief white indicator on the screen that say WiFi and after pressing it again the white indicator will have a red line through it. This gave me the impression that the card is turning on and off; however, I still cannot pick up a network. Again, performing this function has no effect on the WiFi light above the keyboard and the WLAN Utility still tells me I need to turn the card on.

 

Is there any other way to verify the card is turning on or another way to turn on the card?

 

Thanks

I downloaded the recommended driver update off the Dell website and it did not work.

 

Is there anyway to udate the driver following the uninstall of the Dell Wireless LAN Utility?

 

You mentioned this previously and when updating using the item off the website the utility installs also.

 

Thanks

Control Panel>Network Connections and you will see alyour adapters int here.  Ignore the 1394 Connection, that is for firewire.

 

You should see two more, one Wired and one Wireless.  Right clikc the Wired and choose Disable (reverse process to enable).  Okay, we now have one active adapter.

 

Start>Run type cmd and hit enter.

 

From the prompt type:

 

ping 127.0.0.1  and if youget repsonses that do not time out, this should mena the Wireless Card is running okay.  The wireless utility is only used to control access to the signal unless Dell has some special feature in there that I am unaware of to control on and off.

Okay. You have now exceeded my knowledge level. How do I ping and what will this tell me?

 

Thanks