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Inspiron 1520 WLAN - unable to enable
Hello! I have just bought a Dell Inspiron 1520. I installed Windows Vista on it (came preloaded with FreeDOS). Everything seems fine, however when I flip the switch to enable wireless connection it only enables bluetooth, when it's suposed to enable both. I checked and in QuickSet the settings are set that the switch should enable both connections. Also in Device Manager I see a "Netwrok Controller" under "Other devices". I believe this is the wireless controller, but when I click "Update driver" and even specify the exact location of the extracted driver it still won't install. What gives? Neither the Dell driver cd nor the driver downloaded from the support site will work.
Also, shouldn't the WiFi indicator light up when I flip the switch even if the driver is not installed? Because it doesn't now.
Maybe someone had the same problem and could help me? I would appreciate any support, because warranty support in my country is like a snail and could take up to a whole month.
DELL-Larry R
1.7K Posts
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August 1st, 2008 18:00
The list of drivers for Vista on the Inspiron 1520 are:
If you failed to install the Notebook System Software, that is most likely the cause of the problem.
ge2x
7 Posts
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August 1st, 2008 18:00
DELL-Larry R
1.7K Posts
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August 1st, 2008 19:00
If you are not a Dell Certified Technician and you break something while doing it, then it would not be covered by the warranty. If you don't break anything then the warranty is unaffected, reguardless of whether you are a certified tech or not.
If you don't feel comfortable doing it, however, please don't force yourself. If you call into tech support and have the tech walk you through things it would be covered, or you could have a local computer tech do it for you (possible for a fee, perhaps for free).
The service manual for the 1520 has the instructions for replacing the WLAN card. As long as you take your time and follow the instructions you should have no problems at all. Since you aren't actually replacing the card you don't even need to disconnect the antennae (which is the part most people are afraid of breaking). When I worked in tech support I would walk people with all manner of computer experience through this; even the 80yo retirees could do it. :)
DELL-Larry R
1.7K Posts
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August 1st, 2008 19:00
ge2x
7 Posts
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August 1st, 2008 19:00
ge2x
7 Posts
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August 1st, 2008 20:00
ge2x
7 Posts
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August 2nd, 2008 19:00
ge2x
7 Posts
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August 4th, 2008 16:00
DELL-Larry R
1.7K Posts
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August 4th, 2008 16:00
No, reseating the antennae wouldn't change how Windows sees the card, just the signal strength of any wireless connections the card could receive (e.g., without antennae it would have to be inches from the wireless access point in order to connect, assuming normal broadcast strength).
Unfortunately, it looks like that is a bad card. On the bright side, all it should take now is a quick call into tech support with a description of what it is (isn't) doing and what troubleshooting you have already done to get a replacement card shipped out to you (if you feel comfortable doing the swap yourself, which I assume you are).
DELL-Larry R
1.7K Posts
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August 4th, 2008 19:00
That is odd.
Checking back through your other posts I notice you didn't specify which wireless card your system has. If you can post that I can tell you which Dell driver should work ...
Davet50
14.4K Posts
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August 4th, 2008 19:00
The Dell driver disk I have found is not all that great. I think it is more generic than anything. I recently reloaded vista on a friends computer and went to load the wireless driver. Well the driver on the disk was for a Dell 1390 card. The computer had a 1395 card in it, which was not on the disk.
I guess the moral is to know what hardware you have in your system. I my self very rarely rely on the disk.
DELL-Larry R
1.7K Posts
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August 4th, 2008 20:00
My personal opinion has always been to use the Resource CD to get the computer up and running and on the net, then go to the Dell support site to get the latest drivers. With very few exceptions the drivers on the website will be newer, work better, or both. The Resource CD is still useful, however, because it allows you to reinstall Windows even without having access to the internet; the drivers will just be whatever was "new" when the disk was created, which could be quite a while ago.
ge2x
7 Posts
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August 5th, 2008 07:00
Davet50
14.4K Posts
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August 5th, 2008 10:00
DELL-Larry R
1.7K Posts
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August 5th, 2008 13:00
I admit the driver downloads section can be confusing at first, however, it actually is organized about as well as it can be. The main confusion is that almost every model of Dell computer has multiple hardware options when it is ordered. Because of this the download options for each model of computer has more than just what one particular computer has configured. To make things less confusing the drivers are grouped by category (video drivers, network drivers, etc). As long as you know what hardware your computer is configured with you should have few, if any, problems picking the correct drivers from each category. The list I posted at the top of this thread is the generic list for your model of Dell computer.