JohnP90,

The DW1501 Wireless-N WLAN Half-Mini Card is a single band adapter and works on the 2.4GHz band ONLY. I use these Recommended Wireless Router Settings I use channel 11 in my wireless router. I would make a new SSID if you need to make any changes to make connecting easier.

Try these tweaks and see if you can stay connected.

Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Power Options\Create a Power Plan

Select High performance.

Start, control panel, 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.

While you're in the device manager, click on advanced. Look and see if this adapter has antenna diversity. Some adapter have it and some don't. If you have antenna diversity, try changing it from Auto to Aux.

Can you connect when you're in the same room as the wireless router?

Rick

+Firewall on Hub turned off.

I never lose a connection once it is established - until I switch off / hibernate / standby and then it doesn't always re-connect.

I have changed Antena to Aux

Hub is on auto channel. I tried 11 but it was weak - I was getting yellow bars instead of green.

Power Plan now on High performance (will I be compromising anything else with this?)

Mac Filter is not enabled

The device manager box about power save was unchecked.

Can't try it yet as I am doing a Back-Up

JohnP90,

When some system come out of sleep, sometimes it takes a minute to reconnect. Hopefully this should work.

Keep me posted.

Rick

Tried shutting down / Sleep / Hib and it seems better. Will report tomorrow after more samples.

JohnP90,

I don't have access to Dell's articles. Maybe Roshan can see if there are any WOL settings, maybe in the bios or device manager.

If your system is under warranty, contact Dell Tech Support and maybe they know how to fix this. I would wait to see if Roshan has information, and he can also help.

Rick

Sorry to report that there is no significant improvement. This morning I had restarted the Hub and put the laptop very close. After a while I started the laptop and the "network" icon went active with the yellow revolving arrow thing but then the main WLAN icon failed to go green. The Troubleshooter would not work. I eventually got it working by stopping and starting the adaptor using the antenna F2 button.

I will try your suggestion - in the meantime, I just copied this from the Troubleshooter:

Details about network adapter diagnosis:

Network adapter Wireless Network Connection driver information:

  Description . . . . . . . . . . : DW1501 Wireless-N WLAN Half-Mini Card

  Manufacturer  . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom

  Provider  . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom

  Version   . . . . . . . . . . . : 5.60.48.35

  Inf File Name . . . . . . . . . : C:\Windows\INF\oem14.inf

  Inf File Date . . . . . . . . . : Tuesday, February 02, 2010  1:13:06 PM

  Section Name  . . . . . . . . . : BCM1501M_NT61

  Hardware ID . . . . . . . . . . : pci\ven_14e4&dev_4727&subsys_00101028

  Instance Status Flags . . . . . : 0x180200a

  Device Manager Status Code  . . : 0

  IfType  . . . . . . . . . . . . : 71

  Physical Media Type . . . . . . : 9

Diagnostics Information (Wireless Connectivity)

Details about wireless connectivity diagnosis:

Information for connection being diagnosed

Interface GUID: def2b909-5526-4e0c-8409-c2cb190382a9

Interface name: DW1501 Wireless-N WLAN Half-Mini Card

Interface type: Native WiFi

Profile: virginmedia3170398

SSID: virginmedia3170398

SSID length: 18

Connection mode: Infra

Security: Yes

Connect even if network is not broadcasting: No

Connection incident diagnosed

Auto Configuration ID: 6

Connection ID: 7

Connection status summary

Connection started at: 2012-06-27 12:22:50-218

Profile match: Success

Pre-Association: Success

Association: Fail

Security and Authentication: Not started

List of visible access point(s): 10 item(s) total, 10 item(s) displayed

       BSSID BSS Type PHY Signal(dB) Chnl/freq    SSID

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

74-44-01-FA-86-D0 Infra -65 6 virginmedia3170398

00-1F-9F-48-30-BB Infra g -79 6 Thomson3D4926

90-01-3B-06-9F-8D Infra -83 11 SKY69F8C

00-24-B2-F3-CD-E4 Infra -79 1 Alvaro270Mbps24GHz

84-C9-B2-7B-DF-F7 Infra -89 1 TALKTALK-7BDFF7

F0-7D-68-63-5B-07 Infra g -88 11 SKY68018

00-25-69-8E-1A-B5 Infra g -89 1 SKY06836

00-24-17-E5-9A-05 Infra -91 7 BTHomeHub2-65FH

00-24-D2-EB-B3-21 Infra g -87 6 TalkTalk34823

02-24-17-E5-9A-06 Infra -90 7 BTOpenzone-H

Connection History

Information for Auto Configuration ID 6

 List of visible networks: 10 item(s) total, 10 item(s) displayed

 BSS Type PHY Security Signal(RSSI) Compatible SSID

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Infra Yes 66 Yes virginmedia3170398

 Infra g Yes 22 Yes Thomson3D4926

 Infra Yes 14 Yes SKY69F8C

 Infra Yes 22 Yes Alvaro270Mbps24GHz

 Infra Yes 2 Yes TALKTALK-7BDFF7

 Infra g No 4 Yes SKY68018

 Infra g Yes 2 Yes SKY06836

 Infra Yes 0 Yes BTHomeHub2-65FH

 Infra g Yes 6 Yes TalkTalk34823

 Infra No 0 Yes BTOpenzone-H

 List of preferred networks: 1 item(s)

  Profile: virginmedia3170398

   SSID: virginmedia3170398

   SSID length: 18

   Connection mode: Infra

   Security: Yes

   Set by group policy: No

   Connect even if network is not broadcasting: No

   Connectable: Yes

Information for Connection ID 7

Connection started at: 2012-06-27 12:22:50-218

 Auto Configuration ID: 6

 Profile: virginmedia3170398

 SSID: virginmedia3170398

 SSID length: 18

 Connection mode: Infra

 Security: Yes

 Pre-Association and Association

  Connectivity settings provided by hardware manufacturer (IHV): No

  Security settings provided by hardware manufacturer (IHV): No

  Profile matches network requirements: Success

  Pre-association status: Success

  Association status: Fail 0x00038002

  Association reason code: 0x00000002

Information for Auto Configuration ID 5

 List of visible networks: 10 item(s) total, 10 item(s) displayed

 BSS Type PHY Security Signal(RSSI) Compatible SSID

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Infra Yes 64 Yes virginmedia3170398

 Infra g Yes 22 Yes Thomson3D4926

 Infra Yes 12 Yes SKY69F8C

 Infra Yes 22 Yes Alvaro270Mbps24GHz

 Infra Yes 4 Yes TALKTALK-7BDFF7

 Infra g No 0 Yes SKY68018

 Infra g Yes 8 Yes SKY06836

 Infra Yes 0 Yes BTHomeHub2-65FH

 Infra g Yes 6 Yes TalkTalk34823

 Infra No 0 Yes BTOpenzone-H

 List of preferred networks: 1 item(s)

  Profile: virginmedia3170398

   SSID: virginmedia3170398

   SSID length: 18

   Connection mode: Infra

   Security: Yes

   Set by group policy: No

   Connect even if network is not broadcasting: No

   Connectable: No

    Reason: 0x00028006

Information for Connection ID 6

Connection started at: 2012-06-27 12:22:47-191

 Auto Configuration ID: 5

 Profile: virginmedia3170398

 SSID: virginmedia3170398

 SSID length: 18

 Connection mode: Infra

 Security: Yes

 Pre-Association and Association

  Connectivity settings provided by hardware manufacturer (IHV): No

  Security settings provided by hardware manufacturer (IHV): No

  Profile matches network requirements: Success

  Pre-association status: Success

  Association status: Fail 0x00038002

  Association reason code: 0x00000002

Information for Connection ID 5

Connection started at: 2012-06-27 12:22:14-010

 Auto Configuration ID: 5

 Profile: virginmedia3170398

 SSID: virginmedia3170398

 SSID length: 18

 Connection mode: Infra

 Security: Yes

 Pre-Association and Association

  Connectivity settings provided by hardware manufacturer (IHV): No

  Security settings provided by hardware manufacturer (IHV): No

  Profile matches network requirements: Success

  Pre-association status: Success

  Association status: Fail 0x00038002

  Association reason code: 0x00000002

Information for Auto Configuration ID 4

 List of visible networks: 10 item(s) total, 10 item(s) displayed

 BSS Type PHY Security Signal(RSSI) Compatible SSID

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Infra Yes 70 Yes virginmedia3170398

 Infra g Yes 16 Yes Thomson3D4926

 Infra Yes 6 Yes SKY69F8C

 Infra Yes 22 Yes Alvaro270Mbps24GHz

 Infra Yes 4 Yes TALKTALK-7BDFF7

 Infra g No 4 Yes SKY68018

 Infra g Yes 8 Yes SKY06836

 Infra Yes 0 Yes BTHomeHub2-65FH

 Infra g Yes 4 Yes TalkTalk34823

 Infra No 0 Yes BTOpenzone-H

 List of preferred networks: 1 item(s)

  Profile: virginmedia3170398

   SSID: virginmedia3170398

   SSID length: 18

   Connection mode: Infra

   Security: Yes

   Set by group policy: No

   Connect even if network is not broadcasting: No

   Connectable: No

    Reason: 0x00028006

Information for Connection ID 4

Connection started at: 2012-06-27 12:21:12-094

 Auto Configuration ID: 4

 Profile: virginmedia3170398

 SSID: virginmedia3170398

 SSID length: 18

 Connection mode: Infra

 Security: Yes

 Pre-Association and Association

  Connectivity settings provided by hardware manufacturer (IHV): No

  Security settings provided by hardware manufacturer (IHV): No

  Profile matches network requirements: Success

  Pre-association status: Success

  Association status: Fail 0x00038002

  Association reason code: 0x00000002

Diagnostics Information (Wireless Connectivity)

Details about wireless connectivity diagnosis:

For complete information about this session see the wireless connectivity information event.

Helper Class: Auto Configuration

Initialize status: Success

Information for connection being diagnosed

Interface GUID: def2b909-5526-4e0c-8409-c2cb190382a9

Interface name: DW1501 Wireless-N WLAN Half-Mini Card

Interface type: Native WiFi

Profile: virginmedia3170398

SSID: virginmedia3170398

SSID length: 18

Connection mode: Infra

Security: Yes

Connect even if network is not broadcasting: No

Result of diagnosis: Problem found

Issue referred to: RNWF MSM Helper Class

Root cause:

Windows could not connect to "virginmedia3170398"

You can try to connect again.

Repair option:

Reset your wireless network adapter

This will disable and then enable the network adapter "Wireless Network Connection" on this computer.

Diagnostics Information (Wireless Network Adapter)

Details about wireless network adapter diagnosis:

For complete information about this session see the wireless connectivity information event.

Helper Class: Native WiFi MSM

Initialize status: Success

Information for connection being diagnosed

Interface GUID: def2b909-5526-4e0c-8409-c2cb190382a9

Interface name: DW1501 Wireless-N WLAN Half-Mini Card

Interface type: Native WiFi

Profile: virginmedia3170398

SSID: virginmedia3170398

SSID length: 18

Connection mode: Infra

Security: Yes

Connect even if network is not broadcasting: No

Result of diagnosis: Problem found

Root cause:

Wireless association to "virginmedia3170398" failed

A response was not received from the router or access point.

Detailed root cause:

Wireless association to this network failed. Windows did not receive any response from the wireless router or accesspoint.

Repair option:

Look for causes of low wireless signal quality

The signal is weak due to distance or interference.

Windows Help and Support can provide more information about this problem.

Network Diagnostics Log

File Name:  AA6254AB-E6F8-470F-9B9B-1EFFEFF01D16.Diagnose.0.etl

Other Networking Configuration and Logs

File Name:  NetworkConfiguration.cab

Collection information

Computer Name:  JOHN-LAPTOP

Windows Version: 6.1

Architecture: amd64

Time: Wednesday, June 27, 2012 12:22:52 PM

"Wake up Packet and Link Loss" didn't work - but "Wake UP Frame" is looking good.

Incidentally, the trouble shooter sometimes won't start and gives me error: 0x800070426

Fingers Crossed.

It is certainly a lot better. Sometimes it is on line very quickly. Just on the odd ocassion I have needed to use the Troubleshooter - which sometimes doesn't work!

Many thanks for your help. Please bear me in mind if you have any other ideas.

I have a similar problem on the Latitude E6420 w/ the DW1501 Wireless-N Half-Mini running XP SP3

At first it was intermitten, now it is almost always after recovering from any of these events; sleep, hibernation, shutting lid, auto reboot (my company forces a nightly reboot and/or forces the laptop onto hibernation for power saving).

On recovery, the WiFi led indicator is not lit powered on. Yes, the switch on the right side is in the "ON" position. The only way to recover and power the WiFi back up is to reboot.

I do not have access to many of the trouubleshooting tools as I am not a local admin. My company's solution is to re-image my laptop. Further history, when I first recieved the laptop it was fine for several weeks, then slowly it began exhibiting this issue. They re-imaged the laptop and again for several weeks it was fine and it is now exhibiting this issue once again.

There must be some fix / patch... as best I can tell all drivers are current. It cannot be my Cisco Router as there are 3 other laptops on the house with no issue. I have also replaced the router for upgrade purposes and still have the issue and yes, the router has latest firmware.

This is getting rather frustrating especially with a newer piece of hardware. Is there a known issue with XP on this device and WiFi adapter? Unfortunately, Win 7 is not an option for my company until next year.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated as there are others in the company that have similar issues.

If I may pick up here, since I have the exact same problem:

Make/model: Dell Inspiron N7010

Anti-virus: Microsoft Essentials

OS: Windows 7 64-bit

Output of ipconfig /all is below (this is while it's working). 

A few more observations: When it doesn't work, there appears to be nothing I can do to make it work without powering down the machine. The only thing that works most (but not all) of the time is removing power to the card by physically shutting down, then restarting. The problem appears to be more prevalent when the machine goes into sleep mode by itself than when I manually put it to sleep, though that may just be perception. I'm also convinced it has nothing to do with the network settings or security. I have many other devices connected wirelessly to the same network without issues. I believe it is either the driver or the hardware that somehow gets into a bad state. 

Windows IP Configuration

   Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : 5D61RH5
   Primary Dns Suffix  . . . . . . . : 
   Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
   IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
   WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
   DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : patricelocal.net

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . : 
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Atheros AR8152 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : B8-AC-6F-71-40-D9
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . : patricelocal.net
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : DW1501 Wireless-N WLAN Half-Mini Card
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 78-E4-00-DF-9B-4C
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
   Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::4089:7263:e7de:8ff0%11(Preferred) 
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.61(Preferred) 
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
   Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Friday, January 25, 2013 10:44:21 PM
   Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Saturday, January 26, 2013 10:44:22 PM
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.1
   DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.1
   DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 192472064
   DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-15-41-16-08-B8-AC-6F-71-40-D7
   DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.1
   NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Ethernet adapter VirtualBox Host-Only Network:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . : 
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 08-00-27-00-8C-A7
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
   Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::e8e4:7995:81e4:e5ac%17(Preferred) 
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.56.1(Preferred) 
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 
   DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 453509159
   DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-15-41-16-08-B8-AC-6F-71-40-D7
   DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : fec0:0:0:ffff::1%1
                                       fec0:0:0:ffff::2%1
                                       fec0:0:0:ffff::3%1
   NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Tunnel adapter isatap.{74CE8A55-F57D-4EE4-88EC-F019ADA3527B}:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . : 
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . : 
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter isatap.{B1ECE457-82F0-4602-AF69-45E3417F15C3}:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . : 
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter #3
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter isatap.patricelocal.net:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . : patricelocal.net
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter #4
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Patrice Delacoste,

The Windows XP operating system has some type of issue that it doesn't not always connect and has to be restarted.

On your Windows 7 opertaing system, this should work.

Go to Drivers & Downloads enter your service tag number, then select your operating system. Under Network, download and install the latest drivers.

Try these tweaks....

Start, control panel, 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

Go to the power options, and changed the Wireless Adapter Setting, from Maximum Power Setting to Maximum Performance.

Close lid and reopen, wake system and wireless adapter should power back up.