Dell Latitude E5400 1397 Dell Wireless WLAN Minicard Issues (Doesn't find any wifi connections/won't work?)

Hi tbrill,

I’d suggest that you to refresh the drivers for the wireless card on your computer and check for issue resolution. Please follow the steps mentioned below.

1.     Open ‘Device Manager’ by clicking the Start button . In the search box, type ‘Device Manager’, and then, in the list of results, click ‘Device Manager’.
2.     When the device manager pops up, in the list please check for ‘Network adapter’.
3.     Please click on the arrow mark beside ‘Network adapter’.
4.     Right click on Wireless card and select ‘Uninstall’.
5.    Restart the computer and check for issue resolution.

Also, you can update to latest drivers for the Dell 1397 wireless card on your computer from the link below.

http://dell.to/RhXQuq

Please let me know if this helps.

Hi, I did just that and it seems to reenabled the wifi again, but it's not picking up a signal. I noticed in "Dell Wireless WLAN Card Utility" it says the radio is disabled. How do I enable it? There's a switch on the bottom of the laptop and I've switched it back and forth but It doesn't seem to make a difference.

Hi tbrill,

I’d suggest that you check in the BIOS if the WIFI is enabled. Please follow the steps mentioned below to enable WIFI in BIOS.

1. Turn on or restart the computer.
2. Immediately at the Dell logo screen, starting tapping the key once a second until the BIOS screen pops up.
3. Navigate to ‘Wireless’ section using the arrow keys on the keyboard.
4. Change the ‘Wi-Fi Catcher’ option to Enabled.
5. Change the ‘Wireless Switch’ option to WLAN.
6. Change the Internal WLAN in ‘Wireless Devices’ to enable.
7. Save the settings in the BIOS and restart the computer and check for issue resolution.

Please let me know if this helps.

tbrill,

In addition to what DELL-Ravi Ch stated...

In device manager, click on networks adapters, double click on Dell Wireless 1397 WLAN Half Mini Card, click on advanced. Look for Antenna Diversity. Change it from Auto to Aux

Rick

Hello. I went into the BIOS and enabled what I could. I didn't see a "Wifi-catcher" option. Note that the BIOS for this computer is likely outdated. I've tried updating drivers also but it doesn't seem to work well. I want to try to update the Wireless Driver since it's last update was in 2008.

When I do try to update it the "Hardware Update Wizard" finds nothing.

@Rick I did notice the the Antenna Diversity was on auto so I changed it to AUX.

To all avail it seems to still be stubborn. I cannot get it to find any wireless networks.

tbrill,

If you recently installed/reinstalled the operating system, did you install the drivers in the correct order? How to Download and Install Drivers in the Correct Order

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

Start, control panel, device manager, network adapters, right click on the Dell Wireless 1397 WLAN Half Mini Card, right click uninstall. Tell it to remove the drivers and software.

Restart your computer. When you log back in, the new hardware wizard will try to install the adapter and fail. Install the drivers you saved to the desktop.

Can you connect? How about trying to connect in the same room near the router?

Rick

I have run into this with my Dell Inspiron Mini. Exact same symptoms. It took some time but SOLVED IT..!

Actually the F2 key (in some models Fn+F2) does not turn the wireless radio on and off. Instead this key combination is there to bring up a resident software which should be already running in the background called WSED.EXE

Under normal operation WSED.EXE is a Dell Utiliy Software which displays an icon in the tray when running and pops up a window when pressed to F2 key (in some models Fn+F2) or when double clicked on it's icon at the tray. Once you have it's the window opened you will see the check boxes to enable the wireless modem and the bluetooth. Just put a check on the wireless modem and you are done. If it doesn't show your wireless modem then go to BIOS and eneable the wireless modem.

In my case this WSED.EXE was not listed in the startup programs hence it was never run at all. When i added it to the list of startup programs everything returned back into normal. I hope this solves your problem.