Networking, Internet, & Bluetooth

[drjoe66]

I have a 4 week old XPS12.The wifi was very spotty from day 1. It usually connects when I turn on the laptop, but about 50% of the time after it wakes up from sleep, it either cannot connect to my wifi or it claims that there are no connections available (can't see any wifi, not even the neighbors....). I then restart and the wireless adapter is then always disabled. I have removed the drivers, reinstalled them, removed the adapter, reinstalled, etc. Same issues at work.

I also have an IPhone, Ipad, XPS15 with upgrade to Windows 8, XBOX, Logitech Internet radios, and a Sony with Windows 7 that all connect flawlessly. No issues there at all.  

Dell support did not help much.

[PudgyOne]

drjoe66,

Try...

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.

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

Rick

[drjoe66]

Thank you for the suggestions!

I had already installed the latest drivers, made no difference. I had also switched to the max performance, made no difference. I just checked - the allow to torn off think is unchecked.

[PudgyOne]

drjoe66,

If the box is checked, the computer will turn off the adapter and you'll get disconnected. Restarting the computer is the way to get reconnected.

Rick

[Sannin]

Do not get the latest driver that is on the Dell site - it is out of date. At the time of writing this the Dell site offers a dated v15.5 driver for the wireless adapter.

I recommend you always get latest drivers for anything from the component manufacturer directly, as Dell is often slow to offer the most recent drivers.

Use this tool here at the Intel site to get the latest v15.6 drivers. http://www.intel.com/p/en_US/support/detect/wireless

And yes do the power saving steps outlined in the above post too.

I have no WIFI problems on Win8 on XPS 12 since this update.

[RebeccaBoyd]

I have had the same problem on two separate occasions. The first time, it resolved itself after a couple of days. This time, it has continues for several days. Under networks, it says "no networks found" even though I have two wifi networks set up plus my Verizon hotspot. All other devices work (including two other dell computers, phones, and two iPads.) the computer at does not work is the convertible xps12 with the flip screen, windows 8. I cannot download new drivers because I cannot get any kind of connection. I tried turning airplane mode on and off to no avail. Please help! With limited USB and no built in burner it is critical that these machines be able to download and upload. Ankhs, Rebecca Boyd

[RebeccaBoyd]

Oh- and after fiddling around, in the Internet Options box, when I click "connect to the Internet," it says "windows did not detect any networking hardware." I've had the computer for about 6 weeks, after waiting more than a mon for it.

[Sannin]

Sounds like a problem with you NIC.

Right click on 'Computer' and click on 'Manage'

Click on 'Device Manager' on the left panel and then Expand 'Network Adapters' on the right panel.

Do you have 'Intel(R) Centrino(R) Advanced-N 6235' listed?

If not, let me know.

If it is listed, right click on it and select 'Properties'.
What does the 'device status' say under the General tab? What is the driver version under the Driver tab?

[RebeccaBoyd]

Thank you for replying. I am still having the same issue today.

The Intel Centrino Advanced N 6235 network adapter is shown.

Under General, Device Status, it says "the device is working properly."

The driver date is 9/12/2012. The version is 15.5.45.

Thanks!

Rebecca Boyd

[Sannin]

Ok. So that means your adapter is detected and enabled. So something is likely misconfigured, conflicted, or corrupted if you're getting that error.

Next thing to

try is a driver update, latest is 15.6.1 - date 03/19/2013

.

Unfortunately you obviously can't access the internet on your xps12 to detect and download latest drivers. Ironic I know.

So you'll need to use a different machine and copy them across on a flash drive or something.

The driver is available here: downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx*&DownloadType=Software%20Applications

Choose the fourth option in the list: Wireless_15.6.1_e64.exe - 83.89MB

This is the latest drivers and the latest intel ProSet network adapter management software. We'll use this software later to try to diagnose the problem if it still doesn't work.

Copy this .exe to your XPS12 and install with defualt options and reboot.

Check your driver date and version after reboot in the same way I said in my last post and check that it was updated to the new version.

See if it your wifi works after that and let me know...