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Have you installed the driver?? the trick to troubleshooting is to make a CHANGE and then wait for the problem to re-occur.. no re-occurrence = FIXED
The website has a warning about downloading drivers. I'm afraid to mess up something else. The e-mail from Dell said that the new driver may or may not be the fix. I looked at my husband's laptop and his 1394 controller/driver is Disabled. I disabled mine and will see if I can automatically connect in 3 consecutive days. If it works, I have fixed it. My beef with Dell tech support is that you can only access them after I put in my service tag number, which means they should know the default config of this laptop. If it is indeed this 1394 device that is messing it up, I think that it should have been the first thing they should have instructed me to disable. Even my HP work laptop running on a VPN connects automatically to my router, with or without going through the proxy server. That's why I think it's only MY laptop and not any other of the gazillion equipment we have here is the one having a problem.
Even my HP work laptop running on a VPN connects automatically to my router, with or without going through the proxy server. That's why I think it's only MY laptop and not any other of the gazillion equipment we have here is the one having a problem.
You have made a correct diagnosis.. meaning you have narrowed down the problem.. let's be honest in probability it is like a 99% chance it's not caused by your firewire and disabling really is the equivalent to doing nothing.. (1394/firewire has nothing to do with wireless it's a older technology then wireless and is used mainly for video transfers.. that few seem to bother with or use any more)
If the problem hasn't re-occurred consider it fixed.. if it re-occurs install the driver and don't waste your time consulting with dell..
You have made a correct diagnosis.. meaning you have narrowed down the problem.. let's be honest in probability it is like a 99% chance it's not caused by your firewire and disabling really is the equivalent to doing nothing.. (1394/firewire has nothing to do with wireless it's a older technology then wireless and is used mainly for video transfers.. that few seem to bother with or use any more)
If the problem hasn't re-occurred consider it fixed.. if it re-occurs install the driver and don't waste your time consulting with dell..
Well, it didn't work. I hardwired my laptop and it connects. I hardwired directly onto the router and reset the router. Now it works, but I don't know if the hard wiring did it or the resetting. In any case, I scheduled a call with Dell. Not too hopeful about the results, but at least I'll try once. If not, I'll just download the new driver like you suggested. Thanks for your help.
BTW, what does the bright yellow-lit Cisco button on the router do? Does it just reset the router (like I pulled the power cord) or does that reset the settings for all PC's connected to it?
Well, it didn't work. I hardwired my laptop and it connects. I hardwired directly onto the router and reset the router. Now it works, but I don't know if the hard wiring did it or the resetting. In any case, I scheduled a call with Dell. Not too hopeful about the results, but at least I'll try once. If not, I'll just download the new driver like you suggested. Thanks for your help.
BTW, what does the bright yellow-lit Cisco button on the router do? Does it just reset the router (like I pulled the power cord) or does that reset the settings for all PC's connected to it?
Howdy!
Alright, here are the steps that I'd take. themaster has some good suggestions, and I'll back up what other people have said as well.
1394 is the firewire port on your laptop. looks like a USB port but not quite. Disabling that should by no means affect your internet access.
Are you using the dell or windows wireless connect utility?
with either one, what you want to do is completely remove your profile for your home, just delete it. In windows, you right click wireless network connection > properties > wireless networks > remove. Also, remove any and all wireless connections that are unsecured near your house (linksys, netgear, etc). I've seen issues where the computer gets confused and attempts to connect to the unsecured network, bumping you off the secured network, and then has a hard time reconnecting. Thats what I'd do first.
Second, run Windows Updates (you can do this first if you want) http://update.microsoft.com <-- if there is an updated wireless card driver here, download and use it. Also make sure that you get all the security updates as well (just to be safe).
If there isn't a WAN driver at microsoft, and the other things haven't fixed the problem, then go and download the most current WAN driver from Dell's site. download and install it, and hopefully that'll fix the problem.
And if THAT doesn't fix the problem, I'd check and update the firmware on your router just to make sure that that isn't a problem either.
And the bright yellow-lit cisco button? I'm not familiar with it. There is a reset button on all routers, but that tends to be a button you have to hit with a pen or paperclip, and that reset button resets the router to factory defaults (useful if you've been locked out of the router for whatever reason).
Alright, here are the steps that I'd take. themaster has some good suggestions, and I'll back up what other people have said as well.
1394 is the firewire port on your laptop. looks like a USB port but not quite. Disabling that should by no means affect your internet access.
Are you using the dell or windows wireless connect utility?
The Dell Wireless Utility
with either one, what you want to do is completely remove your profile for your home, just delete it. In windows, you right click wireless network connection > properties > wireless networks > remove. Also, remove any and all wireless connections that are unsecured near your house (linksys, netgear, etc). I've seen issues where the computer gets confused and attempts to connect to the unsecured network, bumping you off the secured network, and then has a hard time reconnecting. Thats what I'd do first. This means remove the SSID?
Second, run Windows Updates (you can do this first if you want) http://update.microsoft.com <-- if there is an updated wireless card driver here, download and use it. Also make sure that you get all the security updates as well (just to be safe). I did but there's no update. I'm also configured to run automatic updates. My laptop already came with SP3 also.
If there isn't a WAN driver at microsoft, and the other things haven't fixed the problem, then go and download the most current WAN driver from Dell's site. download and install it, and hopefully that'll fix the problem.
This is the only thing I have left. This is what it is supposed to fix:
This release adds the ability to auto select certificate for client authentication in Windows XP.
And if THAT doesn't fix the problem, I'd check and update the firmware on your router just to make sure that that isn't a problem either.
How do I do this? I'm afraid to touch the router as it may bomb everyone else.
And the bright yellow-lit cisco button? I'm not familiar with it. There is a reset button on all routers, but that tends to be a button you have to hit with a pen or paperclip, and that reset button resets the router to factory defaults (useful if you've been locked out of the router for whatever reason).
It means to remove the profile in your wireless utility. My dell has the intel wireless card, so I can't walk you through it, but you want to remove the profile in its entirety. The SSID is the ID of the router, and you can't remove it.
Your router should be able to check for new firmware automatically. If not, you can download the firmware from their website. But yeah, thats a last resort.
Well, it didn't work. I hardwired my laptop and it connects. I hardwired directly onto the router and reset the router. Now it works, but I don't know if the hard wiring did it or the resetting. In any case, I scheduled a call with Dell. Not too hopeful about the results, but at least I'll try once. If not, I'll just download the new driver like you suggested. Thanks for your help.
BTW, what does the bright yellow-lit Cisco button on the router do? Does it just reset the router (like I pulled the power cord) or does that reset the settings for all PC's connected to it?
When I said cord, I meant to do what you eventually did by trying to plug it into the router directly, and yes, running the windows networking wizard.
With my setup, and I have a similar router, mine is the WRT54G, when I reboot everything after shutting down (pulling the plug) on the modem & router, I have to connect the router 1st, wait for the lights to stop blinking, then plug my modem in (comcast surfboard), then I boot PC's, one by one starting with the one that controls everything. My connection is flaky if I do it the other way with modem 1st. Now, this might not apply to you, but you might try doing it this way if you do unplug everything again. When I unplug, I walk away for 30 minutes to let everything cool down since it runs 24/7 for months at a time.
Wanted to update everyone on this thread. Yesterday, I hardwired the laptop to the router and created a network using the Windows network wizard. It was fine this morning and it connected automatically. I turned the laptop off all day to see if it would connect tonight. It did, but knowing my luck it would be a glitch. Turned it off, had dinner and turned it back on again. I figured, hardwiring it to the router did the job, but since my call with Dell was already scheduled for tonight, might as well let them call. The tech, after all the questions, decided he was going to update the driver. At this point, I asked why none of the techs who were responding to my e-mail confirmed this when I pointedly asked. He said that until they checked everything else, they could not summarily suggest this. Of course, he was the only one who explained that downloading the update just effectively re-installs the driver and fixes any corruption in the existing driver! I could have understood that and downloaded it 3 days ago if they bothered to explain it. He seemed knowledgeable although I was a little concerned that he was able to remotely access the Linksys site and show my settings (including my pass key) during remote assistance. BTW, should I have to change my pass key now since he saw it? Or should I not worry about it at all?
So, for now, everything's working, at least for today. Tomorrow is another day. I sincerely thank everyone who provided the good suggestions here. I wanted Dell to do it since the laptop is still under warranty. I figure, if anyone were to mess it up, it's better them than me.
Late to the dance but here's my card. I know the Linksys 545WG very well as do many others here I'm sure. However, the Linksys is a router only. There is still a cable modem that so far I have heard nothing about. My setup involves the cable modem feeding my router which then broadcasts to our laptop and is also hardwired to a desktop. Verizon does not like this arrangement. Their preferred setup involves a modemrouter that does both functions. It was a pain setting up the cable modem to work with the linksys but basically you put the linksys unit on the 192.169.2.? subnetand leave your ISP providers modem on the 192.168.1.? subnet. Both units broadcast DHCP and their domains (scopes) can overlap. When the roaming TCP/IP address drifts into a range that is conflicted between both units one of them has to be reset. You can configure the address range to make sure this does not happen but you are limited in how far you can go. I seem to have things now (knock wood) where things have stayed up for several months. I don't think it has anything to do with the security encryption but if that were it. Why not change back? WPA is as good as anything unless you are running a business out of your home or something. This is the first time I've seen themaster's postings as I don't usually look at this forum and I'm sure he's on his game but it doesn't look like a driver issue to me.
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I hardwired my laptop and it connects. I hardwired directly onto the router and reset the router. Now it works, but I don't know if the hard wiring did it or the resetting. In any case, I scheduled a call with Dell. Not too hopeful about the results, but at least I'll try once. If not, I'll just download the new driver like you suggested. Thanks for your help.
