Dell laptop wireless connections

[Bluecube]

I was asked to look at a couple of Dell laptops in the past week. Although both came from different homes they both had the same problem - neither would connect to a wireless network despite seeing all available and on the very (very!) rare occasion they did the connection was dirt slow at around 4kbs. In both cases I know the routers are working fine as I connected instantly with my Macbook and had normal download speeds of c 4Mbs.

Both laptops (Inspirons BTW but I don't know the model numbers) run XP sp3 and were set up correctly to connect to the wireless networks - correct keys, etc, etc.

By now you may have guessed what my question is - what's the problem with the laptops? Is there an issue with Dell wireless cards or is it something else altogether?

TIA

[Splash]

Using the Windows Zero Config or the Dell Wireless app to manage them?

[Bluecube]

Windows zero config to manage them.

[kmac]

Have you tried without any form of security to try and narrow down the problem?

I owuld on the router broadcast the SSID, turn of MAC address filtering and turn of WEP or WPA iof whatever security you are using - then try and connect

If that works then try turning on the security options one at a time

1) Stop broadcasting SSID
2) Add WEp or WPA
3) Add MAC filtering

I found on my IBM laptop with netgear router that I could connect with WEP using an HEX key but not an ASCII key

[kmac]

oh and also check network settings on the Dell - set to obtain IP address automatically

[Bluecube]

Yup, tried all that... You see why I'm having problems now?

[kmac]

Yep.. i can see your problem

Another thing I've just though of....how old are the laptops as the receivers may only be 802.11b compatible and the router may be set to too high a speed. Normally in the configuration utility of the router it asks you about this i.e. run at 108mbps or automatic or 802.11B or 802.11g - try the vartious options here to see if that fixes the issue


Else it may be you have to spend a tenner on a USb wireless client adaptor....

[Bluecube]

Now that's something I never thought about. Both laptops aren't that old and have both b and g compatible wireless cards so they shouldn't be a problem... I'll have a look at the router settings again and see if there's anything dubious there. Cheers!

[Splash]

Can you post the models of the laptops?

[Bluecube]

I've no idea what the models are. I don't have them on me anymore and didn't pay too much attention at the time I did have them.

[GoNz0]

i had the same with my laptop, i forgot to press the fn key and the wireless symbol

it wasn't clever enough to say that it was offline, just kept on searching..