Help!!! Dell wireless won't work!

[Lord Kokkei]

My mom's dell latitude X300's wireless won't work. I tried to set up the connection but it seems like the computer can't detect the card. I don't know what's going on. If someone can solve the problem, it will be greately appreciated. thank you.

 

[Talon87]

We need to know more information than this to be able to help you. Sorry if any of the following questions sound insulting, but you'd be surprised how many people misunderstand how "wireless Internet" works ...

1 - Do you have a wireless Internet router or a wireless modem which communicates with your NIC wirelessly?

2 - Is your NIC compatible with your wireless router/modem? For example, do your modem and router support the brand?

3 - Can you connect wirelessly using other devices? (e.g. a DS Lite or other computers)

4 - If using a router, is your router currently using its firewall to prevent access to the Internet by all unauthorized machines?

5 - How far away is your laptop from the wireless access point? Does your router support that distance? Does your NIC support that distance?

6 - Is your wireless NIC compatible with the Dell laptop? Did it come with the laptop, or was it a self-install?

7 - Have you installed any drivers or other software which may be necessary for Windows to detect your wireless card?

8 - Have you checked the Devices (under Hardware, under System, under Control Panel) in Windows? Does your wireless NIC show up under "Network Adaptors" or not?

These are just *some* of the questions which come to mind. They may sound very retarded (especially if you've done all these steps), but answering questions like these will help people to understand ...

a) who they're dealing with, and
b) what that person may or may not have tried yet

 

[Lord Kokkei]

1: yes
2:yes
3:yes, my macbook connects fine
4:no, it's got no firewall
5:eh...before the computer was attacked by a virus and we reinstalled the system it worked fine from the location it is right now.
6:intergrated
7:yes
8:no, but there's some internet thing under other devices with yellow question marks on their icons. (there are 3 things, some PCI thing and 2 internet things)

 

[Rayne]

Ok, Talon started this out well, but I may be limited in offering too many specifics about this.

Did you already try to rollback your driver?

If not, you can find that option by going to the defective Wireless Device
from the Device Manager [as you did before] and right clicking it. Click on
Properties, then Driver near the top and then click on Roll Back Driver.

This may reslove the problem.

If that doesn't work, then you may have to reinstall your driver which I'll relate to you.

A similar thing has happened to my dell twice. I use a Inspiron 6000, a Dell,
but I'm not sure if it came bundled with the same wireless card as yours.

Out of the blue, my internal wireless network card became corrupted and
at one point, became untraceable. Fortunately my internal network card
still worked and I just used that to get to work on fixing my wireless.

[I'm sure there's an Ethernet port somewhere on that latitude, if you can
get connected with that, this will make everything a whole lot smoother.
By having this connection, you can download the drivers straight to your
computer. Having the install file for the driver in an easy access folder like
I did can save you the hassle of having to find it once more in case your wireless
card suddenly decides to crash on you yet again.]

What I did, and what I'm going to recommend you do, is look for an upgrade
to the driver that runs your wireless card.

Now I need to ask a few more questions:

-What is the current version of your driver now?
[Assuming you're in the window I have up top, just check the version there]

-Do you run Vista or XP?

-What is the name of your wireless device called?

Here's my wireless NIC:

If you have the Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG Card, then I could point you to
the driver I'm currently using. I ask if you have Vista, because apparently
it has different types of drivers on that particular operating system.

If you don't have that particular device, then go ahead and scope this list
to see if your driver is on there.

If you have ANY more questions, please, don't be afraid to ask. You want this fixed, and there are
many people here willing to help and we'd be glad to assist.

 

[Lord Kokkei]

thanks a lot man, it turned out to be a driver problem. The current driver's outdated so I go a new one and it works. Thakns

 

[Rayne]

Your welcome.
Glad to help!

 

[Talon87]

Score one for altruism. Good job, Rayne. I didn't think of the driver issue, and that's what it turned out to be.