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    Dell Inspiron 1420 Wireless Card Issues

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by tezakhiago, Sep 3, 2008.

  1. tezakhiago

    tezakhiago Newbie

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    I bought my inspiron 1420 a little over a year ago (the warrenty just expired), and i've been having issues with the wireless capabilites that finally culminated in me not being able to ping my router.

    2 months ago I first noticed that my friends could connect just fine to a 3 bar unsecured network in the area but I was unable to load web pages. It would connect just fine, and tell me i was connected, and wouldn't mention any issues, i just couldn't load pages. Later, I went to a hotel and got a 5-bar strength network and it connected just fine. Now however, I'm sitting right next to my own router that I used to connect all the time to no problem, and it does connect, but again, will not load pages. It also times out when i ping the router. I can connect via Ethernet cable no problem.

    I suspect a hardware issue since it was a gradual decline in performance. I want to crack open the computer and see if the card is loose (I travel a lot and this thing gets banged around pretty hard sometimes), but i don't want to close the door on paying Dell to service it. I'm also not too keen on sending it away. I was considering buying a card off e-bay or something like http://cgi.ebay.com/Dell-Inspiron-1420-640m-6400-1720-802-11n-Wireless-Card_W0QQitemZ150278377045QQihZ005QQcategoryZ45001QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1638Q2em118Q2el1247

    Any thoughts on what the problem might be, or if buying a card online like that is a dumb idea?

    I should also mention I've had a similar problem with my older Inspiron 9300, the wireless card on that gave out about 1.5 years ago now too.
     
    tezakhiago, Sep 3, 2008
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  2. tezakhiago

    tezakhiago Newbie

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    I have a few more questions after looking around. I found http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=197373 review on this site and saw how that person upgraded their wireless card. What's the advantage of a more expensive card? Can anyone suggest any way for me to test if the wireless card is the issue without replacing the card?
     
    tezakhiago, Sep 3, 2008
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