Dell e1405 with Dell 1390 wireless card problem

Hello,

I'm trying to fix my sister-in-law's laptop. She has a Dell e1405 with the Dell 1390 WLAN. Up until about 1 month ago, the wireless card worked fine with any and all routers that she needed to connect to. I tried several things to repair the connection, including:
*clicking the "Repair" button on the connection properties;
*using the "ipconfig /release" and "ipconfig /renew" commands;
*turning the wifi card off and on;
*deleting the connection profile and then re-installing it;
*restarted the router;
*checked the router admin program for problems;
When I checked the router log, it said that the lease had expired for this computer. I tried adjusting the router so that it would force the laptop to a different ip address, but it didn't work.

Thinking that maybe something is wrong with their router (although other computers, smartphones, and Zunes make a connection just fine), I brought it to my house, and it is still not making the connection. Other laptops, a Tivo, a smartphone, and a Zune have no problem connecting.

The wireless signal strength indicator shows good signal strength, and it is finding various networks. The error message just says that there is limited or no connectivity and to check the settings. This is at both their house and my house.

At this point, the only thing I could think of is that the card is just toast and needs to be replaced (the laptop is several years old, and it has seen better days). Just in case, I thought I would check in with you guys to see if there is something I missed before getting a new wireless card to slide in. Thanks for any help you provide.

 

Try assigning the Wireless Network Card on her laptop w/ Static IP Adresses. Double check on the router that it's DHCP IP adress "Range" is big enough and manual configure her WiFi card with Static IP settings.

Make sure DHCP is running on the router!

Does the router use encryption?

What OS is she running?

 

She is using Windows XP MCE, and the routers do use encryption. I've checked to make sure that the code is correct for both routers, and have gone so far as to delete the connection and then install it again.

Also, plugging it into the router with an ethernet cable results in the "limited connectivity" error message.

I'll try the static IP address option and report back soon.

 

Just thought of this

Go to start-->run and type services.msc hit enter
Locate the DNS and DHCP Client Services and also the Wireless Zero Configuration service and set them to "Automatic" and "start" all of them.

 

Tried this, didn't work. Still have yet to try manually setting the ip address.

 

Just another thought: Does having or not having SP3 play into this in any way? They were never any good about keeping it updated, so I'm sure SP3 was never installed.

 

SP3 would not hinder your network. If your Ethernet doesn't work neither then something is wrong between your router and ISP. Try to post a pic of your ipconfig/all.

 

not having SP3 shouldn't be an issue...just try giving the computer static IPs when u get a chance to go over by her again. One that is not being used of course...assign the card the DNS IPs as well. What u can do is log into the router on her network and check out the IP address range, and the DHCP clients that are connected to the network currently; to get an idea as to what IP address is free, to assign to her card manually.

 

Well, it appears as if the wireless card isn't fried after all. I installed and updated both an antivirus and Spybot (had to save all the files to a usb flash drive and install and update that way), and after running both through in safe mode, it got rid of a TON of nasty stuff and *VOILA* it connected to the network here at my house just fine. Makaveli72 and Wirelessman, thank you both for your help. I think I'll be off to the Safer Networking forums now for some computer cleaning help. Thanks again.

 

wow...that's great!...I know malware and such blocks certains ports, so I could understand if it was at least being connected and just couldn't connect to the Internet. But the NIC wouldn't even connect in the first place...that had to be some serious viruses/malware. Glad it's cleaned up now