Looking for Proper Driver for Intel Wireless Link 5100 card on a Dell Inspiron E1505

I've been bringing an Inspiron E1505 back to life with a new processor and more memory, and the next step was to give it an 802.11n capable wireless card. I found a few threads indicating that the Intel Wireless Link 5100 would work with the E1505, so I picked one up on ebay.

The card was easy to install, and shows up correctly in the BIOS, but unfortunately, it doesn't seem to work with the driver package from Intel's website. The driver installs successfully, but it has a generic "This device cannot start. (Code 10)" error in the device manager.

I've tried several different driver versions from Intel and Dell's support site, but none of them work, and I'm running out of ideas. Has anyone successfully gotten this card working on an E1505? Is there a special driver that I need to be able to use it?

The laptop is running Windows XP MCE 2002 SP3. The original Dell 1390 wifi card worked fine, so I know the PCI-e slot is working. I've reseated the Intel card and ensured there is no dust in the connection. What else can I try?

 

Dell uses white-listing so only a card meant for Dell will work (alternatively may try to remove white-listing).

 

Hm, that's unfortunate. Would that cause this kind of issue, or would the card just not show up in the BIOS if it is not whitelisted?

Is there any way to find out what wireless-N cards are on the whitelist for an E1505? I only spent $6 on the 5100, so I'm not out much if I have to use a different card.

 

That's exactly how white-listing looks. Code 10 in Windows but works fine under Linux.
I'm not an expert on Dell or its white-listing so I can't tell you which card will work for sure.

See also find there's an easy way that reminds very white-listing through a BIOS update.

 

I forgot to mention - I'm running the latest A17 BIOS already.

Hopefully someone will have some experience with another N card that did work.

 

Well, Intel WiFi Link 4965AGN should work since there is a driver for it on Dell support site (again assuming you buy a Dell branded card).

As for the BIOS - it's not the point of it being the latest one - the point is that there can be a modded BIOS that has the white-listing removed and your Intel 5100 would start properly.

 

Ah, that makes sense now.

I did some more searching and it looks like maybe the Dell Wireless 1505 would work too, though people appear to have mixed opinions of it. I'll look for an Intel 4965 too, but I'm not sure if it would take a performance hit from only having two antennae hooked up.

 

No it wouldn't take a performance hit - it's a boring story of spatial streams that you are not really interested in (trust me on this) but long story is - it will work fine with two antennas attached.

 

Great. I'll see if I can find a 4965. Hopefully that will work better.