The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Notebook refuses to connect to channel 11

    Discussion in 'Networking and Wireless' started by raisinlove, Feb 20, 2010.

  1. raisinlove

    raisinlove Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    16
    Messages:
    16
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    I need your help! I have finally found out that the WiFi problems with my girlfriend's Dell Inspiron 1420 are related to channel 11. Now, I know what you are going to say about all this. You are probably thinking this channel is saturated with every other network in the neighborhood. I would have thought so too but I was wrong. Here's what happens:

    1. Router automatically switches to less used channel which is 11. After scanning with inSSIDer, the router is working as it should. Channel 11 is the only channel that does not overlap another WLAN in the area.

    2. My Acer 6920g works flawlessly regardless of the selected channel. My girlfriend's Dell fails to connect every time on 11.

    3. Next less used channel according to inSSIDer is 1 and although I would overlap some networks, their strength is at -89dB.

    4. I manually select channel 1 and override the automatic channel switcher on my DIR-628.

    5. Magic! The Dell has absolutely no problem!

    6. I can repeat my results so I am confident.


    This is where you guys come in. What in the world is happening here? Besides switching the Dell's mini 1390 to a new generic Intel. I don't know what to do. It's definitely not broken. Or is it?
     
    raisinlove, Feb 20, 2010
    #1
  2. downloads

    downloads No, Dee Dee, no! Super Moderator

    Reputations:
    7,729
    Messages:
    8,722
    Likes Received:
    2,231
    Trophy Points:
    331
    If I'm not mistaken Dell 1390 is Broadcom BCM4318- the same card that I have.
    I just checked and it works perfectly on channel 11 so first thing to do is to update drivers.
    Since the design of Dell 1390 is reference- no customizations- you can use non-dell drivers if these are more recent.
    Look here for new drivers and compare it to what Dell offers. There is also one newer driver for Vista/Win7 that is not available on this site.
    http://www.wikidrivers.com/wiki/Broadcom_BCM43xx_win6x
     
    downloads, Feb 20, 2010
    #2
  3. raisinlove

    raisinlove Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    16
    Messages:
    16
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    After having tried the more recent drivers for Windows 7 provided in your link, the card is able to connect. I wouldn't say the problem is gone but I just sniffed 2 networks with dB in the 70's on channel 11. They show up and drop now and then. I can now say channel 1 is a better option. It seems to be more sensitive to interference than my Acer though. I must thank you for your help. I will be doing some testing during the next few days.

    Could the 2 networks with dB in the 70's be causing my problems?
     
    raisinlove, Feb 20, 2010
    #3