Wireless connectivity issues - HP DV9429US

Hello,
This my first post here, and hopefully I can finally get some answers. I just got a HP DV9429US (Vista Home Premium, 2GB RAM, AMD X2 TL-64) and it has the Broadcom 4321AG (A/B/G/Draft-N) internal wireless card.

I can connect on my home router with no problem, however work is a different story. My work offers both a secured and unsecured wireless network, and I have been trying to get onto the unsecured network. The signal is very weak at my desk, and my HP will occasionally see the signal, but will not connect. If I get close to the antenna in my area, I can get a signal, and keep it when I walk to my desk (granted, it is very slow, but all I want to do is check e-mail & message board for on-line college courses). When I reboot, I lose the signal.

The problem is, my buddy has a Gateway laptop, and he can get a signal no problem at my desk (it is slow as well, but he can at least connect). He has a Broadcom A/B/G internal wireless card.

I can also get on to the network on a 3-4 year old crappy Dell laptop. I say crappy not because it is a Dell (I like Dell), but because it is a "bare bones" laptop that can be checked out from IT for travel or meeting presentations.

So, what am I missing here???? Brand new laptop, I have barely had it 2 weeks, and it will not connect to a network that I can connect to with a 4 year old dog of a laptop. I was wondering if this was a setting issue for a tolerance signal strength or errors that could maybe be fixed through the "Advanced" tab on the Configure section for the Wireless card. Or do I just have a crappy card?

If the answer is "I have a crappy card" is there a more powerful internal card I can upgrade to, or should I be looking at an external card?

I tried HP support, and got nowhere, and I believe I am up to date on my drivers.

Thank you in advance for any suggestions or advice.

Wayne

 

I am not familiar with the Broadcom card you have, as I generally support Intel A/G/B/N cards, but if it has software anything like the Intel software we use there should be a configuration option to balance the signal polling of the card and its battery consumption. With my own wireless card I can make it poll a much shorter range for signals and conserve battery power, or I can up it to a maximum range and it eats battery power faster but finds signals farther away. This would only be a relevant thing to look for if you don't have Windows managing the connection. There are no settings I'm aware of in Vista that manage the range to consumption factor, unless it is somehow being handled by power management. You might try setting your power profile to maximum performance and see if it has any effect.

Also, do you see any change if you switch to AC power?

You might also try updating the Broadcom card's drivers with the latest version off their website. It could be a driver issue.

Additionally, if the Broadcom software supports it, you could try polling on different channels, assuming the problem might be coming from interference from others connecting to the router. That could account for why the older laptop is able to connect successfully. It may be connecting on a different channel and getting a better shot at it than the new laptop.

I'd go with power management/signal range settings in the software first, if available, change the channel you're connecting over, try driver updates, and barring that try letting Windows manage the connection if the Broadcom software is doing it now or allow Broadcom to do it if Windows is. It seems unlikely to be your hardware since your card should have a much better signal range than the older laptop, and it's finding the router find.

 

Thank you for you suggestions. I forgot to mention that I did find the power settings for the wireless, and maxed it out (I also have tried this on AC power, just to be sure). I checked the Broadcom website, and I found a white paper mentioning it, and a spec sheet for it, but nothing in the downloads section.
I am hoping there is a setting that is basically offering the wireless card setting to an Amusement Parks “You must be this tall to ride this ride.” In effect, saying that a signal must be at least…..(fill in the blank, call it value “X” and I want to set it a step below “X” so that it will accept a lesser quality signal.
Among the settings I am looking at are “fragmentation threshold” (currently 2346), “Priority & VLAN Disabled” “Mixed cell support” “Roam Tendency” and “Roam Decision.” There are about 30+ of these settings, and while some of them are intuitive by their name, others are not so much.
Lastly, I believe Vista is controlling my network. There is also a HP Wireless assistant somewhere in the mix, but I cannot find where to enable or disable that. Do not think Broadcom offers any controller software for my particular network card.
I may try HP again tonight… Unfortunately, I ran into a language barrier yesterday, so I will try my luck again today.


Lastly, I agree, I *SHOULD* have a better signal range, I think that is why I am so perplexed, and why I think the issue is more software (a setting) than hardware.

 

You've probably found the answer about the HP Wireless Assistant. Go to Control Panel and it's there. (HP dv2419us)You can enable it and put it in the sys tray. I've tried all settings also, diff N routers. Netgear dropped signal worse w/ this adapter. D-Link is ok, but I have to reboot it to maintain max speed. I've used Vista Assistant and Network Magic, neither one can maintain a good signal. I've also tried running WirelessMon to look at available signals and graph my signal strength over time. Network Magic and WirelessMon are both available as trials. I bought WirelessMon since it is so handy. I've got a Express Card on the way, will let you know how it performs. Since there is nothing final yet, each company is using proprietary information and adapters/routers aren't perfectly compatible unless they are from the same company.