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Sometimes I loose the wireless signal on the XPS M1330 (Intel 3945ABG card) then I try to reconnect and Vista says that it is no wireless card.

 

 

Is it a problem of Vista or the hideous 3945ABG card?

 

Since I can't test the card in Mac OS X yet I really don't know :unsure::blink:

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Exactly, the Wireless signal is no so far (less than 30 feet/ 10 meters) and I have my Powerbook at the same desk, it sometimes loose the signal but never loose the card, I mena after a few seconds it recover the signal, also here in the office across the buildings are another 2 bridges, which I can see with less strength and I even can connect to them. But why Vista is telling that the card is desactivated. Mayve is not loosing the signal and the whole thing is Vista loosing all.

 

At my home I never loose the signal, neither the card.

Just a thought - you didn't accept a Windows Update for the NIC driver, did you? Windows Update is notorious for offering the wrong driver for network hardware. I'm not sure why, sometimes it misidentifies what you've got and sometimes it gives you an old, dodgy or Microsoft-screwed version of the driver. If you did, best bet is to go to the manufacturer's site and get the real driver. Also, I always try to avoid using the setup program which comes with network hardware. I use Device Manager, right-click on the device, then choose 'update driver' 'install from specific location' and point at the directory with the .cat and .inf files - that way you get the driver installed without tons of extraneous {censored} which sometimes conflicts with the system. Hope this helps.

I didn't remember if I did, I just checked the installed updates, and no there is no update to the Wireless driver, as a Rule I also prefer to udate the driver with my own choice, regularly I doenload from manufacturer site, but more recently I don't care so much, so I let windows update do the dirty job, and it is very dirty, since I almost didn't use window much.

 

Also checked in the Device Manager and there is no roll back driver posibility.

 

I'm planning to do a Persistence install of Kubuntu, maybe that will give more clues.

 

I also planning to change the Wireless card to a one of those draft N.

Ok, I installed Kubuntu, the result was the card also disconected from wireless signal and then no way to reconect until reboot.

 

So my guess is the card is not up to pair of an Airport. Even my USB Zydas (3Com) has a better performance, I will install the drivers to Vista ans see what happens.

I used to have this problem myself.....but found a fix :(

 

The driver for vista for the card is horrendous. BUT.......

 

You can force vista to use the xp driver.

 

Download the xp driver from the dell site and extract the files to your hard drive. Pull up the properties of the card and tell it to update the driver and point it to the one you downloaded.

 

Ever since I did that I have had ZERO problems.

  • 3 weeks later...

Had the same troubles until I installed last driver directly from Intel (www.intel.com). Driver version is 11.5.0.32 and I use XP. Maybe you can force Vista to use the XP driver or maybe you can find the driver for Vista directly from Intel.

 

Good luck,

 

Andy

i'm not sure if this is related i used to have dropouts all the time on the 3945 in vista - it would suddenly disconnect and lose the manual ip address setting. then i have to right click on the icon and click repair.

 

i took that out and stuck the dell broadcom card into it and it doesnt drop out anymore. but only when i put the system into hibernation/sleep state.

 

but nevertheless osx86 is is also happy with the broadcom so i'm keeping it for now :)

Thank you very much, Ill try someday, cause I almost don't use Vista anymore, each day it has new annoyance, today I want to check a Monitor resolution and several times the Nvidia Control Pannel stalls :). 2 days ago Vista installed a new update for Meida Center an looses some taskbar Icons (found a regedit solution on the net later),

  • 3 weeks later...
Thank you very much, Ill try someday, cause I almost don't use Vista anymore, each day it has new annoyance, today I want to check a Monitor resolution and several times the Nvidia Control Pannel stalls ;). 2 days ago Vista installed a new update for Meida Center an looses some taskbar Icons (found a regedit solution on the net later),

My m1210 did this ... it idid it more and more often, till the point where i couldnt use wifi at all... I called dell and they sent out about 5 new wireless cards.. (I also had the 3945)... Eventually after a month of not being able to use WiFi, I called dell and really yelled... then they swapped my laptop with the newer model, and i just got a few nice upgrades :-D

  • 2 weeks later...

It appears that the latest wifi driver from Dell's site works on Vista, but unfortunately Vista doesn't, so I ended installing XP in another partition, even with Antivirus and some Dell's program it feels fast as Mac OS, I found a thread of XPS M1330 users that searched and found some "lost" drivers for this laptop with XP.

 

Again only 2% of the time I use windows (now XP) so I get no frutration right now, will see if SP1 fix those frustrating hangs.

9 out of 10 wireless problems are a problem with the access point. I had a Dell with the 3945ABG card and Windows XP, and with my old AP I had random drops and horrible speeds like you have. I bought a Netgear RangeMAX AP (top of the line at the time), and all my issues disappeared. Cost $120 at the time, but it was worth every penny.

 

Now I'm running a Dell with a 4965AGN and a Netgear Pre-N Extreme something. Again, smooth as butter.

 

Cliffs: your access point sucks. :D

  • 3 weeks later...
Vista is horrible with Wirless. There are drop-out problems like that with lots of wirless cards but its usually fixed by a reboot or two :P

Vista is not horrible with wireless, card drivers can be, but that is not a Vista limit, you just need to update your card driver and you'll have a perfectly working wifi in Vista.

I have a Dell notebook and I'm running Vista Ultimate that has a adriver for the wifi card but I installed the updated driver (from the Dell website) and never had a problem so far, actually it works like a charm.

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