Just re-installed Vista...now cannot connect to internet as miss the Wireless Adapter

TripleAce

....so it is my understanding that I have to install it from the Drivers CD. However in the list there are a few of them, how do I know which driver is the correct one to install?

Any help is much appreciated, this is my first time doing a full re-installation.

cpu-dude

TripleAce wrote: »

....so it is my understanding that I have to install it from the Drivers CD. However in the list there are a few of them, how do I know which driver is the correct one to install?

Any help is much appreciated, this is my first time doing a full re-installation.

Install them all and Windows will detect the correct one - then uninstall the versions that didn't work.

Overheal

easiest just to connect via an ethernet cable then have vista autosearch the web for it.

TripleAce

The only one I could install was the following:

Marvell Yukon 88E8040 pci-e Fast Ethernet Controller

I checked in Device Manager under Network Adapters and it tells me that the adapter is working properly, however I cannot find any Network in range yet although the broadband here is working fine

Any idea?

Overheal

The Ethernet controller is the Cat5 Cable Connection. Not the wireless. You will need to either connect the computer/laptop to ethernet/Cable direct then search for the drivers automagically, or you will need to find out the device's name, and search for the driver manually on another computer, and put it on to your down machine Via USB flash drive.

TripleAce

Overheal wrote: »

The Ethernet controller is the Cat5 Cable Connection. Not the wireless. You will need to either connect the computer/laptop to ethernet/Cable direct then search for the drivers automagically, or you will need to find out the device's name, and search for the driver manually on another computer, and put it on to your down machine Via USB flash drive.

Thanks! I am looking for the yellow cable at the moment
Would you know once I connect how can I trigger the system to start searching for the correct driver(s)?

By any chance if you have Vista on your computer could you tell me the name of the Network Adapter you have?

Thanks so much!

TripleAce

I am currently trying to download the drivers from the Dell Support Website...there are 6 of them, i managed to download 2 and got error message on other 2. Still have 2 to go, after this is finished I will restart and see if it works. If it doesn't I am going to throw the laptop out the window

TripleAce

Miserable failure, it still doesn't work

Can you see the unknown device in Device Manager. If so, open it and go to the Details tab. You should see a code there such as:

PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_4229&SUBSYS_11018086&REV_61\4&1A8CBF2A&0&00E3

Post that on here and I'll be able to tell you what driver you need. I only need the numbers as far as the subsystem ID.

FloatingVoter

I have a dell inspiron 1545 and it uses a "Dell Wireless 1397 WLAN Mini-Card". Hope thats I some use.

tman

If you've got it connected to the internet via the ethernet cable, then the easiest way is just to go to start > control panel > windows update, then click view available updates - you should see drivers for the wireless card here

TripleAce

Hi Guys,

thank you all so much for your help, very much appreciated.

@ Tman: I installed the updates but didn't fix the wireless adapter problem ...I didn't see any update for the wireless in the list, however I installed all the others (50+) :eek: so surely this has been good!!! Thank you again!

@ FloatingVoter: I found Dell Wireless 1397 WLAN Half Mini-Card on the Dell Support websited and downloaded it (this is a 69MB zipped file), however when I try to unzip it it just doesn't work and I have to abort the process as no progress is made

@ Karsini: if I go in Device Manager under "Network Adapter" I only see the Marvel Yukon one that I mentioned earlier, no other adapters there
Where would the unknown device appear?

Also, in Device Manager I can see under "Other Devices" that "Network Controller" and "SM Bus Controller" have an error as the drivers are not installed, however when I click to install them (Search the web) it gives me an error message that the drivers cannot be found.

I think I will give Dell a call tomorrow morning and see if they can connect remotely to my pc and instal the required drivers somehow.

Thank you again for your help!

TripleAce

TripleAce wrote: »

@ Karsini: if I go in Device Manager under "Network Adapter" I only see the Marvel Yukon one that I mentioned earlier, no other adapters there
Where would the unknown device appear?

The unknown device I was referring to is the Network Controller. Post its PCI ID as I said above.

ronkmonster

you haven't disabled the wireless with a physical switch on the laptop case?

TripleAce

Karsini wrote: »

The unknown device I was referring to is the Network Controller. Post its PCI ID as I said above.

Thank you! Under details there is a submenu with a lot of those IDs, depending on what I select.

For example under "Hardware ID" I have the following:
PCI\VEN_14E4&DEV_4315&SUBSYS_000c1028&REV_01 and 3 more IDs underneath.

Would this help?

TripleAce

ronkmonster wrote: »

you haven't disabled the wireless with a physical switch on the laptop case?

Hi, which switch do you mean? I know the wireless is working ok as the other laptop here connects ok wireless, however if there is another specific switch on the actual laptop it may be turned off...is there a way to check that?

Thank you

ronkmonster

not all laptops have a switch to disable it. my one only has a hotkey to disable and it's still recognised as installed while disabled.

but it would be a slider switch on the outside of the laptop. or maybe above the keyboard.

That ID would be for a Dell Wireless 1397 card alright. But I see you said you tried that driver already.