[Ali1234]

No documentation, sorry, but the Model Number is 1545-4211 if that helps

EDIT: According to a 1545-4211 sale on ebay, the wireless is the 1397

Edited by Ali1234, 17 March 2009 - 02:29 PM.

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Did you buy this off of ebay?

One thing that might help is the Asset tag number... Dell might call it something else. In any case, its a number on a sticker that identifies the the computer for Warranty information. What you can do is look up on the Dell site using the tag number to see what configuration the laptop was shipped out in. Or you can post the tag number here or PM me the number if you feel you want to keep the number private and off the forums.

[makai]

Did you buy this off of ebay?

One thing that might help is the Asset tag number... Dell might call it something else. In any case, its a number on a sticker that identifies the the computer for Warranty information. What you can do is look up on the Dell site using the tag number to see what configuration the laptop was shipped out in. Or you can post the tag number here or PM me the number if you feel you want to keep the number private and off the forums.

[Ali1234]

I didn't buy it off ebay, but one exactly the same is being sold on ebay. I'll PM the tag if thats O.K. Dell call it a service tag I think.

[makai]

Ok, let me know what you find, I want to make sure we have the correct driver.

[Ali1234]

Right, I thing we have to presume its the 1397 card.

[Ali1234]

The OS is not supported it says

Erm now what

Edited by Ali1234, 17 March 2009 - 02:59 PM.

[makai]

Ok, according to the original link I gave you for drivers, the wireless driver posted with the rest of them didn't work. People were hunting all over for a working driver and someone seems to have found one.

You need to follow these instructions as the driver will be installed through Device Manager...

Go HERE and download the driver. Extract the driver by doubleclicking on it. Remember where the driver is being extracted to... normally C:\Dell\Drivers... and remember the name of the folder it extracts to... it will probably be R174291.

Open Device manager, right-click on the Network Controller with the yellow mark, and select Update Driver
Select No Not at this time to search for internet updates, Press Next, Select Install from a Specific Location (advanced) and press Next, Click Don’t search. I will choose the driver to install, and press Next,

Click Have Disk and then Browse to locate the Driver folder R174291 (normally in C\Dell\Drivers), then go to Drivers folder and click bcmwl5 and press Open, Press Ok and the install will proceed.

You will need to restart your machine for the driver to take effect. So if you get no errors, restart and see if it works.

One caviat... the person who posted this says the driver is for a "1395" card. However, others who have tried this driver have used it with 1397 cards, so I'm hoping it will work for you.

Let me know if you have any problems going through this.

[Ali1234]

That worked fine. Instructions on how to connect to wireless would now be greatly appreciated if possible. One other question: there is this icon in the taskbar:  wirlessicon.bmp   1.52KB   178 downloads, but not this one:  recpetionicon.bmp   1.52KB   179 downloads. Anything I can do? Thanks very much

[makai]

I'm a little confused. Where did you get the second icon? Did you get it from another computer?

If you have both Ethernet, and Wireless, you should have two icons that look like the first icon. As you probably know, this icon represents no connection. If you only see one of these icons, then Windows is probably set up to "hide" icons as your naming convention seems to indicate this is the wireless Network icon. Did you hover your mouse over the icon to identify it? I just want to make sure as your question about needing instructions on how to connect to the wireless pertains to it. If this is the Ethernet icon, then anything I instruct you to do will not apply.

Also, to connect wirelessly, you need a wireless router you can connect to. Do you have one, and is it password protected? You will need to know the password, the type of encryption used (WPA, WEP, etc), and whether the connection type is "shared" or "open" .

Edited by makai, 18 March 2009 - 02:52 PM.

[Ali1234]

The second icon is from the old laptop. It shows that when I have connection. On my new one I have the ethernet icon (two computers and a cross) and the wireless one (a computer with waves emmitting from it and a cross). The files names, I'm guessing are rubbish. Ignore them: thats how I would identify them. When I hover over them the 'wirlessicon' displays: 'Wireless Network Connection.' The 'recptionicon' one displays 'SSID NETGEAR [the wireless router we have].'
The connection we have is 'WEP/WPA.' I have the network name,key, authentication type (open), encryption type (WEP) and connection type (ESS). I entered the network key when I attempted to connect, but it told me it was too short.
Hope this is useful.

Ali

[makai]

Whoops... you're correct, the Ethernet uses a different icon. You see, I was confused after all!

The icon from the old computer looks to come from software you would install from the manufacture. What kind of laptop did the icon come from? Just out of curiosity.

I entered the network key when I attempted to connect, but it told me it was too short.

If you are using Windows to manage the wireless connection, then windows will automatically select 64 or 128bit encryption from the password you typed. If windows is saying the password is too short, then you may have missed one of the letters or numbers in the password. 64 bit - uses a 5-character ASCII (10-character hex) key, 128 bit (uses 13-character ASCII (26-character hex) key.

[Ali1234]

After some research, the red steps icon thing was from the Dell Network Configuration Utility, which I shall look into downloading tomorrow. The network key is five characters long, so I'll check how many bits the encryption has tomorrow.
Many thanks for your time and effort.

Ali

[makai]

I have to say that you were very lucky to be able to install XP. Some laptops equiped with Vista are stuck with it, and at the outset, I was hoping your Dell wouldn't be one of them. I'm glad it turned out ok. Be sure to search for the Dell Network software for XP and once you find it, you should be well on your way! Let me know if I can be of anymore assistance.

[elmo5159]

I had exactly the same problem when putting XP on my new Vista laptop from Dell, and could not figure out the solution. I took it to work with me (I work in a school library, so have access to lots of techies) -- even though I am pretty technical myself -- and one of the techies discovered the problem: you need to connect the computer to the Internet (using an ethernet cable, so make sure to install ethernet drivers first), as there is a file that needs to be downloaded for the installer to finish properly.

[Ali1234]

Which file? And where from?