Member Avatar for VintageK622

I just bought a Dell Inspiron 1500 last week with all the trimmings... Windows Vista, etc. I'm not quite sure what my issue is, but I have a sneaking suspicion it might be Windows Vista that's causing my problem, if not, I hope someone can help me out anyway.

I connect to a 28k modem via dial-up on the laptop. I have NO problems with this connection on my desktop, but everytime I connect to AOL VR on my laptop it kicks me AT LEAST three times an hour. It can't be my phone jacks, or so I think, because I've tried the laptop on all the phone jacks in my house and the internet does the same thing... kicking me three times an hour, or more. It's very frustrating because no one can figure out the issue. Is it something I didn't do to make the connection established? Help would be appreciated, thank you!

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Member Avatar for chris5126

hi,

Is it a wireless connection or a wired connection?
Make sure you have the most upto date driver installed for your network card. Try using your manufactures one instead of the microsoft driver as this one isnt specifically written just for your network card but a generic one. If you need help to do this just ask.

Member Avatar for VintageK622

I'm going to say it's a wired connection because I have to plug in the cord to get internet (dial-up). A network card? I've slightly heard about those, but I'm not entirely sure what they do. How do I know which one to buy? Haha, as you can tell, I'm really new to this.

Member Avatar for chris5126

hi no worries, you already have a network card installed probably on your motherboard. I take it your running vista so go to my computer then click on the tab system properties and then device manager. Once there you will see all the hardware on your computer organised into thier different types.

For starters are there any items with ? or ! by the side of them. Either way expand the one that says network connector and jot down what they are here there is normally one or two. If you go to the driver tab and make a note of who the driver provider and what the version number is then go to the next tab "details" and make a note of the comment on device details. Write all the details in here.

Basically I am tryin to see if you have the latest driver installed and who coded the driver.

Member Avatar for VintageK622

Alright, well I couldn't find "Network Connectors" but I did find "Network Adaptors", and under there were two items. (Also, none of the items had ? or ! next to them.) Here's my findings:

Broadcom 440x 10/100 Integrated Controller ... File/Driver Version 4.60.0.0
and
Dell Wireless 1390 WLAN Mini-Card ... File/Driver Version 4.102.15.56

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