Wireless card doesnt work and ethernet cord doesnt work!!!!

[alexasmith]

Hello:

Well this is a complicated problem but I will do the best I can to explain it. I have an older laptop (Dell Latitude) and I am a student that lives in the dorm that has both a wireless and an ethernet connection. I have been using my wireless card to connect to the internet, with no problems but a few days a go (4 to be exact) my computer totally would not connect to the interent. My wireless card was plugged in but the computer was acting as though it could not recognize it. So I took the card out and put it back in...then it connected. So once I went online, my computer froze---I didn't think much of it, just waited it out and continued surfing. Then the computer shut down, a blue screen coming up saying something along the lines that my computer has a serious error.

I was worried and immediatley went turn the computer back on, with my wireless card still plugged in. Now it doesn't recognize the card at all. It will say it recognizes new hardware and wants me to reinstall it, but even when I do that it never connects. I have tried rebooting with the card out of the slot, in the slot and even looked at the device manager to see if something was wrong. Sometimes it will connect to the network, only to freeze and crash my computer if I go online.

Yesterday I purchased an ethernet cord to try to see if I could connect like that, but although my laptop says that it is connected @100mbp(I think that is what it says) if I try to go online both my browsers say cannot connect(I use firefox as my main browser but also have explorer). I am at my wits end. I really do need to have access to the internet and I am very confused to what is going on. I have scanned my system for virues (McAfee) and nothing came up. I also scanned using Spybot(that had been recently updated) and it did see 4 items, but I deleted them and I am still having the problems. Finally I scanned my system with for adware(lavasoft) and nothing showed up.

If anyone is really good with this stuff please help me!!! It would be much appreciated! :)

[bobbyraw]

base on this scenario, here are a few things you can do,
1- remove the wireless card, go to system properties, reight click on the card uninstall. restart the pc. insert the card if u get new hardware foud install the driver. as soon as you get connected go to the manufacture web site update the driver/firmware.(NB if the card is not detected in system properties its because it's plugged out. insert and then uninstall it)
2- if step one work you need not do this. but with the wired connection, check the ip address, if u have a 169.XXX.XX IP thats bad, not to worry download the fix here with another pc or type netsh winsock reset at the command prompt.

[DellOutreach]

Hi,

My name is Todd and I'm with Dell's online outreach program. What sort of wireless card are you using? One of the internal cards or a PC card that slides into the slot on the side of your system?

If you're having problems with both the wireless and wired network connections that would lead me to think its a software issue. Can you tell me what operating system you're using?

One thing you may also want to look into is using a restore point to reset your system back to before you were having problems. You said it began four days prior to your post so this may be an option.

To restore your system click on START, then All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and System Restore. When you open that utility it will give you the option to reset the system settings to a date on a calendar. Pick one prior to the day these problems began for you and see if that helps.

System Restore is not supposed to do anything with data, but with any changes to your operating system I would recommend you back up any personal data before trying it. The system restore itself will probably not affect the data but if the root cause is a problem with the OS then resetting it could have unforeseen results. Better safe than sorry.

Let me know if this helps. I'll stop back to see if there is anything else I can try to do to help you resolve this problem.

Thank you,

Todd
Customer Advocate
Dell, Inc.

http://direct2dell.com/one2one/archive/2006/11/19/3648.aspx

[alexasmith]

i have tried the system restore and it has yet to work right now I have connected the card is blink both a amber color and green color at the same time. I do not know what that means....When I have tried to uninstall the card and reinstall it did not work.

[alexasmith]

I have a operating system of windows xp; just to answer your question Todd

[DellOutreach]

i have tried the system restore and it has yet to work right now I have connected the card is blink both a amber color and green color at the same time. I do not know what that means....When I have tried to uninstall the card and reinstall it did not work.

Hi,

There are normally two lights on the network cards. One simply shows that there is a connection being made, the other tells you how fast it's going. Here is a quick link that explains a bit about the NIC link lights. (it's for a desktop system but the theory is the same for all computers)

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dkill/nic.htm

What error message are you getting when you try to connect?

Do you know which Service Pack level you have with your Windows XP? I'm assuming you have XP Pro since you have a Latitude?

If you are getting a "Page Cannot be Displayed" generic error try the steps off the following link. Note, there are instructions for running this for both Service Pack 1 and Service Pack 2.

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/dsn/en/document?c=us&dl=false&l=en&s=gen&docid=D182ADD15C2839C3E030A68F732846D5&doclang=en&cs=

Let me know if that helps at all.

Thank you,

Todd
Customer Advocate
Dell, Inc.

[alexasmith]

I have the service pack 2; I have tired to connect to to other wireless connections and I have got the same thing everytime. Once the card picks up the signal the lights flash interchanging. After like 20 seconds of that they both flash together speeding up only when I connect online and change websites. It may allow me to go online but I can never stay online more than 5 minutes before my computer completely freezes. Then the following can happen.
1. I wait it out and then a it may unfreeze only to freeze up again once i move my mouse then finally a blue screen will come up and tell me that windows has encountered a serious problem and needs to shut down and proceeds to do so.
2. I remove my card - once I do this the computer is no longer frozen but I still am not online.
3. I remove my card and put it back in - once this happens the card may be recognized and try to connect again only for the computer to freeze again and finally shut down, or it may not recognize the card and I still cannot connect.

As far as a wired connection goes:
1. Once I insert my ethernet cord the computer recognizes it and says that it is connect 100mpbs . When I look at the NIC connector both the lights are blinking - (thanks for the visual). So I have my laptop here now and will follow the steps you have given me and see what happens. Thank you for your help.

[alexasmith]

Hey all!!!!! It worked!!! I am online right now. I am so happy I want to cry! I have not tired the wireless but at least the ethernet is working. Todd you are amazing!!! Thank you all!!

Alexa

[DellOutreach]

Hey all!!!!! It worked!!! I am online right now. I am so happy I want to cry! I have not tired the wireless but at least the ethernet is working. Todd you are amazing!!! Thank you all!!

Alexa

Awesome!!

Great to hear. Let us know if the wireless connection is working correctly now or not and we'll figure that out too if it isn't.

Thank you,

Todd
Customer Advocate
Dell, Inc.