I have a laptop that we just got in from a refurbisher we work with regularly. Model is a Dell E5410, and it has a DW1520 wireless adapter in it. Our tech dropped an image (Win7 x64) on it, and set about configuring it for the end user.
Unfortunately, he didn't realize that the wireless wasn't working until near the end of the build, and now we're trying to fix it so that we don't have to reload the whole thing.
Here's the symptoms - built-in wired card works fine. Wireless drivers install correctly, and the device shows as OK in the device manager. When you go into the adapter list, the wireless shows as disabled. If you right-click -> enable, the popup window shows "Enabling", and then "enabled", but when it goes away, the adapter is still disabled.
We have tried completely removing the drivers, installing the broadcom drivers for the chipset, and the Dell-provided drivers for the card. Updated the BIOS from its outdated A04, to the current A14.
Finally, I brought it home tonight to keep working on it. Plugged my Rosewill USB wireless adapter into it, installed drivers, and THAT doesn't work, either. The Rosewill adapter shows that it's enabled, but won't give me a list of networks to choose from. On boot, I see the light on the USB adapter flash a few times, but it never comes on solid like I expect it to.
Is this thing just gone or what? It's possible that our base image isn't good for these laptops, or that the laptop itself has problems. If I can't sort this out tonight, we'll be looking at other options, and possibly hand-loading this one from scratch to see if it works.
Oh yeah, and one last thing.... yes, the wireless switch is on.
Unfortunately, he didn't realize that the wireless wasn't working until near the end of the build, and now we're trying to fix it so that we don't have to reload the whole thing.
Here's the symptoms - built-in wired card works fine. Wireless drivers install correctly, and the device shows as OK in the device manager. When you go into the adapter list, the wireless shows as disabled. If you right-click -> enable, the popup window shows "Enabling", and then "enabled", but when it goes away, the adapter is still disabled.
We have tried completely removing the drivers, installing the broadcom drivers for the chipset, and the Dell-provided drivers for the card. Updated the BIOS from its outdated A04, to the current A14.
Finally, I brought it home tonight to keep working on it. Plugged my Rosewill USB wireless adapter into it, installed drivers, and THAT doesn't work, either. The Rosewill adapter shows that it's enabled, but won't give me a list of networks to choose from. On boot, I see the light on the USB adapter flash a few times, but it never comes on solid like I expect it to.
Is this thing just gone or what? It's possible that our base image isn't good for these laptops, or that the laptop itself has problems. If I can't sort this out tonight, we'll be looking at other options, and possibly hand-loading this one from scratch to see if it works.
Oh yeah, and one last thing.... yes, the wireless switch is on.
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