Laptop techie help needed!

Daergel · March 28, 2008, 07:10 AM

I am having problems with my laptop that have been going on for a couple of weeks that I am having problems trying to solve. Actually, I have decided that I cannot solve it (and for someone who wants to do a career change into an IT-type job, that is a very bad thing!), so I thought I would ask here as I know there are people on here who may be able to point me in the right direction.

I have a Dell Latitude D505. Granted its about 3-4 years old now, and will never in a million years will I attempt to run wow on it, but I like to have another machine running as I use it to research things while I am questing, flying, etc, instead of alt-tabbing out, finding what I need and alt-tabbing back in to find a corpse!

Anyway, I restored it a couple of weeks back, and reinstalled the utilities - there are 2 disks that it came with (1 blue and 1 green) to restore and reinstall, but what I cant work out is why I cant find the wireless functionality/card - it is definitely in there, but 2 weeks of scouring the internet for a utility has proved fruitless. I am sure I had an Intel Proset wireless thingy on there and have tried to install them, but to no avail. The wireless network card is nowhere to be found :( I have looked in the hardware profiles and it is not in there.

The only solution I can think of to get round the problem is to physically connect my laptop to my wireless router, but 1. I dont have a cable long enough to reach without drilling through floors and ceilings and 2. it is (or was!) wireless enabled anyway!

Any suggestions would be gratefully received - oh I am running XP Professional, by the way

Swampish · March 28, 2008, 07:14 AM

You could try and get a program called Everest, It tell's you everything located in your laptop. That should tell you if it's connected up, even if you dont have the drivers, It should also tell you the name of the card if you dont have it's details then you could download the latest driver's for that model.

Coud · March 28, 2008, 07:15 AM

so if I read that right, you're looking for a driver for your wireless card that you're 100% sure is in the laptop still but have nfi what the wireless card is called?

snackereen · March 28, 2008, 08:15 AM

You should check out the DELL website for updates/upgrades to your system (even if it is several years old).

Every preinstalled DELL machine (which most of them are) comes with a small system-check-tool partition based on linux. Just give them a call/write them an email and let them verify your problem. It might be a hardware issue, so the system-check should find it.

Otherwise they might know where to get help (it's a DELL laptop, so they should be able to solve your problem) or what hardware you use.

If your laptop has a "service-tag" (usually at the bottom), you can enter it directly to find every information needed at their website. I just checked their site, but I only get German information there, so you need to check it yourself.

Astharoth · March 28, 2008, 08:28 AM

Not sure if this will help you, but we will try

The following website is in french so... still worth a try... ONLY if you can connect your laptop through a direct link

Mes Drivers - drielle et des drivers compatibles

Click on "Lancer la detection"

You will need to install the ActiveX

Once done, select your operation system : In your case, Windows XP

Start the detection

A list of your hardware will appear with the possible drivers. You will be able to DD them.

Hope this will help.

P.S. If you need help browsing the website, PM me, i'll add you to msn/yahoo/aim or whatever and we'll try to do it step by step

Coud · March 28, 2008, 08:49 AM

http://support.dell.com/support/down...&catid=&impid=

that's the dell link i googled.

you mentioned it doesn't even show up in the hardware panel? ( control panel => system => hardware tab => device manager ) I find that odd since windows basically picks up <everything> but marks it either with a red X ( i think ) for something that doesn't work or a yellow ? for something that it can't talk to

something else I found while poking around google is an article. relevant section as follows

Quote:

For wireless networking you have the choice of a Centrino-standard Intel PRO/Wireless 2100 802.11b Mini-PCI card, as fitted on our review system, or a Dell TrueMobile 1300 802.11b/g card. Alternatively, for an extra AU$68.30, you can go the whole dual-band hog and have a TrueMobile 1400 802.11a/b/g card.

so with that you can see if there's any of those on one of your CDs

Pervlock · March 28, 2008, 09:12 AM

it ptobably shows up, but under a wrong header

Daergel · March 28, 2008, 10:24 AM

Thanks for all the suggestions so far.

In answer to Coud - it must be the yellow ? for the thing it cant talk to. I saw that comment about the intel card, and tried to download and install the utility from the website but it didnt work.

I am sure it was the intel one as I spent a happy afternoon playing with it when I initially set up my wireless network.

When I get home i'll try some of the suggestions posted :D

Absalom · March 28, 2008, 10:43 AM

as mentioned support.dell.com is your best bet.

Since you mentioned you are going for a change into the IT realm.. I have a more techie suggestion for when you aren't working on Dell systems with halfway decent support sites.

If you go to the device manager (normally right click on "My Computer"-> Manage ->Device Manager for me...

Go to your "Network Adapters" in the list.
Expand it and open up one of the items assuming there are multiple. Normally it is something with "controller" or "adapter" in the name.

Go to the Details tab
In the drop down box there is something like "Device Instance Id" with some funky string in it. It will probably look something like:

PCI\VEN_14E4&DEV_167A&SUBSYS_01DE1028.....

This string is actually what we need.

The VEN_14E4 part of the string is the vendor ID. This is a unique ID given to denote who the manufacturer of the device is. In my case its Broadcom. For Intel, you will see 8086 as their vendor ID. Yes they paid money to have it the same as their first processor but that is just trival.. moving on..

The next part of the string is the DEV_167A part.
This is the Device ID. It tells you exactly what the device is. In my case its a "Broadcom NetXtreme 57xx Gigabit Controller"

How do I know what these numbers mean?
There is a database with the info in it.
http://pciids.sourceforge.net/pci.ids

Go here and search for the Vendor ID first.. then for the Device Id. If anything this will tell you what an unrecognized piece of hardware *IS* so you can go hunt for the driver at the appropriate spot.

I know its a long winded and techie way of doing things.. but for systems that don't have a service tag that you can just magically get info from at the vendor's website.. it is a REAL help. Try playing with it on devices that have the drivers installed properly to get the hang of it before looking at something without a driver. That way you can see if you are looking stuff up right.

Good luck to you

Daergel · March 28, 2008, 02:02 PM

I am downloading the driver now - luckily I have a spare ethernet cable (although not sure what I did with the one that came with the router...). I can't believe how long it takes for things to download over a wire...

Anyway it would appear to be an Intel card with the 8086 ID - thanks Absolom for your help here

I thought I had downloaded this before without success, but I am going to give it another go to see how/if it works

I'll let you know how I get on...

March 28, 2008, 07:10 AM	#1 (permalink)
Daergel Member Character Info Daergel 70 Gnome Warlock Argent Dawn Euro RP Guild: Heroes of Old Profile: Blizzard Armory Talent Spec: 6/44/11	Laptop techie help needed! I am having problems with my laptop that have been going on for a couple of weeks that I am having problems trying to solve. Actually, I have decided that I cannot solve it (and for someone who wants to do a career change into an IT-type job, that is a very bad thing!), so I thought I would ask here as I know there are people on here who may be able to point me in the right direction. I have a Dell Latitude D505. Granted its about 3-4 years old now, and will never in a million years will I attempt to run wow on it, but I like to have another machine running as I use it to research things while I am questing, flying, etc, instead of alt-tabbing out, finding what I need and alt-tabbing back in to find a corpse! Anyway, I restored it a couple of weeks back, and reinstalled the utilities - there are 2 disks that it came with (1 blue and 1 green) to restore and reinstall, but what I cant work out is why I cant find the wireless functionality/card - it is definitely in there, but 2 weeks of scouring the internet for a utility has proved fruitless. I am sure I had an Intel Proset wireless thingy on there and have tried to install them, but to no avail. The wireless network card is nowhere to be found :( I have looked in the hardware profiles and it is not in there. The only solution I can think of to get round the problem is to physically connect my laptop to my wireless router, but 1. I dont have a cable long enough to reach without drilling through floors and ceilings and 2. it is (or was!) wireless enabled anyway! Any suggestions would be gratefully received - oh I am running XP Professional, by the way

March 28, 2008, 07:14 AM	#2 (permalink)
Swampish Member Character Info swampish 70 Gnome Warlock Killrog Euro PvE Profile: Blizzard Armory Talent Spec: 42/8/11	Re: Laptop techie help needed! You could try and get a program called Everest, It tell's you everything located in your laptop. That should tell you if it's connected up, even if you dont have the drivers, It should also tell you the name of the card if you dont have it's details then you could download the latest driver's for that model.

March 28, 2008, 07:15 AM	#3 (permalink)
Coud Member	Re: Laptop techie help needed! so if I read that right, you're looking for a driver for your wireless card that you're 100% sure is in the laptop still but have nfi what the wireless card is called?

March 28, 2008, 08:15 AM	#4 (permalink)
snackereen pesky beast Character Info Snacker 70 Gnome Warlock Zirkel des Cenarius Euro RP Guild: Heavens Fall Profile: Blizzard Armory Talent Spec: 27/34/0	Re: Laptop techie help needed! You should check out the DELL website for updates/upgrades to your system (even if it is several years old). Every preinstalled DELL machine (which most of them are) comes with a small system-check-tool partition based on linux. Just give them a call/write them an email and let them verify your problem. It might be a hardware issue, so the system-check should find it. Otherwise they might know where to get help (it's a DELL laptop, so they should be able to solve your problem) or what hardware you use. If your laptop has a "service-tag" (usually at the bottom), you can enter it directly to find every information needed at their website. I just checked their site, but I only get German information there, so you need to check it yourself. Last edited by snackereen; March 28, 2008 at 08:20 AM.

March 28, 2008, 08:28 AM	#5 (permalink)
Astharoth Registered Character Info Adramelk 70 Orc Warlock Duskwood US PvE Profile: Blizzard Armory Talent Spec: 24/37/0	Re: Laptop techie help needed! Not sure if this will help you, but we will try The following website is in french so... still worth a try... ONLY if you can connect your laptop through a direct link Mes Drivers - drielle et des drivers compatibles Click on "Lancer la detection" You will need to install the ActiveX Once done, select your operation system : In your case, Windows XP Start the detection A list of your hardware will appear with the possible drivers. You will be able to DD them. Hope this will help. P.S. If you need help browsing the website, PM me, i'll add you to msn/yahoo/aim or whatever and we'll try to do it step by step

March 28, 2008, 09:12 AM	#7 (permalink)
Pervlock Member Character Info Pervlock 70 Human Warlock Nagrand Euro PvE Guild: Dark-flame Profile: Blizzard Armory Talent Spec: 14/43/0	Re: Laptop techie help needed! it ptobably shows up, but under a wrong header

March 28, 2008, 10:24 AM	#8 (permalink)
Daergel Member Character Info Daergel 70 Gnome Warlock Argent Dawn Euro RP Guild: Heroes of Old Profile: Blizzard Armory Talent Spec: 6/44/11	Re: Laptop techie help needed! Thanks for all the suggestions so far. In answer to Coud - it must be the yellow ? for the thing it cant talk to. I saw that comment about the intel card, and tried to download and install the utility from the website but it didnt work. I am sure it was the intel one as I spent a happy afternoon playing with it when I initially set up my wireless network. When I get home i'll try some of the suggestions posted :D

March 28, 2008, 10:43 AM	#9 (permalink)
Absalom Destruction Warlock Character Info Lavath 70 Blood Elf Warlock Shadow Council US RP Guild: Syk Profile: Blizzard Armory Talent Spec: 0/14/47	Re: Laptop techie help needed! as mentioned support.dell.com is your best bet. Since you mentioned you are going for a change into the IT realm.. I have a more techie suggestion for when you aren't working on Dell systems with halfway decent support sites. If you go to the device manager (normally right click on "My Computer"-> Manage ->Device Manager for me... Go to your "Network Adapters" in the list. Expand it and open up one of the items assuming there are multiple. Normally it is something with "controller" or "adapter" in the name. Go to the Details tab In the drop down box there is something like "Device Instance Id" with some funky string in it. It will probably look something like: PCI\VEN_14E4&DEV_167A&SUBSYS_01DE1028..... This string is actually what we need. The VEN_14E4 part of the string is the vendor ID. This is a unique ID given to denote who the manufacturer of the device is. In my case its Broadcom. For Intel, you will see 8086 as their vendor ID. Yes they paid money to have it the same as their first processor but that is just trival.. moving on.. The next part of the string is the DEV_167A part. This is the Device ID. It tells you exactly what the device is. In my case its a "Broadcom NetXtreme 57xx Gigabit Controller" How do I know what these numbers mean? There is a database with the info in it. http://pciids.sourceforge.net/pci.ids Go here and search for the Vendor ID first.. then for the Device Id. If anything this will tell you what an unrecognized piece of hardware IS so you can go hunt for the driver at the appropriate spot. I know its a long winded and techie way of doing things.. but for systems that don't have a service tag that you can just magically get info from at the vendor's website.. it is a REAL help. Try playing with it on devices that have the drivers installed properly to get the hang of it before looking at something without a driver. That way you can see if you are looking stuff up right. Good luck to you

March 28, 2008, 02:02 PM	#10 (permalink)
Daergel Member Character Info Daergel 70 Gnome Warlock Argent Dawn Euro RP Guild: Heroes of Old Profile: Blizzard Armory Talent Spec: 6/44/11	Re: Laptop techie help needed! I am downloading the driver now - luckily I have a spare ethernet cable (although not sure what I did with the one that came with the router...). I can't believe how long it takes for things to download over a wire... Anyway it would appear to be an Intel card with the 8086 ID - thanks Absolom for your help here I thought I had downloaded this before without success, but I am going to give it another go to see how/if it works I'll let you know how I get on...