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I had to buy a new hard drive for my D620 and installed a generic D620 build onto it.

Everything seems to be working except the WiFi.

As soon as windows boots up it gives a dong noise and a x appears over the little wifi symbol in quick launch.

Double clicking on the symbol gives a message box reading the following:

To me this meant that the driver is not installed. But I cannot find the wireless adapter in Device Manager

Any idea what has gone wrong here?

I had assumed the Wireless card was built in and there were no other drivers.
I have then gone onto install as many drivers as I could from the dell support site. They install fine but i still have 'no adapter' issue.

PLEASE HELP!!

could also mean HARDWARE not found
software will install, but w/o the hardware, it's all for not

Does the box have a PCMICA slot? get a card from a friend and try it.

ok, if it means 'hardware not found'.. how do I make it pick up its hardware?

D620 suppose to have built-in wireless unless yours is faultly?

This is what you have right?


Intel Core Duo T2400 1.83GHz
1GB 533MHz DDR2 RAM (2 x 512MB config)
80GB 5400RPM HD
14.1-inch WXGA screen
Integrated graphics (Intel Media Accelerator 950)
24X CDRW / DVD Combo
Windows XP Pro

Dell Wireless 1490 802.11 a/g and built-in Bluetooth
Wireless LAN Intel Pro/Wireless 3945 WiFi 802.11 a/b/g, Dell Wireless 1390 802.11g, Dell Wireless 1490 802.11a/g
Wireless WAN (cellular broadband) choices:
o Dell Wireless 5505 Mobile Broadband 3G HSDPA (Vodafone UK, France, Germany)
o Dell Wireless 5500 Mobile Broadband 3G HSDPA ( Cingular US)
o Dell Wireless 5700 Mobile Broadband CDMA EVDO ( Verizon WirelessUS)

Check the wireless adapter on your system should be a slot opening near the battery if not you might not be able to change out the mini-pci card for wireless. Or go to the DELL site for your laptop and download the right driver, otherwise you'll have the problems you're having. After doing that it still doesn't work then get yourself a good PCMICA 32-bit WiFi card one that has a power amp feature to help with weak signals.. They cost around $50 bucks for those..

I know that the D620 has a PCI-E (express) slot..

but I always assumed that the wireless was built in and not removeable..

I have never previously used this laptop so am now wondering if it never came with built-in wireless ???

ice959:

I’m at Dell Headquarters in Austin, Texas and I just came across this thread. The wireless card on the D620 is a mini-card that's located under the keyboard and as far as I know, the system is not offered without one. If you'd like to find out what type of card we shipped it with you can always email its service tag and I'll gladly look it up for you. It won't help if someone has since removed the card though. Once you've established which one you have I would make sure to install ALL the drivers in the following order and then see if it works.

Driver Order:

1. Notebook System Software
2. Chipset
3. Video
4. Cardbus/Smart Card
5. Biometrics (if it has a fingerprint reader)
6. Network
7. Wireless
8. Audio
9. Modem
10. Touchpad
11. Bluetooth Card (If it has one)

If you still have no luck after that then definitely contact me and I'll see where to go from there.


Neil
Dell, Inc.
neil@dell.com

Hi thanks for the info.. will look into it

in the meantine YHPM

OK. I have now checked behind the keyboard and an Intel 3945 WLAN is happily sat there. I removed it and re installed it.
Booted the machine but still the same error persists.

What would be the next step forward?
Do I need to reinstall ALL the drivers like DellCA suggests?

Hi your wifi card is dead..simply uninstall all the drivers, shut off, take the adaptor out, trun on, shut off, plug the adaptor in. If no luck, looking for a new one then.

Install the drivers without the Card being inserted. Once the driver are installed then insert the Card. You might have corupted drivers prior that needs to be remove first.

Hi,
I have the same problem with my Dell D630 with Intel 4695AGN. This tread has help to resolve my issue. The cause is corrupted drivers files for the wireless. Below are the steps in resolving this issue.

1. Go to Device Manager
Right mouse click -> "My Computer"
Left mouse click -> "Manage"

2. Remove the wireless card installed (for me it is Intel 4695AGN)
(Before you remove take note of all the drivers files used by the device)
(Hope the attached screen capture help.)

3. Find and Permanent delete (shift-delete) the drivers files used used by your wireless card from your windows.

4. Reboot your windows.

5. Reinstall the Intel wireless driver and Proset Apps.

This should solve your issue. It has resolved mine.

hi,
im glad that worked for you!

in my case, the device is not even listed in 'device manager'

i have since reinstalled everything, including every driver on the machine in the order DellCA recommended.

I have then been convinced my WLAN mini pci card must be dead, so I went and bought another one! and still exactly the same..

so now I am at the end of my patience.. i figure the pci slot must be dead on the system board.. but every other pci device works fine..

pulling at straws at the moment.. no luck is even coming this way

It looks like it's got to be either Windows or the motherboard. Is it under warranty? Reinstalling Windows and swapping out a mobo are both a pain so I would actually try the full hardware diagnostic to see if that can tell you anything. At least if it comes back with a wifi card failure we'll know for sure which it is before we try either one.

Hi,
Just for updated. Removing the corrupted drivers only resolve the issue temporary. I soon relive this horror again.

Like you the WLAN device went missing from device manager when I rebooted the laptop at home.

After some time debugging and reinstalling. I found that the WLAN device went missing when I boot up the laptop without connecting the power adapter. The motherboard refused to supply power the WLAN card when on battery mode. I began to suspect a motherboard failure (dell engineer has change the WLAN device already when this issue first appears, so I rule out that the WLA mini PCI is faulty). I swap my harddisk to a new Dell D630 laptop and the windows detect the wlan device and WLAN work perfectly.
I have logged a call to Dell support using an hour to convince them to send over a new motherboard. I am now waiting for a the faulty motherboard to be replaced.

regards,
SGHumble

Laptops often have a power profile control where you can set power usage,
screen brightness, HD power cycling for various levels of battery capacity still left.
Check your Control Panel for Power Options

Well, That is what Dell Support team think also. But XP Power profile does not control the WLAN card.

Anyway it is proven to be a motherboard issue.

Hi,
Just an update. My D630 wireless issue is resolved when the motherboard is replaced.