Solved Dell N5050 takes 10-15 minutes to connect to wireless.

[Paul Black]

Good afternoon,

The Dell N5050 Windows 7 laptop my partner has takes in the region of 10 to 15 minutes (sometimes longer) to connect to the Internet (BT) and has been like this for months.

If she clicks the wireless icon in the right hand system tray it doesn't show her wireless in the available connections and there is an orange star in the middle of the icon.

She has to Open Network and Sharing Centre, then right click the Wireless Network Connection, then click Properties, then click the Sharing tab and then click the drop down menu and select Wireless Network Connection 2 and then click OK.
She has to do exactly the same as above for the Wireless Network Connection 2.
She usually has to do this several times for each of the above before it actually finds and connects to the wireless.

The Network Adapters in device manager are:
Dell Wireless 1701 802.11b/g/n
Microsoft Virtual WiFi Miniport Adapter
Realtek PCIe FE Family Controller
I have checked the drivers for updates and they all appear to be up to date.

The Power Management for both is set to unchecked for Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power.
I have run diagnose and that doesn't help at all, although it says that None of the networks you have previously connected to are in range.

This has been going on for months.

Has anyone got any ideas please?

Thanks in advance.

 

[fireberd]

There are (or were) Dell diagnostics on the hard drive, accessed by F12 at power on. Suggest running the hardware diagnostics.
Alternately, there are on-line Dell diagnostics at the link below. Considering the age of the laptop, it may be the wireless hardware is failing.

Support for Inspiron 15 N5050 | Diagnostics | Dell US

 

[Paul Black]

Thanks fireberd for the reply, it is appreciated.

I am running the tests on her machine now.

The thing is that she got someone to install the system for her many many moons ago and he linked all the other devices with it which is not what she wanted and never got him back to correct it and he has now dropped out of sight.

When she does get connected to the Internet it works fine until the laptop is restarted or shut down and then restarted. She then has to go through the whole process mentioned in post 1 again. It is as though it doesn't save the correct configuration or something and has to be manually set again.

This is why I am thinking of doing a clean install as mentioned in another post to see if this sorts it out. A bit drastic I know, but it will save many hours trying to connect to the Internet.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Bat 1]

The internal Wi-Fi adapter shouldn't show as Wireless Network Connection 2. Go into Device Manager and see if there is another adapter showing that could be removed.

 

[Paul Black]

Thanks for the reply Bat 1,

The Network Adapters in device manager are:

Dell Wireless 1701 802.11b/g/n
Microsoft Virtual WiFi Miniport Adapter
Realtek PCIe FE Family Controller

In the Open Network and Sharing Centre and Change Adapter Settings there are the following:

Local Area Connection (Realtek PCIe FE Family Controller) - Network Cable
Wireless Network Connection (Dell Wireless 1701 802.11b/g/n) - Internet Access
Wireless Network Connection 2 (Microsoft Virtual WiFi Miniport Adapter)

The one above (Wireless Network Connection 2) when she eventually connects to the Internet shows Not Connected. How can I delete this one so it doesn't keep reappearing on restarts or boot ups?

Are you suggesting that somehow I delete one of those?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Bat 1]

So there's also nothing under possibly Other Devices or maybe even Bluetooth ?
.
Thinking that if you're able to connect by Ethernet, that you could delete both devices and the adapter drivers in Device Manager (if necessary), then scan for hardware changes. I might be wrong so best wait for someone else to post.

 

[Paul Black]

Thanks for the reply Bat 1,

There are NO other devices listed, but, under Bluetooth Radios there is a:
Dell Wireless 1701 Bluetooth v3.0+HS which is Disabled because she does not use Blutooth for anything and being disabled doesn't seem to affect anything once she manages to connect to the Internet.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Bat 1]

Right Click on Wireless Network Connection in Control Panel\Network and Internet\Network Connections and then click Properties and see what it says

 

[Paul Black]

If I understand you correctly, here is what it says under the Networking Tab:

Connect using: Dell Wireless 1701 802.11b/g/n

This connection uses the following items:

Client for Microsoft Networks - Ticked
QoS Packet Scheduler - Ticked
File and Printer Sharing for Microsft Networks - NOT Ticked
Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6) - Ticked
Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) - Ticked
Link-Layer Topology Discovery Mapper I/O Driver - Ticked
Link-Layer Topology Discovery Responder - Ticked

I hope this is what you mean!

 

[Paul Black]

One point I should make is that this also happens when we are at other peoples houses trying to login, again, it takes many attempts until it actually gets connected.

 

[Bat 1]

Don't often get cold weather down in the swamps of south LoUiSiAna so I'm busy running in and out getting ready for what's coming.
.
Think I Finally half way figured out what's going on. I'm slow most of the time If You Can't connect to the Wireless Network Connection (Dell Wireless 1701 802.11b/g/n) You'll need to disable the Virtual adapter most likley using a netsh Admin CMD. First WlanHostedNetworkForceStop then WlanHostedNetworkStopUsing after that you should "hopefully" be able to connect though the Dell adapter. More nfo can be found here: About the Wireless Hosted Network (Windows)
.
Being a virtual device it shouldn't have stopped you from connecting to the wireless network with the physical wireless adapter ?

 

[fireberd]

I'm thinking a complete "clean" reinstall is the next step. Its drastic but given the symptoms I wouldn't think we are going to resolve this as is.

For a Manual Install, the correct sequence on a Dell is (1) Install Windows (2) Intel Motherboard chipset drivers (3) Install device drivers including Video, Sound, touchpad, Wi-Fi, etc. DO NOT skip step 2 as it is key to a successful reinstall.

 

[Paul Black]

This is what I did this morning to get it to work.

I went in to Control Panel > Network and Internet > Network and Sharing Centre > Change Adapter Settings and DISABLED Wireless Network Connection 2. I then reset the BTHub and bingo, it connected straight away.
Now, why is this and how can I delete Wireless Network Connection 2 from the adapter settings as I think this could be the cause?

Why does resetting the BTHub make a difference, it is as if it needs the reset to get the information it needs to connect successfully because it doesn't hold it in the settings at restart.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Paul Black]

I have just done some investigating and found something that might be the cause of the problem but I would like guidence please.

I went into Control Panel > Network and Internet > Network and Sharing Centre > then clicked the Home Icon. I then clicked Merge or delete network locations and it came up with a list of previously connected to networks. In the list it showed the BTHub3 and showed it as In use and Unmanaged, this is correct. It also showed however, BTBusinessHub as Not in use and Unmanaged, which was the old one before the current one was upgraded.

Can I safely delete the BTBusinessHub and could this be contributing to the problem?

I also can't see a way to delete the Wireless Network Connection 2 from the adapter settings as Delete is greyed out. Does anyone know how to do this please?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Bat 1]

There is no way to remove the Microsoft Virtual WiFi Miniport adapter as it's part of Windows. Just delete or disable everything except the Dell wireless adapter and since what I posted before didn't work, again open up a ADMIN CMD and try entering: netsh wlan stop hostednetwork then netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=disallow reboot and see if it's fixed. If that doesn't fix the problem then maybe a fresh install as posted above will be the best option.

 

[Paul Black]

Thank you Bat 1 for your time, advice and suggestions, it is appreciated.
I will give your suggestions in your previous post a try later on.

Thank you .

 

[Paul Black]

Hello Bat 1,

I tried your suggestion and it appears to have worked.
The real test though will be when we boot up in the morning.

I wish you and your family a very Happy New Year .

 

[Bat 1]

Glad to read that Happy New Years to you and yours

 

[Paul Black]

Happy New Year Everyone.

Well, I am still having problems connnecting and it is still taking in the region of 15 minutes to connect.

After refreshing the Network many many times it actually finds it (others close by are shown straight away however) but then says Limited Access and shows as Unidentified Network Public.

Is there anyway that I can delete all network related stuff and start from scratch please?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Paul Black]

Has anyone got any ideas please?