wlan driver not working

[phats1231]

hey,
i have a dell inspirion n5110 with windows 7 professional x32
installed all the drivers but the wlan driver just doesnt install.....when i look in device manager a problem with network controller shows.....bluetooth is working fine but the wireless adapter isnt working....tried everything....tried to update it online but says the driver cant be found...it was working perfectly in the x64 bit version of win7 but had to change it coz i had compatibility issues with certain softwares that i had to use
please help

 

[phats1231]

heres a screen shot of the device manager window

 

[phats1231]

btw i also tried the dell site....didnt work for me.....my friend has the same laptop with the same OS and his is working fine but i am having trouble

 

[DeaconFrost]

There are almost always ways around the OS compatibility. If you have 4 GB or more memory, you are now wasting some of it.

First, make sure the wireless card switch is set to on, if it has one. I believe my wife has the same or a similar laptop..an Inspiron 15R. There were several choices for the wireless card, so do you know exactly which one you have physically in your laptop? You should, from your purchase documentation. Go to Dell's site with your service tag, and try the latest driver for your specific wireless card.

 

[phats1231]

they dont have a driver for a 32 bit version of windows 7 used my service tag as well.......the driver was working fine for the 64bit win7 but i had compatibility issues with other softwares like solidworks, ansys (i have older versions of them unfortunately) so i thought instead of changing the softwares i should change the OS....please any alternatives would be really helpful....thanx for the co-operation

 

[DeaconFrost]

Then you'll likely have to go to the manufacturer's page for the wireless card, assuming it isn't a Dell. For example, I always configure my laptops with Intel wireless cards, so I can always go to Intel.com for the driver.

 

[HammerHead]

Lan Card Specs

If you try this neat little app. you can probably find the info on your card and then you will know what to search for.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/180324-system-info-see-your-system-specs.html

 

[phats1231]

here is a screen shot from the app....so its realtek is it???

 

[phats1231]

and by the way........i read in the dell forum about having to install the drivers in a specific order for the devices to function properly.....is this true? coz i dont think i have done that actually

 

[DeaconFrost]

No, most likely that is your wired connection. Those software apps, like the ones HammerHead recommended only work when drivers are already loaded on the system.

Since it is your computer, you should know what kind of wireless adapter it has in it. If you don't off the top of your head, your documentation should have it as well. For my wife's Inspiron 15R, the specs were listed on the side of the box.

If you don't have the documentation anymore, follow the simple steps at pcidatabase.com to find out the manufacturer and part you have installed. Then you'll know where to get drivers.

 

[HammerHead]

Look At This

See if this is the correct driver. It is 32 bit.

Download REALTEK GbE & FE Ethernet PCI NIC Driver 5.663.1212.2006 whql Driver for Windows 9X/ME/NT/2K/XP/2003/Vista/XP X64/2008 - Softpedia

 

[HammerHead]

Newer Driver

Download Realtek Gigabit Ethernet Adapter Driver 7.017 for Win7 Drivers for Windows XP/2003/Vista/XP X64/2008,Windows 7

I think this one is a newer ver.

When you choose one to try be sure to make a restore point prior to install.

 

[HammerHead]

Yet Another

Here is another to look over.

Realtek RTL8168/8111 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet NIC - Download.com

 

[phats1231]

the ethernet refers to the LAN doesn't it?? when i installed the driver in the 64-bit OS it said atheros.....i had the same driver for bluetooth and the WLAN.....i found a driver for the 32-bit version from a friend....he has the same laptop.....but the WLAN didnt install and bluetooth did....
about the documentation.....i didnt get any.....im from Nepal and over here they dont do much paperwork sadly

 

[HammerHead]

Ethernet

Yes it refers to the communication protocol.

I see the spec you posted mention "FE" one of those drivers I posted mentioned FE.

 

[DeaconFrost]

Yes it refers to the communication protocol.

It refers to his wired connection...which you can tell by the OP's screenshot is fully installed and working properly. The wireless, aka WLAN card is the issue here. Realtek is the manufacturer of the LAN card. He isn't looking for Ethernet drivers.

 

[phats1231]

Yes it refers to the communication protocol.

It refers to his wired connection...which you can tell by the OP's screenshot is fully installed and working properly. The wireless, aka WLAN card is the issue here. Realtek is the manufacturer of the LAN card. He isn't looking for Ethernet drivers.

yup exactly.....and the problem is even the driver i had isnt working on it.....the first screen shot of the device manager shows it i think....do you guys think reinstalling windows will help in anyway??

 

[HammerHead]

Wiki

Def for ethernet....... Ethernet - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I believe the driver links I was posting was for Lan cards.

 

[DeaconFrost]

the first screen shot of the device manager shows it i think....do you guys think reinstalling windows will help in anyway??

No, not likely, because you would still need the find the proper driver. Have you tried completely removing the driver, and then allowing Windows Update to search for it?

I would also try getting the actual proper driver, and trying to manually install it.

 

[0verd0sed]

Hey mate,

I had the exact same problem, I found a working driver for mine, here it is :

http://www.intel-driver.com/Download.asp?ID=8486

Please change the thread title to "wlan driver not working (SOLVED)" after trying it.

It is actually a "Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1030 Software and Drivers 14.1.1 Windows Vista", there is no driver for Windows 7 32bit but this one works perfectly.

Thanks in advance, Daniel