[SanFran]

Hello,
I have a Dell Inspiron 1520 with Windows XP Home operating system. There is a built in Dell Wireless 1395 802.11g Mini Card that came with the computer. I recently got a virus and had to reboot my computer. The problem is I can no longer find my wireless internet system. When I go to Control Panel>Internet Connections there isn't a "Wireless Internet Connection" option.
The other thing is, I can't use the Wireless Internet Setup Wizard because I don't have my own wireless provider (I use my computer at school to connect to the free campus-wide wireless internet).
Please Help.
Thanks!

[Jason08]

Have you tried repairing the connection from device manager?

[JohnWill]

First, perform the following repair.

TCP/IP stack repair options for use with Windows XP with SP2/SP3.

Start, Run, CMD to open a command prompt:

In the command prompt window that opens, type type the following commands:

Note: Type only the text in bold for the following commands.

Reset TCP/IP stack to installation defaults, type: netsh int ip reset reset.log

Reset WINSOCK entries to installation defaults, type: netsh winsock reset catalog

Reboot the machine.







Next, I'd like to see this.


Hold the Windows key and press R, then type devmgmt.msc

Please respond to all the following steps.

1. Under Network adapters, please tell me all the devices listed.
2. Are there any devices under Network adapters that have a red x displayed?
3. Also, are there any devices anywhere in the Device Manager display with yellow ? or ! displayed?

Let's see this as well.

Hold the Windows key and press R, then type CMD to open a command prompt:

In the command prompt window that opens, type type the following command:

Note that there is a space before the /ALL, but there is NOT a space after the / in the following command.

IPCONFIG /ALL

Right click in the command window and choose Select All, then hit Enter to copy the contents to the clipboard.
Paste the results in a message here.

If you are on a machine with no network connection, use a floppy, USB disk, or a CD-RW disk to transfer a text file with the information to allow pasting it here.

[SanFran]

1. Network Adapters
~1394 Net Adapter
~Broadcom 440x 10/100 Integrated Controller

2. No devices under Network Adapters have a red x.

3. There is a Category called "Other devices" with a yellow question mark in front of it. There are two devices in that category (both have yellow question marks with small exclamation points in front of them):
~Network Controller
~PCI Device


Command copy/pasted bellow:


Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Liza Lee>IPCONFIG /ALL

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : silverserpent
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcast
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 2:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom 440x 10/100 Integrated Cont
roller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-1D-09-DE-16-12

[JohnWill]

That "Network Controller" under Other Devices is most likely your wireless adapter with no drivers. You need to download and install the chipset and network drivers for your machine.

[SanFran]

I can't get online on this computer, but is it possible to download the chipset and network drivers onto another machine (my roomates MacBook) and then copy them to a memory stick to transfer them to my computer? If not, how would I do that?

[dlsayremn]

You should be able to transfer the files that way. I have done so several times when I could not download straight to a computer.

[JohnWill]

Yep, just copy them to a USB FLASH drive or the like and use them on the ailing system.

[SanFran]

Great! Thank you all so much! My computer now connects to the internet. Who knew it could be so simple?
What I really can't believe is when I called Dell Support they said they would charge me $130 to fix my system! I guess I only have a warranty for hardware.
Thanks again!

[JohnWill]

Well, after you send us our payment your savings won't be quite as large.

Just kidding.