I finally got around to Googling this issue I’ve been having with my Dell E1505 laptop, which uses a Dell 1390 WLAN Minicard. Thought I blog about it since it was buried deep in a forum somewhere.
If your laptop is having issues connecting to WIFI connections, regardless of what router you’re using. Updating the drivers will not help! It is most likely an issue with whatever internal antenna the card is using. Aparently there are more than one antenna this card can use?? I’m not sure, but the problem I was having was that I would see the access point, could connect, but the connection would drop shortly thereafter. Then the access point would not be visible for 5 or 10 minutes. Using the Dell WIFI software or Windows XP Wireless Zero Configuration Utility had no impact.
To fix this issue, go to the Device Manager. Double click on the Dell Wireless (1390/1490/1500) Dual Band WLAN Mini-Card device. The properties dialog should appear. Click on the Advanced tab. Look for Antenna Diversity under the Property. Change the value to Aux. Hit ok. Then try and reconnect to your WIFI connection. By changing this you should see your access point and be able to connect to it.
Thank you SO much! This helped me big time! At first your solution didn’t work so I undid it and tried another fix, after which I changed it to Aux again, AND IT WORKED. Thank you so much man!
Man, you are my hero! I have purchased a used Dell Latitude D420 and spent hours if not days trying to find the cause of the issue with the 1390 wireless card. With your instructions I fixed it with seven mouse clicks.
Thanks a lot!!
After two weeks of fooling around with a Dell Latitude 620 with 1490 WLAN card, I found this tip. Worked *perfectly*. Who knew the antenna had an AUX setting?
Thanks a bunch…been trying to figure this out on my D620 for days…
Who would figure something so simple could cause one to drink…lol
Great job…
Thank you..!!!
Wow! Thank you soon much. I just replaced my modem/router with a combo unit and couldn’t get the dumb thing to recognize my new network without re-entering the key many many times and this fixed it. Btw, dell “support” was zero help. Thank you again!
Been to comp net school for 3 years and nobody knew how to fix this, (including teachers!) thank you so much!
Absolutely perfect solution. My new Netgear wireless router kept rapidly connecting and disconnecting. This was driving me crazy for hours tonight. Changing the antenna to Aux, in a few simple clicks, fixed it — it has been stable now for hours. Thanks are not enough – but all I have. THANKS!!!
Hi I have a dall inspiron 6400 about 6 months ago my wifi was working fine when I stil had windows xp and it just stop working the next day I tray rolling back the drivers everything but nothing is it possible that my mini card gave in because my wifi light is also not caming on please help me