Major Driver problem on Managers personal laptop

Clarence

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:hide: I'm going to get some hard words Monday morning from the CEO for his laptop but I'm hoping by this weekend you guys can give me some help so by Monday I can sort this out....

I format the CEO laptop with windows 7 ultimate 64 bit edition. But as I usually do is plug in a network cable and install all drivers through device manager> update driver software ; through the Ethernet. Problem is I can't find the Wireless Adapter driver. Nothing in the Device manger is saying wireless card?:confused: I'm junior IT so I contacted my seniors in head office who told me to go to dell driver support> specify the service tag> and download the latest drivers. I did this but still not working.

When I called him again he asked me if the Bluetooth was installed, by this time the CEO came into the server room and asked for his laptop to leave. The senior IT guy told me to quickly do a windows update and only install important updates especially the Bluetooth device (what the hell Bluetooth has to do with it:confused:) The installation gave about 8 important updates but i cancelled because he had to leave.

Now he is going to use his laptop over the weekend and those IT guys in head office is laughing at me over the phone:mad: Would you guys please come to my rescue
 
If it's a newer Dell laptop, it will always (usually!) have an Intel wireless card installed. If you look on the Dell support page for the laptop in question (which it sounds like you've found) you should find under Drivers and support (or drivers and downloads now is it?) a list of all BIOS updates, drive firmware, drivers and manuals and such.

Look for LAN or WLAN drivers, and Bluetooth probably comes under radio or again under WLAN. These will download as .exe files (or sometimes a collection of files wherein lies a .inf file). Either run the Exe, or do into dev manager, update driver, say you have disk or tell it to look inside the driver folder you just downloaded.
 
If it's a newer Dell laptop, it will always (usually!) have an Intel wireless card installed. If you look on the Dell support page for the laptop in question (which it sounds like you've found) you should find under Drivers and support (or drivers and downloads now is it?) a list of all BIOS updates, drive firmware, drivers and manuals and such.

Look for LAN or WLAN drivers, and Bluetooth probably comes under radio or again under WLAN. These will download as .exe files (or sometimes a collection of files wherein lies a .inf file). Either run the Exe, or do into dev manager, update driver, say you have disk or tell it to look inside the driver folder you just downloaded.

:facepalm: yeah but it was download ing as a zip file it extracted and pointed to a new folder under the C:/ drive. When I browse in device manager to locate the folder it does not open.. :confused:now when I go directly to the folder and run the setup. Exe file it loads, I restart but still no wireless
 
I'm going to ask the stupid question. Many laptops have some master wifi switch/key combo that could disable wireless all together. Have you looked for that to ensure WiFi is even on?
 
I'm going to ask the stupid question. Many laptops have some master wifi switch/key combo that could disable wireless all together. Have you looked for that to ensure WiFi is even on?
Yes celegorm the WiFi switch was on.... Remember this is a clean install and before it was working well. I'm going to try something different tomorrow when the laptop returns to the office. I'm going to go under device manager and try to locate the path to system 32/driver. I was thinking about this over the weekend. Because before when I download the drivers I had to install it manually - then select a path. I think I was choosing the wrong path all along. Will let you guys know what happens this week
 
I had to ask as that's something that's easy to hit by accident - or for co-workers to turn off to give you a hard time.

Make sure when you use device manager to check off the box to also look in the sub-directories to cover all your bases.
 
:) ok guys I got it..... But not online on dell website. The CEO brought back the laptop this morning along with the original driver disc so I happen to install the Intel Centrino Wireless -N 1030 driver from the disc GUI. Strangely though:confused: the image below (please see) I was not seeing the list of drivers under Network adapters such as, Microsoft Virtual Miniport Adapter and Intel Centrino Wireless and Bluetooth Device (PAN)..so I could not do a 'Update driver Software' the only thing what was there before was Realtec PCIe Card or so.... What am not seeing now is network Controller under other devices. :rolleyes:Thanks again everyone..first time i've come across a porblem like this!!
 

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The wireless would most likely have been under the "Other Devices" section listed as something like "Network Controller."

Most laptops could have been shipped with any selection of wireless card. For example, me and my brother purchased identical laptops, mine had an Atheros wifi card, and his was Intel. The manufacturer will have all of the ones it *could* be, listed under the model on their website. You just have to install the right one!
 
The wireless would most likely have been under the "Other Devices" section listed as something like "Network Controller."

So I'm suggesting the next time I come across this problem check "Network Controller" But I specifically remembered right clicking update device software under network controller to no effect....................
 
Well Windows is by no means the "God of all drivers." There are hundreds of devices which Windows will not find. With pretty much every single PC I've ever reinstalled, I've had to manually install drivers from the internet... get used to it!
 
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