Re: [A/S] A question

[Rick Kunath <k9ao@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Poor Royal wrote:

> I have a 6 month old Dell Inspiron 86000 (lap-top). 

<snip>

> 
> I have been trying for months to get it to work at
> different campgrounds but it won't.  


You didn't mention what OS you were using, but assuming you are using M$ 
software, take a look in the Start>Control Panel>System>Device Manager 
and see if the card is OK. Look for a yellow caution sign in front of 
the wireless adapter if it isn't. Make sure the card is active as was 
mentioned. Sometimes the wireless card is actually turned off, either in 
the BIOS or via a switch so as to not use energy from the battery when 
not actually in use.

I did a quick search on your laptop model, 8600? was the 86000 a typo? 
There were several reports that Dell had installed an incorrect driver 
for the Intel wireless card in the machines and that the driver needed 
to be removed and the correct driver installed. You might want to check 
with Dell regarding this to see if you're one of these people. It might 
explain why WiFi never worked.

Wireless just does not automagically connect to open networks. Like any 
network, it needs to be configured.

Most laptops have applications installed that work together with the 
wireless card and allow you to look for WiFi networks, extract the SSID 
and ID if the access point is an open one, configure the connection, and 
attempt to log in. They'll let you see what networks are in range. Some 
will handle looking and logging in automatically for you and grab any 
open access network. Certain networks will require you to manually input 
SSID, ID, and WEP encryption if they are in use, open access points 
generally do not need this.

I'd take a look at Dell's site and see if there is a utility you can 
download from them that'll do the job (or maybe you already have it and 
don't know it.)

I have used a lot of ThinkPads over the years and IBM has an excellent 
Access Connections utility manager that handles all of this, including 
switching Ethernet profiles as well as wireless and Bluetooth, based on 
what it sees on any of the 3 (mini-PCI) network cards in the bigger 
ThinkPads. Dell must have something similar.

Also as was mentioned, make sure your virus scanner engines are current 
as well as virus definitions, and if you are using a non-secure OS, like 
any M$ product, install a good firewall. The firewall isn't going to 
protect you from spoofing or sniffing of unencrypted data, but at least 
you'll eliminate the chance of direct access to your resources on your 
machine. I don't believe that Yahoo passwords are sent encrypted based 
on sniffing I did here (over Ethernet) yesterday, so these are probably 
easily stealable by any script kiddy with a wireless sniffer within 
range of your computer as you access Yahoo sites.

Let us know how you make out with this.

Rick Kunath
WBCCI #3060