Weblog on the Internet and public policy, journalism, virtual community, and more from David Brake, a Canadian academic, consultant and journalist
27 August 2006
Filed under:Broadband infrastructure at7:22 pm

For ages now I have only been able to connect two of our three computers to the network at the same time (though there were four addresses available via the DHCP server on our Linksys router). So I upgraded the router to the latest software and reconnected everything. The Mac and my desktop connected fine. My wife’s Dell laptop? Blue screen of death with a helpful “driver IRQL not less or equal” message. I upgraded the Intel Pro 2200BG wireless card software in the Dell (which was two years old) but still no joy. Now waiting (in the doghouse) for a call from Dell tech support. I wish I could say this rarely happens but in my experience wireless networking almost never goes smoothly – and if it does, G*d help you if you change anything!

4 Comments »

  1. It’s wireless notworking, usually.

    Comment by goatchowder — 28 August 2006 @ 2:23 am

  2. That’s why I love my Macs. They just work. Looks like it’s back to wired internet for that Dell.

    Comment by Thomas — 28 August 2006 @ 3:34 pm

  3. In my experience, wireless networking always Just Works. But I’ve never tried it with Windows. THAT’s your problem, not the wireless stuff.

    Comment by David Cantrell — 29 August 2006 @ 5:00 pm

  4. My name is John, and I am a customer advocate at Dell headquarters.

    During my tenure at Dell I have worked as an escalation case manager for desktop support, portable support, and wireless support. If you haven’t received assistance yet, I would be happy to offer my services.

    Feel free to contact me at customer_advocate@dell.com, and place my name in the subject header so I know to grab the email. I will assist you in any way that I can.

    John
    Dell Customer Advocate

    Comment by John — 31 August 2006 @ 11:02 pm

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