M11x R1 Wi-Fi Dilema-"no compatible hardwar found. the software you are trying to install is not supported on this system "

[Jimmy W]

I have had my fav laptop ever, the M11x for 18 months now. I recently had some issues with the wi-fi, major hanging and unresponsiveness to wifi connection. I then realized a virus had invaded the system after a restore to hopefully fix wifi issue. it was unusable after the restore. JBOV.dll or something like that. I then decided to wipe the hdd clean with a fresh install of Win7 ultimate (origionally shipped with 7 Home Premium). Install was cool, and i began to download drivers from the dell support site. all driver installs were great...after unpacking the download, the install would launch and it was next,next,next,finish and done...til i got to the Dell 1520 agn wifi (broadcom) adapter. I am able to download the driver, but the install will not launch, saying" no compatible hardware found. the software you are trying to install is not supported on this system ".
After reseating the adapter, I figured it was somehow fried. Purchased another adapter certified refurb from ebay, same issue. I can see a network controller on device mgr, but no matter what i try to there i cannot restore wifi adapter. I have attempted using a driver install order recommended, downloading every version of this card's drivers from dell as well as other sites and have had no luck. someone please give me some good news...im counting on you!

[WEB_HEAD241]

I had this EXACT same problem about a month ago. Try downloading an older version of the intel 1520 half mini wireless card.

Drivers and Downloads | Dell [United States]

Best of luck!

Here's some instructions:

Directions to install:

1. Download driver to desktop

2. Run driver's .exe (R270598.exe) - this will extract all driver files to C:\Dell\Drivers\R270598

3. After the .exe finishes extracting driver files, it will attempt the install and a failure message will be displayed. This is ok - proceed to step 4.

4. Go to Device Manager

5. Open up the Network Adapters tree of Device Manager and find your 'DW1520 Wireless-N WLAN Half-Mini Card' entry. Double click on it and choose the 'Driver' tab.

6. Choose Update Driver ----> Browse my computer for driver software

7. Type the following in the Browse to field:
"C:\dell\drivers\R270598\DRIVER_US"

8. Click next - Windows will now update your wireless driver using the specified files.

All credit for that goes to Batboy.

If that doesn't work, let me know.

[Jimmy W]

thanks for the reply! I actually took the computer to a good friend who used to work tech support for Dell. in literally 10 minutes, he fixed what i couldnt in a week. what he did was

enter device mgr from ctl panel
clicked on my Network controller icon with yellow (!)
details tab
hardware lds
confirmed he had the correct mfg discription
then somehow he forced windows to install one of the 10 driver downloads that were already on my system

i was amazed this worked, but i guess that is why he was in tech support! If this ever happens to you and your AW is out of warranty, i hope this helps.