[cms]

On Youtube, and myself personally, have had problems with the Inspiron Duo's Wifi being buggy.

Issue in a nutshell:
When the duo is converted from "netbook mode" into "tablet mode" wifi goes from full strength to nonexistent.

-other related problems include: poor signal coverage, random cutouts, and overall "I hate this device" syndrome :P

Reason for Problem:
Major reason-
For early Dell Duo's..Dell's early factory drivers for the wifi chip (Atheros AR9285 Series) are not that great. (Dell might have already fixed the driver issue on newer production units)

Major reason alt.-
Windows Update has no clue what the Atheros AR9285 is...and thus gives it a generic Atheros driver (which is also not that great either)
(Tip to modders: Windows 7 Install disks do not automatically have the driver for the wifi chip, thus if you do decide to put a fresh copy of windows 7, your going to need to save proper drivers on a flash drive.)

Minor reason-
Antennas are located on the top of the lid (in "netbook mode"), on the left and right sides of the webcam. Holding the device in those areas will weaken the signal strength (not extremely though, that's why its a minor reason)

Solution:
Get proper Drivers.
You can use the links below to install better drivers. (Because Dell support has not posted drivers yet) It took me hours to find these:

For Windows 7 32bit - (factory default Duo's)
Drivers for Atheros AR9002WB and Windows 7

For Windows 7 64bit - (For those who installed Windows 7 64bit)
Drivers for Atheros AR9002WB and Windows 7

Work Cited
People of Atheros.cz an Unofficial Atheros Driver Distributer



I hope this fixes the problem for everyone, It worked great for me.
CMS

[obento]

Thanks for taking the time to post this fix. I dont have my Duo yet but if i have this problem then you have already solved it for me. Thanks.

[lostimno]

For what it's worth, the driver didn't fix my problem. I can see "b" and "g" networks, but cannot see or connecdt to "n" networks. If anyone has had any success, I would greatly appreciate it.

[holmes4]

Is the N network at 2.4GHz or 5GHz? You may have an adapter that is 2.4GHz only.

[MiniToy]

Originally Posted by holmes4

Is the N network at 2.4GHz or 5GHz? You may have an adapter that is 2.4GHz only.

Atheros AR9285 802.11b/g/n WiFi Adapter (AR9002WB-1NGCD WLAN/BT combo card) is only a single-stream 2.4GHz part that can only get up to 150Mb. I really do not like when every manufacture out there slaps on 802.11n specs without letting you know if it's a lower end or higher end part. I wish they actually provided this information prior to launch so we could make better purchasing decisions. I would rather have 5GHz devices capable of at least 300Mb. I also don't like how some manufacturers tout 450Mb routers/APs when they don't even produce the required 450Mb adapters to mate them.

AR9285
Atheros :: Technology :: WLAN :: AR9285

AR9002WB-1NGCD
Atheros :: Technology :: WLAN :: AR9002WB-1NGCD

Official shipping Dell Driver v9.0.0.224(WLAN)/v6.30.730.301(BT), A00
Drivers & Downloads

Oh, and I don't like getting my network device drivers from Czechoslovakia.


Why in the hell would anyone want to load 64-bit Windows on a netbook with limited resources? Don't you people know that the 64-bit version eats up way more resources?! You ain't gonna run more than 4GB of RAM (only real reason to even run a 64-bit OS) because the chipset/CPU combo ONLY support up to 2GB RAM.

Just because you think you can doesn't mean you should prove to others that you're an idiot.

[cms]

Originally Posted by MiniToy

Why in the hell would anyone want to load 64-bit Windows on a netbook with limited resources? Don't you people know that the 64-bit version eats up way more resources?! You ain't gonna run more than 4GB of RAM (only real reason to even run a 64-bit OS) because the chipset/CPU combo ONLY support up to 2GB RAM.

Just because you think you can doesn't mean you should prove to others that you're an idiot.

My job uses software only written in 64bit. On special note a stock dell duo uses more resources than a clean 64bit install.

If you dont use software written to utilize 64bit architecture then that's your own problem. ijs
& If you think the only significant difference between 32bit and 64bit is memory size then your sadly mistaken.

Also this thread was made about a half month before dell released their support drivers. The only drivers that worked at the time where those.

This is a help forum, not a slander one, watch who you label as idots.

[lostimno]

Thanks Steve. Over the course of today, I had slowly figured out that my card was 2.4 Ghz only. When I force my router to N only (and 2.4), I can connect at 65 Mbps, which makes me think that I'm only on a 20 Mhz band. My router says that it should go to 40 Mhz in that mode, but I'm doubtful.

I had this card (AR9285) in an hp netbook, and I didn't like it there either. I may replace the thing along with my router.