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Dell laptop can't find Starlink halp

JNHEscher

JNHEscher

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Dogwood, MO.
Only laptop we have at this time than I can use Fusion 360 on cannot seem to find our Starlink. Dell Inspirion, Windows 10 (Home, I suspect). Been fawking with it over the last week and have had no luck. Youngest's Chromebook finds it, wife's phone finds it, my phone finds it, so WTF?

Tried forcing either wifi frequency - nothing. Set it back to "no preference"- it finds the Roku TV we have at the house, even when it's not turned on. Run the troubleshooter and it comes up with an adapter problem. None of this happens at the apartment where we have AT&T wifi. Checked a couple other things that I can't remember now. We'll be down at the house tomorrow and will take the laptop in question along to try to figure out. Any ideas?
 
How old is the laptop? Does the starlink router use a newer wifi standard the the laptop doesn't support?


That's what happened to my neighbor. Got fiber installed and is using Spectrum's wifi router. His older desktop gaming rig couldn't find the network. I pointed him to a $20 USB wifi adapter on Amazon and it had no problem connecting.
 
bgaidan said:
How old is the laptop? Does the starlink router use a newer wifi standard the the laptop doesn't support?


That's what happened to my neighbor. Got fiber installed and is using Spectrum's wifi router. His older desktop gaming rig couldn't find the network. I pointed him to a $20 USB wifi adapter on Amazon and it had no problem connecting.
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Laptop is highly likely older. Don't know how old, to be exact. Our Starlink is brand new. Just got it a couple weeks ago. USB adapter will probably be the way to go.
 
JNHEscher said:
Laptop is highly likely older. Don't know how old, to be exact. Our Starlink is brand new. Just got it a couple weeks ago. USB adapter will probably be the way to go.
Click to expand...

Google says the starlink router is IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac so I'd think anything would be able to connect to it, but I'd also bet a newer USB adapter will fix your problem.
 
bgaidan said:
Google says the starlink router is IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac so I'd think anything would be able to connect to it, but I'd also bet a newer USB adapter will fix your problem.
Click to expand...
Much appreciated. I'll poke around Amazon and give that a try.
 
I would try downloading the latest driver for the card in the laptop, after making aure theres not a hardware off switch that's been turned on accidentally.
The wifi cards are usually accessible pretty easily in a hatch, unless it's ancient it will be a mini pci express card. You can pick up a new card for like 20 bucks and replace it if you don't want a usb one hanging out of the machine. If you don't care USB is the easy button.
 
1oddtech said:
I wonder if the router is set to 5 ghz and the laptop is only 2.4 ghz
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I have had combined 5ghz\2.4ghs ssids confuse the shit out of older devices as well. There's usually an option to uncouple them and give them separate ssid names in the router. Unfamiliar with the star link equipment
 
87manche said:
I would try downloading the latest driver for the card in the laptop, after making aure theres not a hardware off switch that's been turned on accidentally.
The wifi cards are usually accessible pretty easily in a hatch, unless it's ancient it will be a mini pci express card. You can pick up a new card for like 20 bucks and replace it if you don't want a usb one hanging out of the machine. If you don't care USB is the easy button.
Click to expand...
I'll see what I can find in it. Looking at a nano for this because our oldest uses the laptop as well - Amazon.com


To be honest, I barely keep up with computers anymore, so I have to research stuff as I go.
 
windows key R
devmgmt.msc in the run box
hit enter
look under network devices.
see what it say for the wireless adapter.
 
Checked for an update the other day. Still says it's current.

IMG_20240920_181316496_HDR.jpg
 
Look for Dell command update if it’s installed, run it and let it update everything it finds. Reboot even if it doesn’t ask. Then run it again.


If it’s not there go to Dells site and install it. Then run it.
 
Go download the specific driver's from Dell's website, don't install their shitty bloatware to do it for you. Especially if it's an older system.
 
bgaidan said:
Google says the starlink router is IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac so I'd think anything would be able to connect to it, but I'd also bet a newer USB adapter will fix your problem.
Click to expand...

Which frequency? I know nothing about starlink, but don’t some not-so-old wireless adapters only connect to one frequency?
 
rockota said:
Which frequency? I know nothing about starlink, but don’t some not-so-old wireless adapters only connect to one frequency?
Click to expand...
JNHEscher said:
This laptop allows either one, so I'd say dual.
Click to expand...

It's not just the frequency, but also the standard. I haven't kept up with this shit either. I know some of my ubiquiti shit is Wifi 6, but beyond that I just know all of my shit works. 🤷‍♂️


Google says the starlink router works with everything up to 6, but that doesn't mean the Dell doesn't have some goofy adapter that doesn't play well with it. When I test drove starlink, I got the Cat5 adapter with it and disabled their router and wifi and ran it through my own gear.

1726883375844.png
 
May just get the USB adapter, in that case. None of us care for Dell. Just happened to be what my dad had gotten and he was notoriously as cheap ass :laughing:
 
I usually just install the Intel reference driver.
I think that card is in the big intel wifi download.
 
Took a wifi adapter to make it work. Couldn't get a single update to take. Ordered the adapter I linked off Amazon and it was up and running right away.
 
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