Intel PRO Wireless 3945ABG WiFi Radio Adapter Shut Off Randomly
On laptop or notebook computers that use Intel PRO Wireless 3945ABG built-in Wi-Fi network adapter in Windows Vista, the WiFi radio signal may just suddenly turns off, shuts off or disable randomly, with the Internet or network cuts off. The wireless network connection may still appear as active and connected with Excellent signal strength in Network Center, but the network status will change to Limited Connectivity. If the system has LED indicator for Wi-Fi wireless radio signal status, the LED light also turns off (may also stays on) and Wi-Fi radio power cannot be toggled back on with Function hotkey (such as Dell QuickSet), even though the software detects the toggling or pressing of keys with WiFi and Bluetooth logo pop up. It looks like the Wireless adapter card loses its power and are completely shutdown and powered off.
Even when the problem happens, the network device appears working properly and normal in Device Manager. The IP address auto-discovered by DHCP may be lost or gone. And there is no way to recover the Wireless radio signal other than restart the system. But the problem will happen again. Even changing configuration settings of roaming aggressiveness, transmit power, wireless mode (between 892.11a/b/g) or power-saving mode does not permanently resolve the Wireless network adapter off problem.
The notebook or laptop computers that affected by the suddenly auto shutdown of Wireless signal adapter include Dell Inspiron E1505, Dell Inspiron E1705, Dell Inspiron 6400, Dell Inspiron 9400, Dell Latitude D830, Dell Latitude D630, Dell XPS M1210, Dell XPS M1710, Dell Precision M90, Sony VAIO VGN-SZ430NB, Acer, ASUS S6Fm, HP Pavilion dv9000, Alienware Area-51 M5790 and many other Vista system.
The issue with the WiFi adapter is caused by incompatible Vista driver, as the problem does not happen under Windows XP system. Previously, users have used two workarounds as a temporary solution – “XP Fix” which uses Intel PRO Wireless 3945ABG driver designed for Windows XP, or rollback and switch back to Microsoft driver comes with Vista for Intel PRO Wireless 3945ABG network card. However, these workarounds have an drawback and disadvantage that the Wireless network or LAN is not optimized for fastest possible speed, instead opt for lower reliable speed throughput, and also have poor radio signal level problem.
Luckily, Dell has released a new updated driver supporting Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection and Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN. The driver version 11.1.1.22 dated 08/08/2007 comes from provider Intel, is packaged as R164259 (11.1.1.3) – A05 – August 2007 release. It fixes the following bugs (changelog):
- Addresses 3945ABG radio disable seen with some systems running with Bluetooth modules
- Addresses 3945ABG radio disable seen in some 802.11a environments after Standby or Hibernate
- Addresses installer upgrade behavior where Windows Vista Preferred Networks would be lost
- Addresses installer interaction with InstallShield Update Manager causing an unwanted prompt during installation
The new driver will likely to solve the Wireless cuts off problem in Vista. Download the driver version 11.1.1.22 from ftp://ftp.dell.com/network/R164259.EXE. It’s a Dell installer package, which should works on other brands too. Otherwise, simply extract the driver by using WinRAR and manually update the driver for the network card from Device Manager.
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Shelby: your advice solved my disconnection probem. XP SP3. Changing the router settings did the trick. Many thanks, this had been annoying me for weeks.
I have the exact same problem on a Dell e1505, as aforementioned, excepting the fact that I have always used XP and never vista. I’m hoping that the driver install will take care of this problem
this is happening to me on a windows xp toshiba latop.
Also on my D630 (XP 32-bit) it now and then shuts off using the latest Dell driver (12.4.4.5).
I did not try the latest driver from Intel (13.3.0.137), but the latest software (13.3.0.0) from Intel does not work. My 3945 is not recognised as compatible hardware.
I'm running XP on a Dell Latitude D630, and this problem started happening a few weeks ago. Before that, it had run fine for well over a year.
Had this same problem on a Dell Latitude D620. After about a month of checking forum after forum for an answer, this is the ONLY process that worked for me, so I hope this helps someone before they pull their hair out!
1. Download this driver for your Intel PRO Wireless 3945ABG from the dell or intel sites. It is driver version 12.4.4.5 dated 10/26/09. Install this driver.
2. Go into your system properties within WINDOWS, click HARDWARE, then DEVICE MANAGER. Within the DEVICE MANAGER choose NETWORK ADAPTERS and find INTEL PRO Wireless 3945ABG. Right click and select properties. Under ADVANCED should be a drop down menu on the left, scroll down and look for POWER MANAGEMENT. This controls the PSP (Power Save Polling) which allows your wireless device to shut of devices it's connected to in order to save power….like your ROUTER! Move the slider on your right to the HIGHEST LEVEL for MAX performance.
3. Still inside the DEVICE MANAGER select the POWER MANAGEMENT tab @ the top and uncheck the box the says "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power" Click OK and EXIT.
This should fix the problem for most, but if it continues then do the following on the router side:
UPDATE TO THE LATEST FIRMWARE FOR YOUR ROUTER THEN MAKE THESE CHANGES WITHIN YOUR ADVANCED SETTINGS:
Change the Beacon interval from 100 to 50
Change the fragmentation threshold from 2346 to 2306
Change the RTS threshold from 2347 to 2304
******HOPE THIS HELPS SOMEONE OUT THERE ******
I am running WINDOWS XP SP3
DELL LATITUDE D20 LAPTOP
LINKSYS ROUTER WRT54GL
I have the exact same problem on a Dell e1505, as aforementioned, excepting the fact that I have always used XP and never vista. I'm hoping that the driver install will take care of this problem
Using the 2007 driver in windows xp, solves the randomly shutting off problem for the intel 3495 wifi adapter, had the same problem on the latitude d620 now solved