Dell Wireless 1450 USB Adapter (802.11a/b/g)

Despite not being a serious technical person I thought I would kit out my resently purchased and upgraded Dell Optiplex PC with Vista. I had previously loaded XP just to check that the unit was fine and checked the computer for Vista compatibility. However I missed something!

Vista does not support my USB wireless adapter: Dell Wireless 1450 USB Adapter (802.11a/b/g) :crazy:

I cannot find a driver for this adapter and as a poor student who was trying to save himself money by buying a returned small form Dell and then striping it out and upgrading it to a far higher spec I feel a bit annoyed to have to buy a new adapter. I know its not that much money but I would rather keep my virtually brand new adapter.

Basically I need a driver update but cannot find one...Dell are very unhelpful in this respect too! I have checked most of the links to drivers from this and other sites but am now very, very stuck and currently unable to log on to the net. HELP!!!

 

have you tried these steps herefirst?

 

Hi,



Thanks but it is just not happening...I think I need to get a new wireless adapter. This of course means more expence for this debt ridden poor student so I would like to take this opertunity to thank Microsoft so very much for yet again for orphaning hardware and software and causing thier CUSTOMERS to buy new. Lets say I don't have a lot of love for Microsoft! :angry:



Jack

 

sorry to add this to such an old thread... I was able to get the Dell 1450 USB adapter working on Vista with minimum fuss. The problem with the drivers on Vista is that the installer apparently detects Vista a XP64 and tries to install the 64-bit drivers.



Solution:

1) Install the Dell 1450 USB drivers on a PC with XP32 (assuming your target machine is 32-bit)

2) Copy the "2K" drivers from the install directory ( c:\program files\dell wireless ) to a flash drive.

3) Copy the "2K" drivers from the flash drive to the Vista machine. After you plug in your 1450 choose to manually select the driver then browse to that folder. You should be up an running in a few seconds.



The extra connection manager software that came with the adapter won't run on Vista but you'll still get a good wireless connection.

 

Sorry, but I just don't understand the logic of blaming Microsoft when it is Dell who has not provided the proper drivers. MS can't be expected to cover EVERYTHING. IMHO its Dell you should be yelling at, not MS. How much 'backward' compatibility can you REALLY expect?



My Logitech webcam wouldn't work after upgrading to Vista, so I went to Logitech, as I should and the said 'no drivers available for Vista' on it. Now who should you REALLY blame, MS or Logitech?