broadcom 802.11 wireless lan and possible overheat

[milajayne]

Hiya,

My dell inspiron laptop is overheating at the battery at times and giving error #m1004.
Also the broadcom wireless 802.11 wireless lan is not working (I use a linksys broadband router). When I try to link it up unwirelessly I am asked for a password which was never set up , so i try a random one or leaving it blank and then does nothing. Also at times the shortcut for wireless on my laptop says there is no radio signal.

The internet works fine on my other computer unwirelessly.

I checked out other posts who had had the same problem and ran speedfan.
the results are as follows: (I could not find any voltage results on speedfan)

with no programs running: temp1 41'
HDO 33C
DMM 41c
cpu 64c
GPU 41c
fAN SPEED 2730 rpm

with 2 programs running: all the same as above except CPU 70C
fan speed 4320 rpm

Whatever you suggest I will do, I'm desperate!
thanks
mila

[johnwill]

I'd start by blowing any dust out of the machine, it sounds like something's blocking the ventilation.

[milajayne]

thanks for your reply, so quickly.

well i managed to get 3 bits off the back of the laptop - but i reckon you mean i need to take the whole back cover off. Which requires a proper small screwdriver, instead of the crude one i have. So i will go get the right tools and get back to you as quickly as I can.

thanks again.

[johnwill]

Actually, I was talking about using canned air to blow the dust of of the fan vents. Taking it apart is more effective, but lots more complicated!

[milajayne]

haha,

well to be honest i'm not so clever with these things, so you need to spell it out to me!!
still trying to get a wee screwdriver!

[milajayne]

hi, so i blew dust out of my laptop, but there wasn't much.

Now I am receiving this error message before the BIOS is loaded up:

"The Device in the system modular bay cannot be identified. It may not be completely inserted or may have some other problem. Please read and complete the following steps.

1. Press the device completely and firmly into the bay.
2. Press the ESC-key -- wait for the system to power down.
3. Press the power button to retry detecting the device."

I've tried to press the SM down, but it seems perfectly clicked in - would be impossible for me to get out as i wouldn't have a clue.

[johnwill]

The modular bay is where the optical drive plugs in, did you remove that and reinsert it?

[milajayne]

hi john,

all i did was unscrew the plastic black cover, and ensure there was no dust by blowing - i did not actually touch any of it, then i screwed the black cover on it again.

[johnwill]

Like I said, I think the modular bay (at least usually) is where a removable drive is connected, not a cover on the bottom of the machine.

[milajayne]

understood now. I wiggled the cd/dvd drive and now the laptop is coming up as 'no boot sector on internal hard drive'...strike F1 to retry and F2 for setup utility..

[milajayne]

actually it only did that once, then went back to the previous startup with the system modular - so i pushed the dvd drive some more, and it started up fine.

Problem now is it is not recognising the dvd player. it may have been moved when i was getting rid of the dust.

[johnwill]

Well, you're on the trail of the issue. I'd remove the DVD and use a light to look inside to see if anything's amiss. It certainly sounds like a mechanical connection issue.