Solved Windows 8.1 - cannot see 5Ghz wifi networks

I think you are exactly right. To prove it, here is a picture of the actual wireless card in my laptop; it is a 7260HMW BN, which is a single band 2.4 Ghz only card. I have asked Dell to replace the card with a dual band card (I have onsite repair).
View attachment 32643

how did dell responded to this problem? Did they solved the issue and did you get a new wifi card? Because i have the same problem but i don't get any help from dell...
they promised somebody would come to fix my antenna and wifi card but nobody came. They also did not believe anything of this and that i got a wrong wifi card....

I had a good time proving that Dell was completely and absolutely incorrect, of course they always deny that this type of problem could ever occur and they know more than you do and the usual "you know nothing" and "we know everything attitude" It's a bit difficult to figure out with some having Bluetooth others with 5Ghz, and I had to spend hours trying to figure this all out.

No doubt that you will have to complain very loudly in order to get Dell to fix this. I wouldn't even waste my time going through Dell on this because they will make it a bigger hassle than it's worth. I'd just purchase the correct dual band card, install it myself and be done with it.

Do they seriously expect people to exchange their entire laptop just to upgrade the wireless NIC, or maybe the extra antenna placement is a problem not sure.

In fact let me repost Dell's official answer to this problem before I schooled them on the facts and proved them completely wrong. Maybe Dell should send me a check for providing customer service which they were not capable of doing. In fact both of Dell's statements were not only incorrect but they were purposely misleading.

Yes you can make a positive ID on any connected hardware using the device ID finder in Device Manager.
Device Manager - Finding Unknown Devices - Windows 7 Help Forums

And yes Realtek did make versions of this NIC that were not dual band, dual function Bluetooth + 2.4GHz is not the same as dual band 2.4GHz + 5GHz


From Dell Support:
"Yes, that’s absolutely fine, because the operating system won’t give you a detailed description of any hardware component, however there was only one version of this card produced and they are all dual band cards, there is no single band 7260 cards."
 
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My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro WMC
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home built
    CPU
    Q9650 @ 4.05 GHz
    Motherboard
    Gforce 780i SLI FTW
    Memory
    8GB Gskill DDR2 1200Mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    GTX-480
    Sound Card
    Asus D2 Xonar
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HannsG
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    Gskill 120GB SSD
    PSU
    Thermal Take 1000watts
    Case
    Thermal Take Xtreme
    Cooling
    9 fans air cooled
    Keyboard
    G15 logitech
    Mouse
    G9 logitech
    Internet Speed
    50mbps
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