dell studio xps 13 wifi issues 9.04 Jaunty

I am using 64 bit Ubuntu if that makes a difference

I am using 64 bit Ubuntu if that makes a difference

I am having the same issue. I have a Dell studio 1537 with the same card. When I first installed Jaunty it worked fine, but when I brought it to work and tried to access the wifi there it did not connect. I figured it was an issue with WPA2, but when I brought it back home the wireless did not work there either. My first suspicion was that it had somethign to do with disabling Broadcom Netlink propietary drivers that Ubuntu advised me to disable because they were not open source, but the ethernet works fine, it is only the wireless which suffers.
Unlike nynoah I can't connect at all. The NetworkManager does not detect my open wireless network, and when I specify the settings and try to connect to a "hidden" network it just spins and eventually fails out.

Any help with troubleshooting the issue would be greatly appreciated, I'm not a computer novice but I'm somewhat new to system administration in Linux. Thank you!

I laso have a XPS studio 13. Try installing the following package:

    linux-backports-modules -jaunty

The ath9k driver in this package works better.

I found my particular problem was a combination of disabling the proprietary drivers and having the "OFF" button selected on the wireless toggle on the side of the computer that I didn't know about. Once I re-enabled the proprietary Broadcom STA drivers and set the wireless switch to turn on, everything worked.
NetworkManager is still a bit slow to connect to wireless networks at times but it works WPA2 and WEP. I've even managed to catch wifi for a few minutes from Google's unsecured network as I zipped past their office on the CalTrain. Thanks for the help everyone!

Jon47, where is the wireless toggle? Which side/ top or bottom. The only wireless switch I can see is the capacitive switch above the "F7" key. You are talking about the Dell Studio XPS 1340 aren't you?

And I am also having the same wireless issues. Tried connecting to both an unsecured and a WPA network, and in both cases it connects weakly for about 10 seconds, and then drops out. This is using the supplied Broadcom STA driver, and Wicd.

Sorry, I'm using a Dell Studio 1537, I guess the XPS is different. The switch is pretty easy to spot, and it's a really stupid feature so count yourself lucky that you don't have one ;)

Also have a studio xps 1340. I experienced similar wireless connectivity issues while running the Ubuntu Netbook Remix (UNR). When I went back to a standard desktop by uninstalling the UNR, wireless connectivity returned to normal.

I love the UNR interface, but will have to wait until I understand how it is affecting connectivity.

I don't tried yet the linux-backports-modules -jaunty, but on Studio XPS 1340 I used Ubuntu 8.04 and the driver worked not so well (about 60-70 of signal power at one meter from the access point and where Windows Vista get 100%), then after upgrade to Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-11, the wireless network ceased to work at all. I think it's really a question of a very buggy driver that go forward for regressions. Now I'll try first the linux-backports-modules and then if that fails a shiny new vanilla 2.6.30.