Brand New wireless card may be fried...

I just bought a Studio 1737 about a week ago. Hot out of the box, I could not connect to any wifi networks. My old Laptop, an Ispiron E1505 had the same problem when I first purchased it (3 years ago). With the 1505, I just reinstalled the drivers and restarted it a couple of times and it started to work. I tried the same on the Studio, but to no avail. I've been reading posts on here all week and following advice, but nothing has worked. I reinstalled Vista, made sure I installed the Wireless card drivers last, but still no luck. My wifi light has never popped on or anything similar. I've tried the online chat with Dell 3 times, but they couldn't make any progress. Their only advice was to call the Fee-based help line. I'm a musician/poor college student, so anything requiring fees is out of the question. I feel that since the wireless networking card NEVER worked, it shouldn't be on me to pay for anything. I'm frustrated to the max right now! The only thing I can think of that may be causing the problem is that this laptop came in with a defective wireless networking card. It's supposed to be an Intel 5300 Ultimate N. Please help! I need this resolved by the end of the week so I can take my new laptop around with me instead of continuing to use my old and decrepit 1505. Thanks in advance!