Can't get Inspiron 8600 internal adapter to work

The Inspiron 8600 is using 802.11b protocol and does not recognize the 802.11g.

But that doesn't answer why I can't configure the adapter's settings. It may not (or may) work, but I thought I should at least see the Advanced box or the Wireless tab.

I'm guessing your card's drivers aren't actually installed correctly. As you point out, with "any" wireless device correctly installed in the system you should be able to get to the advanced tab, and input a SSID and even WEP key, irregardless of the actual presence of any 802.11 network at the time. I'm guessing that if the system doesn't relaly see a wireless adapter (internal or add-in) then those options might be grayed out. I'd remove the applications and uninstlal the drivers. Then go through the add new hardware option and let your OS rediscover the device, and have the latest release from Dell already downloaded to install. 

then your next problem will be two-fold as was stated...if your actually running a 802.11g "only" wireless network, you will still be unable to connect there if you indeed have only the 2100 base model. there are versions of the 2100 however with "g" support....second problem will be for your co-users of the network if your AP is b/g capable and setup for that.....if I understand the 802.11 corectly, I think if you do connect to it as a "b" device, it downgrades the entire network to "b" level while your using it. That won't make your neighbor users very happy

There is some really good info which might address this issue at this link:

http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=insp_network&message.id=3297