Is the wireless network card turned on?  Does the WiFi light in the hinge area on the right hand side light up?  Have you tried using the Fn F2 key combination which toggles the wireless radio on and off?  Is your router using any security settings?  Is the SSID being broadcast by your router or is it set to "hidden"?

Steve

please excuse my inexperience.  Which of the three lights is the WIFI light?  How do I tell  if  my network card is on?  I did try toggleing the fn f2 button when I trouble shot with netgear.  Netgear took me through everything they could think of, so I don't think anything  else you mentioned is the issue.

???

Thanks

also there is  a little red x in front of the  moniter  icon at the  bottem left  of the screen

You might want to have a look at the users guide for your computer to help you locate the WiFi light (it might also be helpful in the future, it contains a wealth of information):

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins9400/en/om/om_en.pdf

According to the users manual (See page - 19) the WiFi light actually is  located directly above the F5 and F6 keys.

You may have an icon in the system tray (lower right corner of the screen) that looks like two monitors.   This is the icon for your wired ethernet connection.  If it has a red x through it, it means that you are not connected to anything by ethernet (i.e. you do have a network cable running between your ethernet port and on of the LAN ports of the router. 

The wireless network icon has a single monitor with radio waves emanating from the right-hand side.  Is that icon present in your system tray?  If so, when you right click the icon, does an option to enable the wireless connection appear in the pop-up menu?

Steve

The  icon  in question is the wireless network icon.  It has an x on  it.  If you right click  for more options it gives you the  option of searching for networks in range.  When I  clicked  on that it could find no networks  in range and suggested  I make  sure that wireless switch was on, which I did..

So, does the WiFi light come on?  If so, do you know if your router has been set to hide the SSID?   If you aren't sure, you might want to consider resetting the router to its default settings by pressing and holding the reset button on the back of the router.  This will return the router to its default settings which include not hiding the SSID, disabling encryption, and disabling MAC address filtering. 

Steve

See if the computer is even recognizing the presence of the wierless card.  To do this, right click on My Computer and select Properties from the drop-down menu.   Click on the Hardware tab, then on the Device Manager button.   Click on the + sign next to Newwork Adapters, then look to see if the wireless adapter is listed.  Report back what you find.

Steve

yes, intel pro wireless connection

You might want to try uninstalling the wireless card in Device Manager, the reinstalling the drivers.  Download the drivers from the following site first, then just run the downloaded files to reinstall the drivers.

http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&releaseid=R127811&SystemID=INS_PNT_P4_9400&os=WW1&osl=en&deviceid=9540&devlib=0&typecnt=1&vercnt=2&formatcnt=1&libid=5&fileid=169955

Steve

wait!  don't leave me hanging.  I'm having the exact same problem - how did you fix it???