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Inspiron 5150--can't find wireless switch
Help! The wireless just stopped working. Get message saying no wireless networks are within range (not so) and to make sure the wireless switch is turned on. Problem is that I cannot find a wireless switch anywhere on the laptop. I searched the the knowledge base, but the picture that shows where the switch is supposed to be looks nothing like my laptop!
I can connect to my router and modem using an ethernet cord, but I cannot get the wireless to work. Any help out there?
Thanks.
PudgyOne
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March 21st, 2009 06:00
mcparis,
On most Dell computers, they have a function to turn the wireless card on and off. Press the Blue Fn and the F2 button and this usually turns the wireless card on/off. Dell Quickset must be on the computer for the hotkeys of the computer to work. Some other computers have a switch on the side of the computer to turn the wireless card on/off.
Do you see any yellow exclaimination marks in the Device manager? Go to device manager(right click my computer, left click properties, left click hardware, left click device manager)
Rick
lordtriton
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December 25th, 2009 22:00
You may want to change the channel on your wireless router. Most are set to a default of 0 or 1. If there are many devices in your area, they can crowd the channel which drops your connection. By changing to a channel that is rarely used, your connection can be terrific. By the way someone threw away this Inspiron 5150 because they could not connect to the internet. they bought a card and that did not work so good. They bought a new laptop and threw this brand new looking dell away. I took the laptop and I found the card was defective and tossed it, and when I changed the channel on the router, this laptop came alive. just as fast as my brand new Toshiba, actually faster due to Vista on the Toshiba. Amazing.
speedstep
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December 26th, 2009 02:00
0 or 1 ? Not sure what you mean by that.
Channel 6 is the default channel for most Wireless Access Points.
Channel 11 is the next one that wont interfere with 6.
Wi-Fi 802.11b and 802.11g numbers overlap with each other. Channel 1 uses the lowest frequency band and each subsequent channel increases the frequency slightly. Therefore, the further apart two channel numbers are, the less the degree of overlap and likelihood of interference. If encountering interference with a neighbor's WLAN, change to a distant channel. Both channels 1 and 11 do not overlap with the default channel 6; use one of these three channels for best results.
Bluetooth and 2.4Ghz Cordless Phones also use the same frequencys so make sure you use a 5.2Ghz or 900Mhz wireless phone.
The possible channels for 802.11n systems are: 36, 40, 44, 48, 52, 56, 60, 64, 100, 104, 108, 112, 116, 120, 124, 128, 132, 136, 149, 153, 157 and 161