Wireless suddenly turned off and I can't get it back on--Studio laptop, Vista

Question

I was using my slightly more than 1-year-old laptop like normal, and the wireless connection suddenly dropped. The icon for wireless disappeared from the task bar at the bottom of my screen. The problem isn't with the router--another laptop connects fine via wireless, and this one gets internet access fine if plugged in with a wire to the router. Pressing Fn + F2 or F2 alone does nothing. I think I must have turned off the wireless capability inadvertently with some key stroke? This laptop doesn't seem to have a physical wireless on/off switch. Repeated turning off and restarting of the laptop doesn't help. When I try to connect, it says that the wireless connection I normally use 'is not available because of a problem with your modem or network adapter.' Help! Never had this problem that I can remember.

Karinjeg · Answer

After a long frustrating time trying to troubleshoot this, the following helped: from http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/network-internet-wireless/f/3324/t/19266429.aspx, step 3. Still not sure exactly what happened and I hope I'm not creating more problems, but my immediate problem is solved. - Karinjeg

Posted by FermatUSA

replied on 09-02-2009 6:27 AM

Here are some alternatives to solving the "random" wireless system disable:

Fn f2 can turn wireless on or off if "touch" switch is not working
If that does not work, open mobile options (control panel - Mobile PC, then select Windows Mobility Center) Then turn wireless on/off using button
If that is "greyed" out, then select "Radio control options" on the same Windows Mobility Center as above and disable the system control of when to turn off and turn on wireless services. This should allow you to restore wireless. (later you can turn this back on after rebooting if you want the system to monitor this activity)

Hope this helps people that have experienced the wireless interuption

Networking, Internet, & Bluetooth

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