Computer help forum: Lost Internet Capabilities

WiFi

by Skittlebrain - 12/31/12 12:34 AM

In Reply to: WiFi Switch by sunwatcher

Yes I have checked the WiFi switch and it's not lit and I can't get it to turn on. When I go to Network adapters and try to update the drivers for ethernet it tells me I must contact the manufacturer which is Dell. I am assuming Dell has some kind of protection where you can't fix these things yourself? I've owned this laptop for a couple years and it's been great and I've never had a problem until I reinstalled Windows.
Jenny

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Dell doesn't have some kind of protection

by glb613 - 12/31/12 4:48 AM

In Reply to: WiFi by Skittlebrain

installed. Uninstall the network adapter through the device manager, reboot and let Windows reinstall it. If you don't have the correct drivers, you'll get an error message and there will be a yellow exclamation point next to the device. Go to Dell.com, service and support, enter your service tag number and get the correct drivers.

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Uninstalled

by Skittlebrain - 12/31/12 6:31 AM

In Reply to: Dell doesn't have some kind of protection by glb613

the network adapter and when rebooted the system found it but a message came up it was unable to find the drivers to install. Ok thanks I'll see what can be done via Dell.com
Jenny

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Answer Best answer as chosen by user Skittlebrain

Did you install the WiFi driver?

by wpgwpg - 12/31/12 6:23 AM

In Reply to: Lost Internet Capabilities by Skittlebrain

Did you check Device Manager to see if there's a driver installed for the network adapters? Since some laptops use a physical switch for WiFi and some use a combination of the Fn key a one of the numbered F keys, you need to be sure you installed the driver from Dell for that as well.

Good luck.

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Driver

by Skittlebrain - 12/31/12 6:35 AM

In Reply to: Did you install the WiFi driver? by wpgwpg

I did and there is/are drivers installed for the network adaptor that I uninstalled as per the previous post tip then restarted and it said it was unable to locate any drivers. Thanks for telling me about the keys as I wasn't aware of that and I need all the luck I can get with this!!!
Jenny

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try connecting with

by itsdigger - 12/31/12 8:57 AM

In Reply to: Driver by Skittlebrain

an ethernet cable and reload drivers at Dell's website. Just a thought ..Digger

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Ethernet and drivers

by Skittlebrain - 12/31/12 9:14 AM

In Reply to: try connecting with by itsdigger

I can't connect to the internet to download the drivers but thanks Digger!
Jenny

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Answer Best answer as chosen by user Skittlebrain

You need to ...

by Edward ODaniel - 12/31/12 5:20 PM

In Reply to: Lost Internet Capabilities by Skittlebrain

go to this link and enter the laptop's service tag number to get all the proper drivers required. Probably need a second connected computer to do this then download all the proper drivers to a CD or even better a flash drive so you can install them on the problem PC.

You should also find the Dell Quickset utility if it is available for your model of laptop. This link tells you a bit about it:
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/latd520/en/ug_en/quickset.htm

Now, having said that are you certain that you do not still have the recovery partition Dell installed on your laptop? I know you mentioned reformatting but if you didn't mess with the partitions you may still have it and this link might help:
http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/kcs/document?docid=266618

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