Wireless Icon Disappeared!!

[originalspa]

Can anyone help me! I spent yesterday setting up the wireless connections on all my computers including the laptop but now it won't connect to the internet anymore because the wireless icon has disappeared!! The PC's fine, just the laptop. When I go to 'Show All Connections' the wirelss icon's gone and the only way to get on the internet is via an ethernet cable but what's the point as it's a wireless laptop!!!

How do I get it back? It was working fine up until then and I haven't done anything out of the ordinary! It's a Wanadoo wirelesss & Talk if that helps!!

[mushroom25]

is the wireless adapter still showing in the device manager & working correctly?

[originalspa]

Not quite sure what you mean?!! I think it is, it's still there but not showing!!

[mushroom25]

there's likely a device showing with a yellow exclamation mark next to it, that'll be the one that's not working. you may need to re-install the drivers if that's the case.

[originalspa]

I've given up as I can't locate the wireless icon!! How frustrating!! I'm speaking to Dell tomorrow anyway so will see what they suggest!!

Thanks Mushroom for your help though!

[randomer]

I know that wireless is a pain. But you may have disabled the wireless adapter by accident.
1. Go into the control panel in the start menu.
2. Click on 'Network and Internet Connections'.
3. In the top left panel called 'See Also', click on 'My Network Places'.
4. Then in the same panel (now called 'Network Tasks'), click on 'View Network Connections'.
5. You will see one or more different types of internet connections.
6. If the 'Wireless Internet Connection' says 'Disabled' then right click on the connection and select 'Enable'.

That should sort it out. Hope I could help.

[Ethel]

I had the same thing when I had my laptop for only a few weeks.

I didn't even know that the orange light at the front of my laptop was a 'switch'. I had inadvertently clicked it and disconnected it from the internet.

How I laughed when I discovered the "fault".

Eventually.


Maybe your laptop has a similar switch?

[originalspa]

Thanks Randomer and Ethel. Never thought of that! It's worth checking anyway! I'll do that when I get back tonight!

My partner spoke to Dell and they went through some stuff on the laptop and discovered the wireless card was faulty (and damaged apparently!) so they're sending out a new one to replace it so hopefully I should be up and running in no time!!

Thanks for everyone's suggestions though!