My laptop shows no internet connection, but my son's does

[cindi1965]

I have a Dell Mini and my son on his laptop has internet from my router, but I don't and we are in the same room. My computer says no wireless in range and I am sitting here on my son's computer with internet....PLEASE help!!!!!

[zep516]

Hi cindi1965
Welcome to help2go!

Have you ever been able to connect to this router?

First thing I would do is simply reboot / restart the Dell Mini. Restarting can work wonders. See if it connects then, if not there are 2 small computer Icons down by the clock, if the Dell mini comes with a clock, right click the 2 Computer icons and look at your options there. Try a repair if that option is present. Let us know the error the repair generates.

Routers can get locked up too. So turn the router off for a few mins by unplugging it. Then plug it back in. This often resolves connection issues.

[arraknid]

I'm sure there's a small switch on the front right of the Dell Mini that turns on the WIFI capability. It should be flashing! It's supposed to save battery life when there's no network available.

Try pressing Fn key and F2 at the same time, to bring up the WIFI option

Other than that, maybe read the manual?

[Canuck]

Other than that, maybe read the manual?

Manuals are not that specific sometimes ... my niece bought a new laptop and we checked the whole thing out .. not one word mentioned about getting onto wifi. We ended up going to the store where it was explained to us ... it wasn't a flashing switch as there was none. I guess we all live and learn.

[arraknid]

it wasn't a flashing switch as there was none.

That reads badly. I meant to say that there's a small sliding switch to enable WIFI, and the light flashes when there's a connection.

That said, I was thinking about another netbook altogether, so it isn't relevent any way!!

My other suggestion that pressing Fn + F2 is how WiFi is enabled on a Dell Mini.



If you've already got it running, but still no connections detected, try reinstalling the network adapter, as follows....

Right click on My Computer, Properties, Hardware and select Device Manager. Look down the list for Network Adapters and open the entry by clicking on the + sign. Right click on the installed adapter - probably Broadcom, and select Uninstall. Reboot and Windows should detect it and reinstall.