Wireless switch not working

Hey Mary,
At the link below is information on setting up and troubleshooting your internet and wireless connections.There are step by step instructions.
Dell Networking and Wireless Support Center
http://dell.to/15yuglg
Thank You,
Dell-Jesse L
Dell Social Media and Communities

In order to connect to a wireless network and the Internet on an IBM Lenovo machine, you must first enable wireless networking via your computer's operating system. Allow about five minutes to enable your IBM Lenovo computer's wireless capabilities.

Click the Windows logo in the bottom left of your screen. Select "Control Panel" from the menu. Click the "Network and Internet" icon in the Control Panel. Click "Network and Sharing Center." Right click "Wireless Network Connection" icon. Select "Enable." Enable Wireless via Switch Check your IBM Lenovo laptop for a wireless networking switch. It is usually on the front of the computer above the keyboard. Slide the wireless switch to the "On" position. Look for a wireless light on the front of the laptop. In some cases a light will come on to indicate that wireless networking is active. Other switches, when active, reveal a green strip of plastic.
Troubleshoot network connection problems http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Troubleshoot-network-connection-problems Lenovo support http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/migr-50402.html

Step 1:
In order to connect to a wireless network and the Internet on an IBM Lenovo machine, you must first enable wireless networking via your computer's operating system. Allow about five minutes to enable your IBM Lenovo computer's wireless capabilities.

Click the Windows logo in the bottom left of your screen. Select "Control Panel" from the menu. Click the "Network and Internet" icon in the Control Panel. Click "Network and Sharing Center." Right click "Wireless Network Connection" icon. Select "Enable." Enable Wireless via Switch Check your IBM Lenovo laptop for a wireless networking switch. It is usually on the front of the computer above the keyboard. Slide the wireless switch to the "On" position. Look for a wireless light on the front of the laptop. In some cases a light will come on to indicate that wireless networking is active. Other switches, when active, reveal a green strip of plastic.

Hi, Thanks for using fixya.

When you connect it to wireless make sure you go into control panel / network view your connection right click on local area network connection choose disable then connect to your wireless connection. Right click your wireless icon by your clock choose connect to wireless network or view available local wireless connection.

Terry

I am having exactly the same problem. It occurred on Sunday 17th. I have phoned Optus who seem unable to work out what has happened. It will work wirelessly but not recognise it when set up via ethernet cable.

Right-click the wireless icon with red X and click on View Available wireless networks. Highlight the name of your wireless network and click Connect. If it asks you for the network key, type in the secuirty key of the router and press connect. That should do it. If you don't know the wireless security key of the router, you can see it by accessing the router's Setup Page through http://192.168.1.1 on your browser. It's under wireless tab then wireless security sub tab

there is a switch on the front or side that needs to be put to the on position, if it's anything like mine it is very small and hared to see. If you normally have a LED that tells you that the adapter is on, it's normally near that.

The wireless card has dropped the IP address, to get the wireless router to issue the wireless card with a new IP address, right click on the wireless connection (the one with the red X) and left click on Repair.
When the red X disappears then you can connect to the Internet.

Do you know for sure that:

A) The cable you are using is correct? Have you used it elsewhere?
B) Is the network connection enabled? Goto Start, Network Connections and look at the status of the connection. It may just be disabled or miss-configured.

Hello again! No problem at all, and thank you for the information. I'll do what I can to help.
If the plan is to make a wireless internet connection with the new laptop, I would usually split it into three stages:

1) Establish a wired connection to the internet
2) Connect wirelessly from the laptop
3) Secure the wireless connection

In this case it's worth trying to connect wirelessly straight away. This is because a wired connection seems to have been established already, with the old desktop.

So the first things to do are:
A) Make sure the router is connected to the modem;
B) Switch on the router and modem. There should be some comforting green lights displayed on the front of the router, including one that looks like a wireless beacon. That shows the wireless 'access point' in the router is functioning
C) Switch on the laptop. There may also be a switch on the laptop to enable the wireless connection: if so, switch it on.

When the laptop has fully booted up, see if there is a 'wireless networks' icon visible in the laptop screen Notification Area (bottom right). If not, try restarting the computer.

If there is an icon, floating the cursor over the icon may show a message saying 'wireless networks available' or similar. Click on the icon and your relative may see a screen with an option to 'view wireless networks', or similar (I'm an XP user, so hope you can interpret here). If so, one will be an unsecured connection - hers! She should be able to click to connect. I recommend being as close as possible to the router when first connecting.

If she cannot find her own network, or there is no icon to click, or the network has previously been secured - please let me/us know.

If everything works correctly the first time (!), your relative should now have an unsecured wireless connection to the internet. This is a good time to experiment with the placement of the router and the laptop, to ensure a good signal is received. However, it is NOT recommended to use an unsecured connection for long, and not at all for anything private. It is like leaving your personal information on the doorstep for all to read. A wired connection is, by contrast, secure.

If everything works to this point, I'm happy to help with securing the wireless connection. However, establishing any connection is the first step. So, please let me/us know if anything is not clear, or does not work as hoped. Good luck!