Dell Inspiron 1545 not enabling wireless adapter, can anyone help?

[kellkelly]

Hi
Just wondering if anyone can give me any advice on how to get my wireless 1397 WLAN mini-card to enable on my network connections screen? About a month ago I pressed the f2 and fn key together to turn off my wireless and it seems to have done something as when u try to turn it on the same way it doesn't do anything? Also when I highlight the wireless network connection mini card in the network connections screen it says it disabled, I click enable this network device and the screen pops up to say its enabled yet when that screen disappears the connection is still greyed out and says disabled.
When I ask Ask my computer to diagnose the problem
It says there may be a problem with the drivers. I've uninstalled the drivers and downloaded them from the dell website and installed them
Again , still not working !!
I'm confused as everyone keeps saying on this forum to just press f2 and fn but it's not working , I would be grateful if someone could give me any advice to try and fix my problem before it sends me crazy !
Many thanks in advance

 

[zigzag3143]

Hi
Just wondering if anyone can give me any advice on how to get my wireless 1397 WLAN mini-card to enable on my network connections screen? About a month ago I pressed the f2 and fn key together to turn off my wireless and it seems to have done something as when u try to turn it on the same way it doesn't do anything? Also when I highlight the wireless network connection mini card in the network connections screen it says it disabled, I click enable this network device and the screen pops up to say its enabled yet when that screen disappears the connection is still greyed out and says disabled.
When I ask Ask my computer to diagnose the problem
It says there may be a problem with the drivers. I've uninstalled the drivers and downloaded them from the dell website and installed them
Again , still not working !!
I'm confused as everyone keeps saying on this forum to just press f2 and fn but it's not working , I would be grateful if someone could give me any advice to try and fix my problem before it sends me crazy !
Many thanks in advance

I have to ask, the key combo is Fn +F2 Have you tried it in that order? (the order may be important.)

 

[kellkelly]

Yes I have tried it both ways , fn then f2 , also f2 then fn but still nothing?

Im Sure my problem has something to do with the fact I have nothing showing in the screen where you can add a wireless network and when I click to add a new connection it just says an error has occurred but no error codes?

 

[pebbly]

Yes I have tried it both ways , fn then f2 , also f2 then fn but still nothing?

Im Sure my problem has something to do with the fact I have nothing showing in the screen where you can add a wireless network and when I click to add a new connection it just says an error has occurred but no error codes?

Are you holding down both keys together ?

 

[kellkelly]

Yes I have tried them both together and I've held them both down for a lengthy time too

 

[punktilend]

Have you just tried pressing the F2 button without pressing FN? The function of the button before pressing the FN is to enable/disable the wifi.

 

[kellkelly]

Yes I have tried pressing f2 on its own as well and nothing is happening

 

[dreamer]

Try this:
Click on start and type quickset in search box.Click on quickset icon from the search results.From quickset window check if wireless network shows connected or on.If this doesn't work click on start-all programs-DW WLAN card utility.Click on diagnostics and run it.Check if it finds any errors.

 

[kellkelly]

When I type quickset in the search box nothing comes up ?? Is there anything else I can try?

 

[JoeW]

I have an inspiron 1545 and you simply press the wireless key WITHOUT the fn key. I'm sure you have tried that so I would try one of two things:

Have a look in the BIOS to see if you can enable it from there.

Failing that switch off, remove battery, hold a central heating pipe or something grounded to discharge yourself, unscrew the central panel on the bottom, remove the half PCI wireless card. Replace everything without the card, boot then shut down. Put the wireless card back in (remembering to ground again and remove battery) and boot again.

 

[unpluggedjack]

Solved!!!

Has your Dell laptop got a broken keyboard... can't switch on wireless adapter by pressing F2?

This bugged me for months and didn't want to buy and fit a new keyboard. Finally figured out how to alter the BIOS settings to switch on the wifi card. Note you will need a usb keyboard plugged into the laptop to do this!

Reboot the laptop and press F2 on the external keyboard to enter the setup screen
find the wireless settings in the menu
there are two options here...
set it so that the wireless adapter is enabled but NOT that it can be toggled on/off via the switch (F2)
Apply then exit
When computer reboots right-click on network icon in system tray
open network and sharing centre
click on change adapter settings
right-click on WiFi adapter
choose connect/disconnect

Now treat yourself to a doughnut... you've just fixed it!

 

[Flatpete]

Attaching an external keyboard via usb sorted it out for me. I have a feeling though it could simply be the keyboard settings.

But thankyou for sharing, great idea and saved me days of pain