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

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!

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