Dell laptop help

We took our laptop to Sowal with us and never could get online. :bang: We had a signal from out house, Mr. Pod even went to Hibiscus and Beach Java, but we were never able to connect to the web. Now we're home, same thing. The wireless card is connecting, we're able to see that we have signal strength to connect, but nothing's happening. We've looked at our settings, blah, blah, blah. Any ideas?

:scratch:
.
.
.
.Buy another one. :idontno:

Try a direct ethernet connection (wired) to see if it is a problem with your browser or computer, or if it is the card. If it is the card, uninstall and then reinstall (or try that anyway). Try the card in another laptop.

We took our laptop to Sowal with us and never could get online. :bang: We had a signal from out house, Mr. Pod even went to Hibiscus and Beach Java, but we were never able to connect to the web. Now we're home, same thing. The wireless card is connecting, we're able to see that we have signal strength to connect, but nothing's happening. We've looked at our settings, blah, blah, blah. Any ideas?

My friend bought a Toshiba for the trip. Could not get the thing to work on wireless. Talked to all the techno geeks in the coffee shops, they couldn't get it working. Finally broke down and called Toshiba and they said "Did you flick that switch on the side to 'wireless'?" :doh: Man he and the techno geeks will never live that one down :floor:

:scratch:
.
.
.
.Buy another one. :idontno:

:funn:

Have you cussed at it yet? Steven does this all the time, followed by this is a POS!

Try a direct ethernet connection (wired) to see if it is a problem with your browser or computer, or if it is the card. If it is the card, uninstall and then reinstall (or try that anyway). Try the card in another laptop.

Finally figured it out--something with a setting. Somehow the automatic setting for switching over to available networks had been turned off or something like that. Thanks to everyone who offered a suggestion other than getting a new computer. :razz:

My friend bought a Toshiba for the trip. Could not get the thing to work on wireless. Talked to all the techno geeks in the coffee shops, they couldn't get it working. Finally broke down and called Toshiba and they said "Did you flick that switch on the side to 'wireless'?" :doh: Man he and the techno geeks will never live that one down :floor:

peapod1980, RiverOtter's friends problem was pretty close to what you you were experiencing. Glad you got it going! Some people don't have the money to go out and just buy another computer like someone suggested! Especially when it is something minor and it turned out it was! :blink:

^...that was a joke.

Like Kurt said, try bypassing the wireless to see if you can get online. That lets you know that your Internet Service Provider is up (which ours - Charter - seldom is lately).

Click Start, then Run, then type cmd, then OK, then type ping 216.109.118.70 (or some other IP address). If you get replies, it means that your ISP is working.

If it's funky, do a power cycle. Shut down your laptop, unplug the wireless and the modem, wait three minutes (that's a subject of debate), re-power your modem, then see if you can get online directly through your modem. If you can, reconnect your wireless, and try it.

If the wireless still doesn't work, click Start, then My Network Places, then View Network Connections, then right-click on Wireless Network Connection, then click Repair, and wait for it to go through the repair process.

If that doesn't help, click Start, then My Computer, then View System Information, click the Hardware tab, click the Device Manager button. Anything that's having problems will be expanded (highlighted).

If that doesn't work, go to youtube.com and search for the video of the Harry Potter spell that you can cast on your computer to get connectivity. Just kidding.

I deal with this many times a day. I am so sick of playing these games. It's not a wireless card problem for me because at work, I never have a problem. The ISP tried to blame our wireless, but after visiting the house ten times, they realized that we were having, like, 900 disconnects in twenty minutes. It's still not right, but I am really tired of dealing with them, and I have more pressing issues at our house right now.

Disclaimer: this is not in my area of expertise, but I have watched these so-called experts doing this so many times that I am familiar with their tricks. I'm convinced that it's all voodoo magic. 😀

My thinking is that unless you're staying at the beach for a month, why do you need to get online?? Pea, I'm sure you had twice as much sun and funn than you would have had otherwise (since we all know how time-consuming SoWal.com is !!! 😱 !!!!). I love having a break from the keyboard when I'm in SoWal, especially since I know that if I really have to get on-line, I can always go up the street to Miss Lucille's, where the coffee is hot, the beer is cold, the gossip is titillating, and the computer is free. :clap_1:

BR, I am beginning to think that you don't read the posts. Did you read post # 7? :idontno:

Like Kurt said, try bypassing the wireless to see if you can get online. That lets you know that your Internet Service Provider is up (which ours - Charter - seldom is lately).

Click Start, then Run, then type cmd, then OK, then type ping 216.109.118.70 (or some other IP address). If you get replies, it means that your ISP is working.

If it's funky, do a power cycle. Shut down your laptop, unplug the wireless and the modem, wait three minutes (that's a subject of debate), re-power your modem, then see if you can get online directly through your modem. If you can, reconnect your wireless, and try it.

If the wireless still doesn't work, click Start, then My Network Places, then View Network Connections, then right-click on Wireless Network Connection, then click Repair, and wait for it to go through the repair process.

If that doesn't help, click Start, then My Computer, then View System Information, click the Hardware tab, click the Device Manager button. Anything that's having problems will be expanded (highlighted).

If that doesn't work, go to youtube.com and search for the video of the Harry Potter spell that you can cast on your computer to get connectivity. Just kidding.

I deal with this many times a day. I am so sick of playing these games. It's not a wireless card problem for me because at work, I never have a problem. The ISP tried to blame our wireless, but after visiting the house ten times, they realized that we were having, like, 900 disconnects in twenty minutes. It's still not right, but I am really tired of dealing with them, and I have more pressing issues at our house right now.

Disclaimer: this is not in my area of expertise, but I have watched these so-called experts doing this so many times that I am familiar with their tricks. I'm convinced that it's all voodoo magic. 😀

Finally figured it out--something with a setting. Somehow the automatic setting for switching over to available networks had been turned off or something like that. Thanks to everyone who offered a suggestion other than getting a new computer. :razz:

:oops: Sometimes I get stuck on a particular idea.

My thinking is that unless you're staying at the beach for a month, why do you need to get online?? Pea, I'm sure you had twice as much sun and funn than you would have had otherwise (since we all know how time-consuming SoWal.com is !!! 😱 !!!!). I love having a break from the keyboard when I'm in SoWal, especially since I know that if I really have to get on-line, I can always go up the street to Miss Lucille's, where the coffee is hot, the beer is cold, the gossip is titillating, and the computer is free. :clap_1:

Oh, I didn't want to get online, but my public was asking for me. I was going to send out a token post to help them through their withdrawl. I'm very giving that way.

Oh, I didn't want to get online, but my public was asking for me. I was going to send out a token post to help them through their withdrawl. I'm very giving that way.

:lolabove:

I don't even think about our computer when we are the beach having funn! I do think about my poochy though that is at the vet! Call and check on him every other day! :wub:

I don't even think about our computer when we are the beach having funn! I do think about my poochy though that is at the vet! Call and check on him every other day! :wub:

So, how do you know when something is happening? You could be missing good funn. :idontno:

Oh, I didn't want to get online, but my public was asking for me. I was going to send out a token post to help them through their withdrawl. I'm very giving that way.

Sure, I believe you 100%. :floor:

My thinking is that unless you're staying at the beach for a month, why do you need to get online?? Pea, I'm sure you had twice as much sun and funn than you would have had otherwise (since we all know how time-consuming SoWal.com is !!! 😱 !!!!). I love having a break from the keyboard when I'm in SoWal, especially since I know that if I really have to get on-line, I can always go up the street to Miss Lucille's, where the coffee is hot, the beer is cold, the gossip is titillating, and the computer is free. :clap_1:

i like to stay on top of sowal, otherwise, it's impossible to get caught up. also, if i don't keep on top of my email from work, i have 5 pages of them to go thru when we get home. and who can forget all the porno spam we receive. we were getting 80+ per day while we were down in may because insight (our provider) was mucking up the system and our spam filter wasn't working. i despise insight. too bad they are the only broadband provider in our area.

pea, my advice for your dell laptop - junk it for a sony vaio ! we have one of each and there is no comparison. mr audie got me the sony for my b-day so i would quit messing up his dell, and it is wonderful. haven't crashed it once, and that is saying something major for me. plus it is a lot smaller and perfect for sowalling and farting around on the internet.