Lost network connectivity--need it back fast!

Factual Questions
1

My daughter got a Dell Inspiron 14 for her birthday about 2 weeks ago. It’s been working just fine until tonight. Suddenly it has no network connection and says there aren’t any available. I know there are because I’m on my laptop in the other room. I’ve tried FN-F2 but that’s not the issue.

Any help would be greatly appreciated as she needs to finish research for her assignment.

Thanks!

2

Has she switched the wifi off? There should be a switch on the side or the top.

3

I looked for a switch but didn’t find one. The manual said it was the FN-F2 key but that didn’t fix anything. It doesn’t even find other networks in the neighborhood (know what I mean…?)

4

If it’s really that important to get connectivity immediately, can’t you just plug the laptop into the router with a wired connection? Or is that physically impossible for some reason?

By the way, does pressing “FN-F2” have any noticeable effect at all?

5

I know you have done this already, but restart the laptop, restart the router, and try to connect. If you are not broadcasting your SSID, I would do that when you restart your router.

SFC Schwartz

6

I got it working but I’m still not sure what went wrong or why. My brother in law thinks maybe it downloaded an update that threw things out of whack. Either way, I went to the device troubleshooter thingy and it fixed a few things. Seems to be working now.

SSG Schwartz, I did change the setting to broadcast the SSID, just in case that was it (don’t think it was, think it was hardware). Should I “un-broadcast” it now?

Also, arseNal, I tried unplugging the nearly-dead desktop and plugging the cable into the laptop but it didn’t work for some reason. Don’t know enough about computers to know why.

But thanks to everyone to lent expertise! Her report on Morocco is complete!

7

If you have a strong password, I would leave it as broadcasting. It makes it easier when you have problems like this. For the most part, not broadcasting your SSID causes more problems than it solves, as there are many programs you can download from the internet to find the SSID’s that are not being broadcast.

SFC Schwartz

8

Thanks for the advice! My password is VERY strong so I think I’ll be okay.

So is SFC a higher rank than SSG?

9

Yes, SFC (Sergeant First Class) is an E-7 rank. SSG (Staff Sergeant) is an E-6 rank.

SFC Schwartz

10

I thought so…I was Air Force for a while and our ranks were very different!

Congrats on your promotion (if it was recent–otherwise sorry for not noticing sooner!)

11

Thanks, I got promoted about a year ago, and I been off this board for a little bit longer than that. The Army didn’t notice that I got promoted, so I haven’t made a big deal of it either.

With Veteran’s Day coming up, thank you for your Service.

SFC Schwartz

12

And you as well…

Now my homework is completed too so I’m racking out!