I have a Dell Inspiron E1405 laptop that's about 4 years old. It's running Windows XP. Recently I moved into a new apartment at college with five other people. We have Road Runner. We had problems with it at first. We were supposed to have turbo, but the download speed was only as fast as dial-up and the people with Mac's couldn't even connect to our network. My computer would connect but the internet was incredibly slow. The Road Runner guy came and fixed it last week. Now the download/upload speeds are right where they should be and everyone can connect...except me. When I open the window that says Dell Wireless WLAN Card Utility (by clicking on the 4 towers that show the network signal at the right side of the toolbar) there is a red X through the network. When I open the Wireless Network CONNECTION window it says "Windows cannot configure this wireless connection. If you have enabled another program to manage this wireless connection, use that software..." No matter how many times I refresh this list it doesn't recognize any networks. Weird thing is that I can pick up the signal from my neighbor's network and connect to that. I would just use that one, but the router is too far away to get a strong, consistent signal and I don't know my neighbors so I don't really like using it. Plus, if I'm paying for internet in my home I'd like to be able to use it. I'm assuming that since all five of my housemates can use our network just fine (both Mac and PC) that it's my computer. Any SUGGESTIONS? I'd really like to avoid calling Dell or going somewhere similar that will charge me an outrageous amount of money.

"I'm assuming that since all five of my housemates can use our network just fine (both Mac and PC) that it's my computer."

Don't assume. Verify.

Did it ever connect / if so what changed / are you getting an IP from the router / if it is encrypted do you have the access codes that your housemates have?

Alan <><

My computer connected with no problems before they came and fixed it. All that changed was whatever the Road Runner guy did that was supposed to fix our problems. I don't know what he changed.

How do I know if I'm getting an IP?

I've tried putting in the access CODE several times and it does nothing. No error message or anything. It just doesn't do anything.

I tried connecting with an ethernet cable last night and it connected through the cable, but nothing changed with the wireless.Quote from: WHITNEY on October 07, 2009, 04:56:30 PM

My computer connected with no problems before they came and fixed it. All that changed was whatever the Road Runner guy did that was supposed to fix our problems. I don't know what he changed. Connected wireless?

How do I know if I'm getting an IP? Go to Start / run / type cmd type ipconfig /all What do you see>

I've tried putting in the access code several times and it does nothing. No error message or anything. It just doesn't do anything.

I tried connecting with an ethernet cable last night and it connected through the cable, but nothing changed with the wireless. That tells me that your hardwired connection works. Does your laptop have a wireless on/off button-tab on one of the sides of the laptop?

Alan <><