[ashleyree]

Absolutely helpless laptop owner here. Hi and thanks for your help. In a recent business trip, I didn't realize I would have to take a puddle-jumper. There was no time to re-pack and grab my laptop before the airline grabbed my roll-on bag and tossed it in the cargo bay.

When I got home, the wireless icon and the wireless antenna seem to stayed on the plane. I'm stuck tethered to a USB connection to my router. HELP!

The antenna used to toggle off and on using the blue Fn key + the F2 key. Won't toggle anymore, but will the antenna indicator will occasionally light up as if the antenna was on.

The wireless antenna icon used to be found grouped with other icons under the Network Connections - LAN/High-Speed Internet. It's missing most of the time now.

The system tray will (rarely) show the message "Wireless Network Connection (Wireless)" connected. On the rare chance I fumble my way to Network Connections fast enough, the wireless network icon is there. When I unplug the USB connector, the wireless connection disappears in under 30 seconds. Most of the time the system tray message is "1394 Connection connected."

The laptop has to be connected via USB or Ethernet cable to get wireless on the road.

I'm uploading a word doc w/ a couple screenshots. It's the best I could cobble together! Any ideas? Is my goose cooked?

System info:
Tech Support Guy System Info Utility version 1.0.0.1
OS Version: Microsoft Windows XP Professional, Service Pack 3, 32 bit
Processor: Genuine Intel(R) CPU T2250 @ 1.73GHz, x86 Family 6 Model 14 Stepping 8
Processor Count: 2
RAM: 1014 Mb
Graphics Card: Mobile Intel(R) 945GM Express Chipset Family, 224 Mb
Hard Drives: C: Total - 109427 MB, Free - 21956 MB;
Motherboard: Dell Inc., 0FF049, , .3V7YQB1.CN1296167S7539.
Antivirus: Norton Internet Security, Updated: Yes, On-Demand Scanner: Enabled

[vicks]

If you go into device manager, is there any yellow marks beside anything?
vicks