My Dell Inspiron N5050 Won't connect to any Wireless

I have a brand new DELL Inspiron which used to connect to my WiFI. I had the laptop off for about 2 months and when I turned it on it will not connect to my Wireless with WPA2+AES encryption. All of my other devices (iPad, Laptops, XBOX, Roku, etc) are able to connect without a problem. I also tried connecting to other opened WiFIs in my area and was unable to do so. I even tried connecting 2 feet away from the router without luck where the signal is excellent (so is everywhere else around the house).

Machine configuration:

  • Windows 7 64-bit
  • Adapter is Dell Wireless 1702 802.11b/g/n
  • Driver: Atheros Communications Inc, 4/21/2011, Version: 9.2.0.412

I tried:

  • Deleting the driver from Device Manager and restarting
  • Installing drivers from Dell, but it appears I have the latest version
  • Tried to connect to an unsecured Virtual Interface (DD-WRT)
  • Changed the Bandwidth on the adapter to 20MHz/40MHz Auto (my router is 40MHz channel width)

What could be causing the problem? What else can I try? What else can I provide to help troubleshoot this?

Thanks,


Solution 1:

Your wifi is probably disabled on the machine.

First off, prove it by trying to connect with an Ethernet cable.

Lots of laptops have a light to show if wifi is on or not (near the keyboard)

Or, your typing the password in wrong. Make sure you have NumLock on. If you look carefully, the keys U,I,O,J,K and L have some numbers in the same color of the Fn key, i.e, 4, 5, 6, 1, 2 and 3. This is your numeric keypad. 3) Hold pressed both the left Alt key and the Fn key, while you write the code with the numeric keypad. Hope this helps.