I am trying to enable wireless on my laptop. I have Intel PROSet Wireless Manager. I have switched to wireless on but it tells me I will need to activate the switch on my hardware in order for wireless to be available! This means nothing to me?!
Intel PROSet Wireless Manager
The Intel PROSet Wireless Manager is a type of software that allows you to manage your wireless connections. When your laptop’s wireless card is turned on, the card will detect wireless signals and the Intel PROSet Wireless Manager will display a list of available wireless networks. Within the software is a dropdown option for turning the wireless on and it sounds as if you have done that step. However, your wireless card must also be turned on.
The Wireless On/Off Switch
If your wireless card is built into the laptop, then your laptop will have an on/off switch for the wireless card. The ability to turn wireless on and off gives you greater security and it is often recommended that you turn off the wireless when connected to a wired network due to conflicts and interference.
These switches are usually quite tiny! On my Toshiba, the switch is located on the front “lip” area, near the inputs for the microphone and headset. A tiny icon that is supposed to look like an antenna identifies this switch as being for the wireless. In this case, the switch slides from on to off. When on, an orange light glows ever so slightly.
On my husband’s Sony VAIO laptop, the wireless switch is located in the upper right corner of the laptop, just above the keyboard. In this case, it’s a small button. As you can imagine, different laptops will feature the wireless on/off switch in different configurations, so you’ll need to search your laptop for this tiny switch.
Wireless Keyboard Commands
In addition to a physical on/off switch, your laptop may have a keyboard button that enables or disables your wireless connection. This could be any one of the F keys. For example, some Lenovo laptops use the Fn + F2 key combination to enable or disable wireless while my Toshiba uses the Fn + F8 key combination.
Most likely, your computer will have a wireless on/off switch that simply needs to be turned to the on position.
Celeste Stewart | July 4th, 2009
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You are my hero ! I am writing this reply from my lounge with my new improved wireless laptop. I have an ADVENT laptop ( not very flash !) and to enable the wireless I used the Fn and F2 when I spotted the ariel symbol that you described. Thank you so much - once again a problem fixed without having to leave the house !
Great Louise, so glad we could help! The Filetonic.com Team