how to reconnect lan

I have a dell latitude d610, Saturday I couldn't connect to internet..it says wireless is unplugged...I have tried to find it on bottom, but only find battery, memory & modem...please help..thanks

 

Check in the device manager or in the network connections control panel applet to see if the device is enabled or not.

 

The LAN connection isnt there anymore...the setup wizard says it is disconnected, but wasnt last week...the wifi light flashes once in awhile but wont stay on.

 

Could be a physical problem with the internal wiring (you wouldn't see anything just inspecting the bottom) or with the NIC card itself coming loose - has the system taken any hard knocks recently?

 

It is my teenagers, she lays it down on the floor a little hard for my taste sometimes....not been real hard though, it was ok until Sunday...I opened the compartments on the bottom & saw nothing unplugged...I have gotten into desktops before but never been into a laptop..

 

Prepare for an adventure - unfortunately, laptops are not just desktops that got stuck too long in the dryer.

For starters, here's the _Dell webpage from the service manual for the D610 that explains how to access, remove, and install the wireless mini PCI card: http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/latd610/en/sm_en/minipci.htm#wp1000001

That should at least get you into the right part of the system so you can check for anything basic like a loose wire, or loose connection.

 

I have looked and find no loose wires...it says the device is working properly, but the light blinks and I cannot connect to the internet...it cannot find any wireless in range.

 

If you right-click on the icon for the wireless adapter and pull up the properties dialogue, does it say that the device is "disabled"? If so, there should be a drop-down menu on that same dialogue window that will allow you to "enable" the device.

 

it says it is enabled

 

this wireless card is inside under the keyboard, I have uninstalled & reinstalled...it says it is enabled...but then the device manager box says it is unplugged....the "network wizard setup" icon is gone also..

 

On the bottom of your laptop there is a cover with 1 or 2 screws.
Open it up and there is probably a wireless card and memory.
Take out the wireless card, reboot the laptop, uninstall the drivers, shut down the laptop, put wireless card back in, boot laptop and install drivers.
This worked for my dell m70 when I that same problem.

 

Sounds like a power-saving option to me. Own a D610 where the LAN card is disabled when it's not used & not connected the AC adapter. The latest Intel 2915ABG Centrino driver puts WIFI card off when there's no WIFI signal or no activity.

On the keyboard there's a Fn-F2 key combination to switch WIFI / Bluetooth off. When it's off, the same key combination sets it on.