You should unplug the cable, and reboot the system. Offhand, it doesn't sound like your wireless card is picking up the signal, if it's enabled properly.

I think you're right - the card isn't picking up the signal. But why?

How do i find out the status of the card? I'm looking in Start..Programs and the only ref i see to anything wireless related is Dell Wireless WLAN Card Utility but when i click on it all that shows is a blank window with a tab titled "No Adaptors".

The laptop is new so i would have assumed the setup would be there as standard?

yaduks.

* Right-click on "My Computer" and choose "Properties" from the resulting menu.
* Click on the Hardware tab and then click the Device Manager button.
* In the resulting list of devices, click on the "+" sign next to Network Adapters to expand that category.

Is a wireless adapter listed there? If so, double-click on it to view its properties.. Make sure the device is reported to be enabled, and working properly.

...also, on my Toshiba Satellite notebook, I had to physically turn the wireless adapter on by a switch on the side, I think - if it wasn't about 3,000 miles away right now I'd look at it and let you know exactly what I did. BTW, did you RTFM (Read The Friendly Manual)? ;-)

Having eaten, drank, and slept the Dell models, I'm pretty certain the cards don't have that feature. Good info for a Toshiba user, though...