E6500 Wireless Networking not working

I just got my Dell Outlet Latitude E6500, and I can't seem to get the wireless network running sometimes. When I had the computer on battery, it somehow connected to my router, but when I later plugged it in, it wouldn't connect. No idea what's going on, but I did get a message that said the Dell Wireless card was not connected ("hardware disconnected"). Can anyone help me get this working? I am not a technical person at all, so I have no idea what to do.

Is this an issue b/c I bought it refurbished, or would I have faced this with a brand new computer too?

Separately, I didn't realize how large this computer is. Makes me think that perhaps I should return it and get a 14". Not sure yet what to do.

Please help with the wireless.

Thanks!

 

It's probably a driver issue and I would start by reinstalling the wireless card driver first. Also check to see if you have the latest BIOS version.

 

first thing to check is have you accidentally slid the wireless disable switch on the righthand side?

 

wireless switch is on.

I don't know what how to install the "latest driver" or "latest BIOS." I actually don't even know what a BIOS is. Can you help me with how to do those two things? The wireless did work for a bit (a few hours), but now when I open "network connections," it says it does not find any. Please advise.

Thanks

 

Unlikely to be BIOS, so you can leave that alone for now, do you have "Dell WLAN 1397/1510" or "Intel WiFi 5100/5300"?

 

I have the Dell WLAN 1397. I spent an hour with Dell Tech Support now, and it's working. It wasn't a driver issue either. He said it had something to do with the wrong application running the wireless card, so therefore it wasn't finding the wireless signal. I have no idea what that means. I think it's working now, but it still seems to have a bit of trouble automatically connecting at start-up until I "repair" the connection, at which point it automatically catches it.