Wireless card doesn't exist?

I got a Dell Latitude D410 for my work but I have been having problems with the wireless. For a start, it doesn't even seem to exist! It doesn't show up in network connections or in the device manager. I've tried downloading and installing various different drivers though I'm not even 100% certain what model and manufacturer the card is.
Any ideas?

 

Is it switched on? There is a hardware switch on the side...

 

Hardware switch? I can't find one.

 

If there's no trace in Device Manager then it's time to look inside and see if the wireless card is present.

John

 

Check to see if the hardware switch is on. It should be on the side. And if that doesn't work, check in your BIOS to see if it is enabled. And if that doesn't work. Check to see if it is physically there.

 

My work computer came with a standard image that must have been missing the device driver for the wireless. In the Device Manager I had an "Other" device for which Windows could find no drivers (That device disappeared when I disabled the wireless in BIOS so that seemed to confirm that the machine had wireless - it wasn't obvious looking at the machine itself as the wireless was not easily accessible).
Next step was to put the service tag (usually written on the bottom of the machine) into the online form at http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/index.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen
This gives you a list of the drivers that are appropriate for your machine as shipped - so presumably if it offers a WiFi driver then you probably have WiFi.
The fix is probably to download and install the driver (make sure you have correctly selected XP or Vista when generating the driver list).

There is probably also a link on the left hand side of the page "System Configuration" which will list all the components of your machine as ordered.

 

the ol' switch....not switched on, doesn't exist...otherwise, driver but windows should detect it in that case