Hello all. This is my first post so I hope this is the right place. Was hoping to get some advice on a problem with my laptop.
It's a Dell XPS running on windows 7 and I've had it about a year with no similar problems.
The current problem being that:
A) it connects to the internet wirelessly as does my sisters laptop (the exact same laptop) and despite being aware of all wifi, it appears to be unable to make the actual connection. It has limited connection, I select the staus icon to encourage it, disconnect and reconnect and it tells me it's temporarily unable. Initally I thought it was a problem with the connection via provider and thought no more. Yet my sisters laptop and another communal pc attached with a wire both worked. I unplugged this wire and plugged it into the laptop. Still nothing. I scanned for a virus. Seemingly squeaky clean. Called internet provider in case despite suspecting nothing they could do. They talked me through checking the settings of internet explorer and connecting generally etc. Still nothing. Then I tried to connect to other wifi networks. Same result as with mine.
B) I tried to play music on itunes straight after this and it tells me there's a problem with the audio configuration and directs me to a website. No internet but thanks for playing itunes.
C) I had initially needed to get some documents off an email to work from. So I used the communal pc to access the documents and moved them onto a usb memory stick. A memory stick I have frequently used with my laptop. When used with the laptop now the light on the stick lights up as if connected then goes out. The usb can't be found when looking for devices.
I gather these problems are all linked to one more integral problem (I can not predict the full extent of the problem i.e. there may be other issues I am yet to discover) but since I've not previously encountered this my knowledge falls short on a diagnosis. I looked on several websites for advice and it was implied there was a problem with the configuration of the whole laptop and it needed to be restored to factory settings. Other places advised I press F2 on startup and then F9 then F10 to restore configuration. I investigated and F9 did nothing when the setup screen came up. Regardless of this, I'm not 100% sure what this would result in if successful.
To be honest I'm not intimately aware of the inner workings of this laptop or exactly whats wrong with it. If I knew where to start I could probably figure something out.
So any pointers as to the possible problem would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance 🙂
It's a Dell XPS running on windows 7 and I've had it about a year with no similar problems.
The current problem being that:
A) it connects to the internet wirelessly as does my sisters laptop (the exact same laptop) and despite being aware of all wifi, it appears to be unable to make the actual connection. It has limited connection, I select the staus icon to encourage it, disconnect and reconnect and it tells me it's temporarily unable. Initally I thought it was a problem with the connection via provider and thought no more. Yet my sisters laptop and another communal pc attached with a wire both worked. I unplugged this wire and plugged it into the laptop. Still nothing. I scanned for a virus. Seemingly squeaky clean. Called internet provider in case despite suspecting nothing they could do. They talked me through checking the settings of internet explorer and connecting generally etc. Still nothing. Then I tried to connect to other wifi networks. Same result as with mine.
B) I tried to play music on itunes straight after this and it tells me there's a problem with the audio configuration and directs me to a website. No internet but thanks for playing itunes.
C) I had initially needed to get some documents off an email to work from. So I used the communal pc to access the documents and moved them onto a usb memory stick. A memory stick I have frequently used with my laptop. When used with the laptop now the light on the stick lights up as if connected then goes out. The usb can't be found when looking for devices.
I gather these problems are all linked to one more integral problem (I can not predict the full extent of the problem i.e. there may be other issues I am yet to discover) but since I've not previously encountered this my knowledge falls short on a diagnosis. I looked on several websites for advice and it was implied there was a problem with the configuration of the whole laptop and it needed to be restored to factory settings. Other places advised I press F2 on startup and then F9 then F10 to restore configuration. I investigated and F9 did nothing when the setup screen came up. Regardless of this, I'm not 100% sure what this would result in if successful.
To be honest I'm not intimately aware of the inner workings of this laptop or exactly whats wrong with it. If I knew where to start I could probably figure something out.
So any pointers as to the possible problem would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance 🙂
