Dell Inspiron 1300 Laptop help for a technophobe pleas

mrsm

ok am a complete dunce in all things technical so please be gentle.

Hubby treated me to the cheap dell laptop to save my sanity (ie give me internet access and contact with the outside world whilst i'm heavily pregnant with baby no3)

But we're haveing a few problems and he seems to be reluctant to seek help:mad:

Firstly if I restart the machine it goes through the motions but I get a blank screen and have to turn off and reboot. Surely this insn't right. It was fine the first time we restarted but since then we just get a black screen and no amount of mouse wiggling etc can get it to work. Do you reckon it needs to go back to them?

Secondly, and the one that has left me alone for 2 days whilst he trys to fix it is we can't connect to the wireless internet connection he has set up.
He has bought the Linkseys Kit
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/product/seo/574371

and installed on the pc. The pc works fine. When I try to connect the laptop it finds the network he has created but then gets stuck and says something along the line of "awaiting authentication" and gets no further

Help before I either bin hubby for leaving me alone for so long or bin the laptop:mad:

John_LG

With regards to the laptop - that doesn't sound promising. There are many ppl on here who could make suggestions, but as you a little technophobic - I'd look first to the warranty. This laptop normally has a 90 day collect and return - it's there for this very reason. When did it stop working? After the wireless software was installed, or before?
With the wireless network issue, it's always best to hardwire first, i.e. connect with network cables first, to ensure that the modems and network cards are working properly. Then, the software normally guides you through a setup wizard. You can do this with the linksys software, or the wixard built in with XP - which ever you've tried and failed with, you could always try the other!
If you give as many details as possible, someone will be able to offer more help. There is a good 'sticky' area on wireless issues. It might be wise to post these queries separately?
Good luck.

mrsm

thanks, looks like its going back. Its had the restart problem since day 1. Have even restored factory settings and still nothing.

As for the wireless settings, it works fine with the adaptor plugged in, just not with the laptops built in thingy. Will see what happens when we get the restart sorted.


Bit miffed to be honest, was pretty excited to finally get a laptop and its knackered already:mad:

akmodi

HI mrsm,

Firstly -- restart issue -- laptops can take upto 10 secs to restart -- so give it that time --- if it doesnt -- send it back.

Next-- the wlan-- somethime there is a hardware switch to turn it on -- have you done so?

Thanks

mrsm

no its not a timing thing, you can hear it play the lovely restart music but the screen fails to come to life after any length of time.

No idea about switching the wlan on, but will remember when to check when i get the other bit sorted.
thanks for your help