Hi Guys,

Ok I am having this problem with my Toshiba A70 Satellite Laptop
(I'm running WinXP btw). I am trying to 'enable' my wireless connection but when I do that my laptop cannot find ANY wireless router on the network. I get a message saying 'Wireless communication is disabled. Please turn on the communication switch'. I do not have a manual switch(physical on the laptop) that I can turn on and off, I believe there is software that i have to go through (ie. control panel) but I cannot find where I turn the wireless signal on. The wireless signal worked fine until my laptop shut down due to overheating after that I haven't been able to go wireless on it. Can someone please help me out because I can't figure it out. Thanks!

OK, first check your laptop's manual. There are usually two separate controls to turn on your laptop's wireless device. First there should be an Enable/Disable switch in your bios. Make sure that is set to Enable or On, whichever. Then there will usually be a keyboard switch as well. It will use the <Fn> key (usually in the bottom left hand corner of your laptop's keyboard) plus one of the function keys in the top row. Usually those function keys have a blue icon printed on them, and one will refer to your wireless device. It may look like a broadcasting antenna, etc. There is usually also an LED which will light up when your wireless device is on, again your manual will tell you if your laptop has an wireless device LED indicator or not, and where it is located.

Finally, right click on My Network Places, then Properties, and a panel will open. If you have your wireless device turned on, and the drivers installed correctly, you should find a wireless network icon in that panel. If it says Disabled, then right click on the icon and click on enable. The device should then be enabled. If the device is enabled, but has a red X, then your problem is that the two sides of the wireless connection are not connecting properly.

Also, I suggest that you go to the Toshiba site and download the latest version of the wireless drivers for your laptop, and install that after you have made sure that the device is enabled in both the bios and via the keyboard switch if necessary.

I looked everyplace for this switch. Help manual was no use. Finally in despair, I called Toshiba support. The switch is an almost invisible slide switch located on the front of the computer to the right of the headphone jacks and volume switch

I have a Sat Pro and my wireless internet works fine.

My configfree utility does not recognise any networks though - it tells me that I have to turn on my wireless networking switch!

Any ideas?
FMF

Hey thanks I havnt had the wireless internet going for weeks but I just searched the internewt for the problem and found your reply and it worked instantly with the FN + F2 key

Andy

Same here my daughter hadn't had the internet for over a month. I decided to look at it, went onto the net with other computer and found your advice. The Fn thingy worked right off the hop.

Thanks a bunch for posted

Thanks so much for the reply. I had completely given up hope and had tried everything. This was the only place i could find this answer.