I do not have a router hooked up so it has nothing to do with that either.

If your modem is not wireless capable perhaps you have been using a neighbour's wireless connection to access the internet with the laptop and the neighbour has switched his router off or secured it.

Try removing the CAT5 cable from the old computer to connect the laptop to the internet to see if it is the laptop at fault or the connection.

With no router as Owbist says you were connecting through someone else's router. Another possible reason for losing the connection: Somewhere on your laptop is a button or switch to turn wireless on and off. You may have inadvertently turned it off.

i did try that too, it is definitely not the connection. I don't have any neighbors that i could be getting wireless from either. Dell did call me back and said it would be fine to resintall the operating system so they walked me through most of it, and then said it would take about an hour and a half and they would call me back today. whatever it did only took about 15 minutes and it brought me to a generic screen of a big windows 7 logo and that was it. it does not look anything like how when my computer came. i no longer have anything that came with the computer like the virus protection or windows home and office etc.. i don't even have the windows bar thing at the top. i am so nervous about this i could not sleep last night. i am anxious to talk to them later and find out if i will get all this stuff back or what. thanks

I have been connecting to the internet with an ethernet cord to my dsl modem from the laptop.

Reset your modem if you are directly connected to it with ethernet. It likely still thinks the old computer is there. Just power it down for 30 seconds, then plug it back in and when you see the 'online' or 'ready' lights go solid, either release/renew the IP address or restart the new computer.

Pam

"The only thing i did unusual yesterday was to accept the mcaffee subscription. It came automatically on the computer and said it was all active"

Disable McAffee and try to connect. The programs a monster and also has a fire wall.....

I did mention to the dell guy that I was wondering if the mcaffee firewall had anything to do with it but he didn't even bother to walk me through checking that.so now it is too late to try any of that since the whole operating system has been reinstalled now. I will find out tonight if it worked. For future though how I will remember all these suggestions. Thanks

That's the easy way out for the Dell guy, no trouble shooting necessary. You could have also booted to Safe Mode with networking to see if a connection could have been established there. If it was would indicate software was the issue. The most likely software would have been McAfee.

It's not always just the firewall either you need to consider the entire Anti Virus Software + the Firewall.

the most trouble I had with one of my computers was because of McAfee and I truly could not believe that was what was causing all those strange problems but the moment I got McAfee fully uninstalled using the removal tool and then going in and cleaning all McAfee out of it, bam the problems I was having no longer happened. I was amazed. I will never use it again, only reason I had it was because it was free with my ISP.

If now all you have is the operating system and no longer have the antivirus what are you using on the computer to keep you protected? I would not be connected to the internet with out protection especially if you do not have a router either.

polarprincess

the whole operating system has been reinstalled

You mean the restore disk was used correct?

You restored to factory settings so McAfee is still there just as it came from the store. So you would need to go through some reactivation process again in order to have McAfee up and running if that's what you want.

Well I disconnected the ethernet cable from it last night and I am at work so it is just shut down with no internet access. All I even have on my screen when it was up was a way to shut it down. There were no other buttons or windows items or anything, so I expect they will help me with that tonight, otherwise I am going to tell them they. Can send me a new computer. So frustrating. I will uninstall mcaffee if they give it back to me somehow but I just need to know what to replace it with that will cover me good. Also when I uninstall it, how do I know I have gotten rid of all the remnants? A hijack this log? I still have brand new desk top computer as well that I haven't even taken out of the box yet, I hope that one doesn't do the same thing.

they have mcaffee on the computers at work so i figured it must be ok, but i dont want to keep having these hassles. I am used to AVG free on my old computer, i understand it and liked it, but no one seems to recommend it for Win 7. i would have gotten rid of it at the end of the trial period anyway, so i may as well do it now, just need help like i said on deciding what else to use.
yes i used the restore disk or actually it said the operating system disc which i assume is the same.

polarprincess-
Just be aware that McAfee may have nothing to do with this problem. You need to get some kind of antivirus installed, and then see if you can connect.

I don't see an issue with AVG on 7. I do see an issue with McAfee see link.

If you like AVG and are use to it then for sure consider it. Download it to the desktop and install it.

If you restored to factory settings like you said McAfee should not be active, a perfect time to uninstall it. It should uninstall using programs and features, we don't even need to worry about that yet because no McAfee files are running yet.

Note The McAfee removal tool is not removing some new versions of McAfee. "Enterprise Software Detected" please contact McAfee. Lets avoid that or it's off to Revo un installer.

When you get home connect Ethernet cable to the laptop. Then try going to www.google.com. Only go there just see if Google opens. Let us know if you get this far and we can give you a direct link for AVG so you may install that.

Then while McAfee is not active we can uninstall it as I mentioned. If you want I can look at a hijack log for you after.

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-7/list-of-anti-virus-software-compatible-with-windows-7/

Here is a link that might be useful: AVG FREE

thanks for the links. I have everything reinstalled as long as i can tell. i did not have them reinstall the mcaffee, and i went and downloaded avg free and made sure the windows firewall was on. everything there seems to be running. is there anything else i should download now or am i good? also i got good news from my isp today, they told me they are coming in a couple of weeks to install a new box 2 miles away and said it will help my internet connection drastically.

One problem i am noticing i am having right now is when i try and type, my letters are being jumbled and switch around on their own, and all of a sudden the page will drop down and my cursor and the letters i am typing jump down into the name of the link box. does anyone have any idea what could be causing this? whenever i click into the computer forum i get a message that says pop up blocked. should i allow it? does it have anything to do with this? thanks

Are you accidentally resting the palm of your hand on the mouse pad? If so, try making an adjustments to the sensitivity of the pad...

What browser are you using? Must have a pop up blocker. If it is IE8 click tools scroll down to pop up blocker and settings can be adjusted there if needed. You can either turn it on or off. The pop up has nothing to do with keyboard issue. You can allow pop ups with out much issue.

The problem you are describing is almost always a result of lightly brushing the mousepad as you are tying. If you can't learn to avoid doing that, it's possible to disable the mousepad so only the mouse itself is active.

before i saw your messages i googled it and saw that many people were having the same issue. i am using an external mouse so did not feel like i was using the touchpad, but probably i was. i found directions on how to disable the touchpad and also directions to do some stuff in the control panel with the mouse, but i cannot find anything in the control panel that says mouse or anything to do with a touchpad so have been unable to stop it. where do i find it in windows 7? i see there is a program called touch freeze that can be downloaded. does anyone recommend it? thanks

before i saw your messages i googled it and saw that many people were having the same issue. i am using an external mouse so did not feel like i was using the touchpad, but probably i was. i found directions on how to disable the touchpad and also directions to do some stuff in the control panel with the mouse, but i cannot find anything in the control panel that says mouse or anything to do with a touchpad so have been unable to stop it. where do i find it in windows 7? i see there is a program called touch freeze that can be downloaded. does anyone recommend it? thanks. nevermind, i am definitely not touching the pad as i type this and i am still having the problem.
p.s seriously, why can't a person type a follow up to a message without having to change the subject line? why does it matter?

after rebooting i was able to find the mouse in the hardware but still have not been able to make it stop with changing anything in those settings. really lovin this windows 7! LOL