Connecting To A Wireless Local Area Network - Dell Inspiron 640M Owner's Manual

11 Turn on only your broadband modem and wait for at least 2 minutes for the broadband modem to
stabilize. After 2 minutes, proceed to step 12.
12 Turn on your wireless router and wait for at least 2 minutes for the wireless router to stabilize. After
2 minutes, proceed to the step 13.
13 Start your computer and wait until the boot process completes.
14 See the documentation that came with your wireless router to do the following in order to set up the
wireless router:
• Establish communication between your computer and your wireless router.
• Configure your wireless router to communicate with your broadband router.
• Find out your wireless router's broadcast name. The technical term for the name of your router's
broadcast name is Service Set Identifier (SSID) or network name.
15 If necessary, configure your wireless network card to connect to the wireless network. See "Connecting
to a Wireless Local Area Network" on page 74.

Connecting to a Wireless Local Area Network

NOTE:
Before you connect to a WLAN, ensure that you have followed the instructions in "Wireless Local Area
Network (WLAN)" on page 72.
NOTE:
The following networking instructions do not apply to internal cards with Bluetooth
or mobile broadband networks.
This section provides general procedures for connecting to a network via wireless technology. Specific
network names and configuration details vary. See "Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN)" on page 72
for more information about how to prepare for connecting your computer to a WLAN.
Your wireless network card requires specific software and drivers for connecting to a network. The
software is already installed.
NOTE:
If the software is removed or corrupted, follow the instructions in the user documentation for your wireless
network card. Verify the type of wireless network card installed in your computer and then search for that name on
the Dell Support website at support.dell.com. For information on the type of wireless network card that is installed
in your computer, see "Checking Your Wireless Network Card" on page 72.
Determining the Wireless Network Device Manager
Depending on the software installed on your computer, different wireless configuration utilities may
manage your network devices:
• Your wireless network card's configuration utility
• The Windows XP operating system
74
Setting Up a Network
®
wireless technology