I've recently brought a new laptop from Dell, and had managed to connect to the internet through wireless last week. But for the past week I have been having problems trying to get my laptop to even pick up the network that I use. I've tried many things to try and get this to work by turning off my firewall, not using the Dell programme to connect, resetting the router. None of this has worked. In the vast amount of times that I have tried to even pick up the network it has only found it twice but still won't connect or anything because I don't have any signal, despite being right next to it.
The rest of my housemates haven't had any problems with it, and I can't understand why it's not working when it has done previously.
Please help.

Hi and welcome to D-A-L

does your laptop have a funtion key for turning wireless on and off?

do your housemates have probelme if sitting next to you?

Yeah, have tried turning it on and off again. No luck
The only problem they have sitting next to me is just me being there
No, the don't have any problems when I try to get it work when I'm around them. I'm using my old laptop atm and it's right next to it cos I'm still trying to get it work so I don't think it's interferring or anything if that's what you're getting at.

does your laptop always find the network?

have you tried using cables to set it up?

It doesn't always find the network. It's only recently that it's been picking it up more, but isn't necessarily connecting. I was trying to connect it earlier and I managed to get it to work, or at least it said it was connected and the signal was very good. But when I went to open firefox it wouldn't open and then it lost the network, and is now saying the the wireless network is unavailable.

what O/S are you using?

are you using the windows firewall?

is the wireless card built into the laptop?

what model is the laptop?

Windows XP Media Center Edition
Yeah, use the windows firewall but have tried turning that off and it still won't work. But I can't find where to turn it off in McAffe.
Yeah, wireless card is built in. Don't use the Dell one am using the windows one. It's a Dell Inspiron 1501.

I don't use McAfee firewall, in the taskbar do you have a icon for the firewall, if you right click do you get an option to alter the settings?

are you using the windows drivers for the wireless card?