Connect to internet is greyed out with airplane mode

Anonymous
2013-12-22T04:31:38+00:00

I have a Dell Inspiron 15 R. Windows 8.1. Everything was working fine. I stopped using the internet because I didn't have one for few days.

Now I have a connection. I turned on the laptop and surprise. The connect software button is grayed out along with the airplane mode. Tried everything even turning off the Kaspersky and the firewall. Still nothing made it work. Software is up to date weather for the WiFi hardware or windows. Ethernet works.

Why is this happening?

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Internet and connectivity

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Anonymous
2013-12-23T05:28:59+00:00

Thank you for your reply.

I know that airplane mode stops all the signals and I stated that it's grayed out so there is no way to turn it on.

The microsoft website is useless although it shouldn't. Why? Because they created the program and they don't know the answer which I figured out.

You will need to activate the wireless card from the control panel--Device manager--network adapter--right click your modem--properties--power management--uncheck allow the computer to turn off this device to save power.

This is not listed by microsoft in any troubleshooting wich is so bad that it couldnt find a solution to a problem.

Thank you

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  1. Anonymous
    2015-09-18T12:51:44+00:00

    Hey. How's it going? I'm not too familiar with this particular computer, but try fn+F10 to turn off the airplane mode. If that doesn't work let me know what model he has? I hope this helps

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-09-18T18:14:19+00:00

    Hey. How's it going? I'm not too familiar with this particular computer, but try fn+F10 to turn off the airplane mode. If that doesn't work let me know what model he has? I hope this helps

    Thankfully he hasn't had the problem since I posted that, but I'll tell him to try it next time he does and come back here to respond. Thank you for the suggestion!

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-10-05T11:02:01+00:00

    On my machine the wireless symbol is over on the print screen key.

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  4. Anonymous
    2015-10-24T18:09:25+00:00

    I had the same problem with my inspirion 15 3542. I tried connecting to wireless network but the airplane mode won't turn off. I tried updating my network adapters but it didn't work, did recovery but it didn't work.The airplane mode is always greyed out and won't turn off.Than i found out that the solution was really simple, just follow the instructions:

    Go to Device manager>Human interface devices>Airplane mode switch collection> Right click > Disable. 

    That did the work for me. The problem was not related to network adapters at all:D

                Hope this helps.

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