Got an IBM R52 laptop with what seems to be disabled wireless. Only hardware that is detected is the normal (wired) network card. Tried to detect new hardware and wireless adapter was not found. I think it has somehow been disabled. Please advise how to enable this device. Thanks!

Are you sure it has a wireless NIC? If so some new laptops have a switch which disables the wireless card. This can be usually be found on front or sides. You could also check device manager and make sure the NIC is enabled.

Have you checked the BIOS? Or confirmed that the computer you bought actually does have a wireless adapter? I would think there would be a spec sheet included in the packaging. You could try installing the drivers: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/s... Life's more painless for the brainless.

You should check the BIOS. Although it is extremely unlikely that the BIOS has it disabled.

Thanks for the quick responses guys! This is a great site for support. This laptop was originally a company owned and I think when it was imaged the wireless was disabled somehow. This model doesn't seem to have a switch. Device manager only has the normal NIC. I was thinking maybe its disabled in the BIOS as well, but wasn't sure which option to change in there.

Not all r52's have the bluetooth-wireless option. If u got it, you will have a light for it located somewhere around the keyboard, looking up at you toggle wireless press Fn+F5 key combo, the corresponding led should illuminate. If there any "unknown devices?" in device manager it might be worth getting these downloaded and running: ThinkPad Power Management driver OnScreen Display utility Wireless device drivers it would be good to know if it was used docked, as it may been setup to use the lan devices in the dock station. It would probably be worth rebuilding this 1 anyway...company's strip down the software & o.s. or do a minimum effort rebuild(xppro+office ). install the drivers from the web site Jennifer mentioned above and see what happens i guess, have a good 1 fella.. Pea.Ce. tekmat

Scrap all that about xp stuff i blabbed on about b4... win2000? win2k doesnt have wireless manager. you will have to install the wireless win2k driver and app from ibm to use the device on wireless networks...... w2k doesnt plug&play very well.... tekmat