I was just forced to add a Dell laptop to my home network.
Contamination warning! Take precautions. Wash your hands *thoroughly* after touching it, lest your Macs get t'd off.
I got one with integrated wireless card. (Inspiron - windoze XP home). I receive a message that the I am connected to the Airport network but IE is not able to reach any website.
Check the DHCP lease and its parameters obtained by the laptop. (ipconfig/all from the DOS window). Make sure the lease is valid and complete. Valid = not expired. Complete = has a usable IP assigned, the right hostmask, points to the Airport as the gateway router, and has one or more usable domain name server (dns) IPs assigned.
If the lease looks ok, then check your basic ip connectivity. From that same DOS windoe, see if you can ping (by IP) the Airport and other computers on your LAN. Then see if you can reach farther out, using traceroute, to your ISP's gateway (the next hop beyond your Airport) and beyond. Then see if you can translate domain names to ip addresses (nslookup). Then make sure IE isn't set to use a proxy. etc. Once you pin down the failure, you have at least a chance of fixing it. :)
I will never criticize Macs again. This Dell is a piece of shit - tinny, cheap feeling and Windoze still sucks. Dell support seems to be limied to e-mails where they keep asking the same questions.
LOL! We keep my housemate tucked in the corner of the "computer bedroom", huddled with his Dell laptop and generic always-broken desktop peeceee. Once set up correctly, Windoze crashes notwithstanding, the Dell itself is quite reliable. His daughter bought him 2 years of 24/7 Dell tech support, to avoid her husband being upset by the 2am phone calls. His wife and I slap his hands when he reaches for our Macs. :)
If I call Apple will they help me? I will insist on paying them - maybe I'll take Dell to small claims court to get it back.
*shudder*
- Dan.
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