Laptop stuck in Airplane mode

I wasn't aware that laptops had an Airplane mode. What operating system is it running?

Find the hardware switch that disables wifi and press it again

I had a laptop - can't remember what type - which had a physical switch to turn WiFi on/off. IIRC it was a small slider switch on the back or side.

What happens if you connect it to your router with an ethernet cable?

Ah! Brilliant! Never knew I had such a switch. Must have got moved when I picked up the laptop. Thanks.

Yup. Found it. See my reply to TNP, and thanks.

I missed a call from the hospital because somehow my android phone had the ring volume set very low. No idea how that happened either.

NEVER touch it.

Yes, I was just going to say the same thing! :-)

Yes. My granddaughter has one. There is a slide switch along the side of the laptop which she didn't know about. She'd knocked it. Can.t remeber the model.

My Dell 1520 and 630 both have such a switch. When connected by cable, they switch to ethernet.

buy a cat5e patch cable ?

That would still work. Airplane mode (Win 10 onwards) just disables all the onboard radios (WiFi, and Bluetooth typically)

Machines without radio hardware will not even see the option.

Older machines used to have a physical switch that disables the hardware so the OS can't see it. Many modern ones have a Fn Key combo that does the same trick.

My Dell had a button that turned the Wi-Fi off. I turned it off by accident once and didn't realise what the problem was. I tried the on-board help and the one thing it didn't suggest was to look for the relevant button.

On another occasion I was running low on HDD space, and one thing the computer didn't suggest was emptying the Recycle Bin.

What d'ye need a switch for? I just go System Prefeences -> Network -> Wi-Fi and then turn it on or off. Simples.

My work laptop does. It cuts wifi and, if I had a SIM installed, it cuts mobile data use.

That is not mandatory.

On my HP laptop I have to press the F12 button. There is a picture of an airplane on the button.

Is the Wifi actually switched off by a switch. Are the wifi drivers loaded? What did you do before this happened? Assuming a PC then try putting it back to when it worked. If its an Apple device, normally this tends to be a hardware fault, but lets hope not. Brian

Could be a Chrome book but there are also some laptops where custom software puts an airplane mode in the tray. If its a Chrome book I have very little knowledge and would not give one house room, personally. Brian