wireless mode?

All hell almost broke loose inside our very very fine house with two cats in the yard, now everything is easy cause of you, oops is that a song?. Neweis, i almost fell from my executive chair when i found out that my very old and reliable laptop cannot connect to a wireless internet. So i created an adhoc committee to investigate "whathappened". First question is who was the last one to use my laptop? a very tricky question yet, easy to answer; no one admitted and everyone denied using my toy. Ok, now the troubleshooting, i right clicked the wireless icon and tried to refresh it, and then viewed the available wireless networks. The result? no available network in range. I almost threw my two cats in the yard, because i am only an arm's length away from my very old and reliable router and yet my laptop cannot find an available network in range. Next thing in my mind was that my hard earned money will go to the dogs again. Nope, not this time, so i did a system restore to the nearest restore point and alas, still there's no wireless connection, undo system restore pronto. Ohmygosh, the next thing i knew is i tried to change the network setting, wireless protocol, shut off/on my router, rename and regroup my workgroup and pray hard. Still no available network in site. Then as luck is on my side, while sipping my tea with full of ice, i happened to look in front of my laptop and saw that the wireless mode is switched off. I just turned it on and yahoo they're all here again, pity me for being panicky.