I've read many posts re VOSTRO and networking/wireless problems, many with no answers, going back over several years. I'm posting this to report on my recent experience as a possible solution to this problem and as a thanks for some of the help I've received on other issues.
I've had a VOSTRO 1500 for a bit over 5 years and it's been mostly trouble free. I'm running XP Pro and am good about keeping files clean, run anti virus s/w, etc. However, over the years it occasionally [once a month more or less--not really trouble free] drops the wireless connection to my router and I simply go to the DELL Wireless Utility, double click on the icon for my home network, which takes me to the Settings tab, double click on the OK button, which takes me back to the Wireless tab, click on Apply, click on OK and I'm back in business. It's a pain, but it works.
But it hasn't worked for the past 2 days. After running all of the diagnostic tests in the manual with no problems identified, I went to Control Panel>Performance and Maintenance>Administrative Tools>Component Services>Services(local)>DELL Wireless WLAN Card Utility. I went to the GENERAL tab, and clicked on the START button and then to the RECOVERY tab where I selected RESTART THE SERVICE from the drop down menu in three places, replacing TAKE NO ACTION, and just like that, the wireless link was immediately reestablished.
I hope this will work for others also, but the question that bothers me is why did the service shut down in the first place and why was TAKE NO ACTION the default setting for this activity? I hope someone can shed some light on this.