wireless adapters will not scan, "There might be a problem with the driver for the wireless network connection adapter"

I have a dell vostro 1720 laptop - originally I had both the wired and wirless working. I had a requirement to set the wirless adapter IP to a fixed address  ... which I had done before ... however, when I tried to do this in the Network Sharing center the adapter did not show up in the list of adapters under "change adapter settings" - it was however working as I could surf the web wirelessly.

I uninstalled the adapter, and the driver and re-installed. (Dell wireles 1510 mini ).

The adapter was now visible but could not find any networks to log into. When I tried to manually attach  all I keep getting is "an Unexpected Error Occured".
On running diagnostics, all I receive is "There may be a problem with the driver for the Wireless Network Connection Adapter"

I have deleted the drivers, updated them from the web, re-installed (several times) - the driver reports it is up to date and the adapter is working properly ...


I went as far as to remove it physically - bought a Belkin N150 wireless usb adapter, installed, and SAME PROBLEM - the adapter shows up says its working fine but can not 'see' any networks to log into???

Any Help would be greatly appreciated!!! The Hardwired adapter is working fine.