intel wireless 6250 only works in safemode

Do you have McaFee anti virus installed....if you do here is a link that might be related to your problem
http://mcaf.ee/s3b79

did you install ALL the drivers?
was it a fresh install, or  from recovery manager?

Don't have macafee at all. When I reinstalled the image it was from recovery partition but the drivers for Intel 6250 wireless were never installed so I downloaded from dell support.

do you have any unknown devices in device management?
anyhow, i recommend the network drivers from Dell :  http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/product-support/product/inspiron-15-intel-n5010/drivers

I had unknown drivers under network adapters at first since I think I used the wrong drivers but once I instslled the correct one everything disappeared and the wireless adapter was listed correctly. I'm pretty sure if the driver was wrong that it would not work even in safemode. I will try the link you provided but it looks like it's the same one I downloaded from Dell site.

Is it possible that you are installing the wrong drivers for the dell.  
Dell has that autodetect feature on their website
http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/Products/laptop/inspiron_laptop

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Different models with same model name

Inspiron 15R (N5110, Early 2011)
Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1030 WiFi DriverIntel Centrino Wireless-N 1030 WiFi Driver
Inspiron 15 (N5010, Early 2010)


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I would try a clean boot also...
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135

I will try the cleanboot but the fact that it works in safemode isn't this essentially same as cleanboot? Going back to what I mentioned before, if a driver is incorrect then it shouldn't work even in safemode correct? I did use the dell autodetect to identify correct model laptop and supporting drivers. The wireless adapter is Intel 6250n.

In safemode you are not testing other software/driver compatibility problems that are loaded in the complete windows environment.
Safemode configuration looks at the operating system and says:  what is the minimal configuration I can use and still run.

I am assuming that this machine worked correctly at one point in time.
Dell has it Proprietary software.... and procedures
Is this a reinstall or upgrade from vista..
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After reinstall::::
They make a point of installing drivers in the right  order...
http://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/19/SLN148687
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Yes it was working for a long time until just recently. This was a reinstall of win7 using the dell factory restore image which I have done twice in the past without a problem.

Just to make sure I understand...
Did you ever have a connection in normal mode with this new install....
Did you windows update this computer automatically or manual  from normal mode and then lose your connection?

Yes the wifi was working in normal mode for a long time then just started experiencing issues with it so ended up running the factory image restore from the dell restore partition. I've never seen this where a wireless adapter is working in safemode but not normal mode. In normal mode the wireless networks in the surrounding neighborhood are all detected and when I select my network it reports the connection as excellent in signal strength and states it as connected however it can't access the Internet. It even reports packets sent and received so there seems to be activity. Strange

can you  .....             [ping www.goggle.com]   from the command prompt
start button.... type cmd in search??  just not assuming anything:)

I tried pinging several sites as well as pinging IP address of Google public DNS and none worked in normal mode. I could however ping my router.

I assume you used the network troubleshooter at the bottom of Network and sharing center??

I would also disable firewall temporarily and security software and see if you can access the net.
And I would reset your router..some router don't erase passwords .... the new ones.. which one do you have...I can understand if you don't want to answer that??

Yes but that rarely helps. It says everything is fine. My thought is to install virtual machine and see if wireless works from there in normal mode.

Already disabled firewall and pretty much opened up the machine just to see if I could access internet. Btw when I use ethernet on laptop no problem

Navigate to the desktop.
Hold down the Windows key and press R.
Note: This will open the Run dialogue.
It actually could be dns also:
Type "cmd" and press Enter.
Note: This will open a command prompt.

Type "ipconfig /flushdns" and press Enter.
Type "ipconfig /registerdns" and press Enter.
Type "ipconfig /release" and press Enter.
Type "ipconfig /renew" and press Enter.
Type "netsh winsock reset" and press Enter.
Reboot the computer.

You mean when you use hardwire cat 5 no problem?

Yes hardwire cat5 no problem. It's not DNS issue since I couldn't ping 8.8.8.8 for Google

You said "I could not ping 8.8.8.8"???

Yes that's correct, I could not ping 8.8.8.8 so then I knew it was not a DNS issue.