Baffling sudden problem with Airplane mode on a Dell M4800

I have a Dell M4800 notebook that has not given me any trouble until now. I was connected to the internet wirelessly, and all of a sudden I got a notice up in the top left hand of the screen that my computer was now in airplane mode. The next page I connected to indeed confirmed I was no longer connected to the internet.

I am 99.9% certain I did not hit any buttons accidentally, but in any event, no amount of settings adjustment will allow me to connect wirelessly. I am stuck in airplane mode. When I click on the internet access panel, the box called airplane mode appears, but hitting it does nothing, and it's grey as is the wireless switch on this menu. Opening network internet settings displays a place to change airplane mode, but it's stuck in the on position. Hitting it does nothing. It's as if the airplane mode will not respond to being turned off no matter what I do. I've tried turning the airplane mode off while the wireless switch on the computer is on or off, but it doesn't make any difference.

Any idea what is going on, or any other ideas of how to go about diagnosing the problem and fixing? The airplane mode just came on out of nowhere. I can connect to the net with an ethernet cable.

 

So I just went at the problem again. I had the airplane settings menu open and hit the wireless switch on the side, and all of a sudden the settings lit up and the airplane mode turned off. I had done that several times earlier but it didn't help. The problem is resolved, but I think I have a wonky wireless switch. At least that should be a fairly simple fix with some contact cleaner.