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#1
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router problem?
I'm using Windows XP, fully updated. For a while I've been unable to connect
my laptop wirelessly to my network (I have a wireless router). However, it works when plugged in to the router. I recently discovered that my netbook, which appeared to connect wirelessly, was actually using someone else's unsecured network. My local ISP suggested that I unplug the modem, unplug the router, wait 30 seconds, plug in the modem, and then, after the DSL light came on, plug in the router. I did all that, but the situation remains the same. Any suggestions? Thank you! Jo-Anne |
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#2
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router problem?
Jo-Anne wrote:
I'm using Windows XP, fully updated. For a while I've been unable to connect my laptop wirelessly to my network (I have a wireless router). However, it works when plugged in to the router. I recently discovered that my netbook, which appeared to connect wirelessly, was actually using someone else's unsecured network. My local ISP suggested that I unplug the modem, unplug the router, wait 30 seconds, plug in the modem, and then, after the DSL light came on, plug in the router. I did all that, but the situation remains the same. Any suggestions? Thank you! Jo-Anne So don't you have to be "pro-active", go into the netbook, find the application that controls which network you connect to wirelessly, find *your* router, and connect to that ? How is unplugging the other equipment, going to cause a "miracle" on the netbook ? You need to take control. You're supposed to be "steering" the netbook, not letting it drive :-) If your Wifi network is secured, it should be taking some extra work on your part, on the netbook, to get it connected. (I.e. keys or passwords to enter) Now, if you've tried to connect to your own wireless network, using some application on the netbook, then you should phrase the question that way. Indicate what tool you would normally use on the netbook to set up Wifi (like Zeroconf or some proprietary tool provided with the netbook), and ask a question about the specifics of that. The reason you don't want to connect to a stranger's Wifi network, is they can "sniff" your packets, extract bank passwords or credit card numbers and so on. That is also one of the reasons, it isn't wise to connect to "free" proxy sites you sometimes see advertised in newsgroups. Such proxy servers can be the tools of evil minds - bent on stealing "WOW gold" or the like. Paul |
#3
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router problem?
"Paul" wrote in message
... Jo-Anne wrote: I'm using Windows XP, fully updated. For a while I've been unable to connect my laptop wirelessly to my network (I have a wireless router). However, it works when plugged in to the router. I recently discovered that my netbook, which appeared to connect wirelessly, was actually using someone else's unsecured network. My local ISP suggested that I unplug the modem, unplug the router, wait 30 seconds, plug in the modem, and then, after the DSL light came on, plug in the router. I did all that, but the situation remains the same. Any suggestions? Thank you! Jo-Anne So don't you have to be "pro-active", go into the netbook, find the application that controls which network you connect to wirelessly, find *your* router, and connect to that ? How is unplugging the other equipment, going to cause a "miracle" on the netbook ? You need to take control. You're supposed to be "steering" the netbook, not letting it drive :-) If your Wifi network is secured, it should be taking some extra work on your part, on the netbook, to get it connected. (I.e. keys or passwords to enter) Now, if you've tried to connect to your own wireless network, using some application on the netbook, then you should phrase the question that way. Indicate what tool you would normally use on the netbook to set up Wifi (like Zeroconf or some proprietary tool provided with the netbook), and ask a question about the specifics of that. The reason you don't want to connect to a stranger's Wifi network, is they can "sniff" your packets, extract bank passwords or credit card numbers and so on. That is also one of the reasons, it isn't wise to connect to "free" proxy sites you sometimes see advertised in newsgroups. Such proxy servers can be the tools of evil minds - bent on stealing "WOW gold" or the like. Paul With your prodding, I tried again to get at least the laptop connected wirelessly--and I succeeded. (I needed to input some numbers from the bottom of the router. Why, I don't know, since it had been working properly til around mid-November.) However, I still can't connect with the netbook. What's happening at this point is that although I appear to be connected to my own wireless network, I'm stuck at "Acquiring network address." I opened Network Connections, double-clicked on Wireless Network Connection, and the Status is always the above. Packets are being sent and received, but I'm not connected. Any idea of what I should try next? Thank you! Jo-Anne |
#4
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router problem?
Jo-Anne wrote:
"Paul" wrote in message ... Jo-Anne wrote: I'm using Windows XP, fully updated. For a while I've been unable to connect my laptop wirelessly to my network (I have a wireless router). However, it works when plugged in to the router. I recently discovered that my netbook, which appeared to connect wirelessly, was actually using someone else's unsecured network. My local ISP suggested that I unplug the modem, unplug the router, wait 30 seconds, plug in the modem, and then, after the DSL light came on, plug in the router. I did all that, but the situation remains the same. Any suggestions? Thank you! Jo-Anne So don't you have to be "pro-active", go into the netbook, find the application that controls which network you connect to wirelessly, find *your* router, and connect to that ? How is unplugging the other equipment, going to cause a "miracle" on the netbook ? You need to take control. You're supposed to be "steering" the netbook, not letting it drive :-) If your Wifi network is secured, it should be taking some extra work on your part, on the netbook, to get it connected. (I.e. keys or passwords to enter) Now, if you've tried to connect to your own wireless network, using some application on the netbook, then you should phrase the question that way. Indicate what tool you would normally use on the netbook to set up Wifi (like Zeroconf or some proprietary tool provided with the netbook), and ask a question about the specifics of that. The reason you don't want to connect to a stranger's Wifi network, is they can "sniff" your packets, extract bank passwords or credit card numbers and so on. That is also one of the reasons, it isn't wise to connect to "free" proxy sites you sometimes see advertised in newsgroups. Such proxy servers can be the tools of evil minds - bent on stealing "WOW gold" or the like. Paul With your prodding, I tried again to get at least the laptop connected wirelessly--and I succeeded. (I needed to input some numbers from the bottom of the router. Why, I don't know, since it had been working properly til around mid-November.) However, I still can't connect with the netbook. What's happening at this point is that although I appear to be connected to my own wireless network, I'm stuck at "Acquiring network address." I opened Network Connections, double-clicked on Wireless Network Connection, and the Status is always the above. Packets are being sent and received, but I'm not connected. Any idea of what I should try next? Thank you! Jo-Anne You could work through some of the ideas here. http://www.wirelessforums.org/networ...blem-5153.html Before reading that, my initial impression, is the DHCP server didn't have an address to give. Some DHCP servers have an address range value - I used to keep mine set at 4 for example, so my DHCP server in the router, would cycle through a fairly small pool of 4 addresses. But it looks like that error message is more indicative that it simply isn't getting through all the way. That's why the first suggestion is to change the SSID (which will likely screw up the other machines), and try to set it up again. If packets really were getting through, and weren't being rejected, then it couid be a setting on the router for DHCP that isn't quite right. Paul |
#5
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router problem?
"Paul" wrote in message
... Jo-Anne wrote: "Paul" wrote in message ... Jo-Anne wrote: I'm using Windows XP, fully updated. For a while I've been unable to connect my laptop wirelessly to my network (I have a wireless router). However, it works when plugged in to the router. I recently discovered that my netbook, which appeared to connect wirelessly, was actually using someone else's unsecured network. My local ISP suggested that I unplug the modem, unplug the router, wait 30 seconds, plug in the modem, and then, after the DSL light came on, plug in the router. I did all that, but the situation remains the same. Any suggestions? Thank you! Jo-Anne So don't you have to be "pro-active", go into the netbook, find the application that controls which network you connect to wirelessly, find *your* router, and connect to that ? How is unplugging the other equipment, going to cause a "miracle" on the netbook ? You need to take control. You're supposed to be "steering" the netbook, not letting it drive :-) If your Wifi network is secured, it should be taking some extra work on your part, on the netbook, to get it connected. (I.e. keys or passwords to enter) Now, if you've tried to connect to your own wireless network, using some application on the netbook, then you should phrase the question that way. Indicate what tool you would normally use on the netbook to set up Wifi (like Zeroconf or some proprietary tool provided with the netbook), and ask a question about the specifics of that. The reason you don't want to connect to a stranger's Wifi network, is they can "sniff" your packets, extract bank passwords or credit card numbers and so on. That is also one of the reasons, it isn't wise to connect to "free" proxy sites you sometimes see advertised in newsgroups. Such proxy servers can be the tools of evil minds - bent on stealing "WOW gold" or the like. Paul With your prodding, I tried again to get at least the laptop connected wirelessly--and I succeeded. (I needed to input some numbers from the bottom of the router. Why, I don't know, since it had been working properly til around mid-November.) However, I still can't connect with the netbook. What's happening at this point is that although I appear to be connected to my own wireless network, I'm stuck at "Acquiring network address." I opened Network Connections, double-clicked on Wireless Network Connection, and the Status is always the above. Packets are being sent and received, but I'm not connected. Any idea of what I should try next? Thank you! Jo-Anne You could work through some of the ideas here. http://www.wirelessforums.org/networ...blem-5153.html Before reading that, my initial impression, is the DHCP server didn't have an address to give. Some DHCP servers have an address range value - I used to keep mine set at 4 for example, so my DHCP server in the router, would cycle through a fairly small pool of 4 addresses. But it looks like that error message is more indicative that it simply isn't getting through all the way. That's why the first suggestion is to change the SSID (which will likely screw up the other machines), and try to set it up again. If packets really were getting through, and weren't being rejected, then it couid be a setting on the router for DHCP that isn't quite right. Paul Thank you again, Paul! This is going to require more work, I'm afraid. I read the ideas on the forum, but I'll have to gear myself up to trying them. I had no idea wireless connections could get so complicated. I guess I should start with my router's manual. Time to learn what I'm up against. Jo-Anne |
#6
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router problem?
Jo-Anne wrote:
"Paul" wrote in message ... Jo-Anne wrote: "Paul" wrote in message ... Jo-Anne wrote: I'm using Windows XP, fully updated. For a while I've been unable to connect my laptop wirelessly to my network (I have a wireless router). However, it works when plugged in to the router. I recently discovered that my netbook, which appeared to connect wirelessly, was actually using someone else's unsecured network. My local ISP suggested that I unplug the modem, unplug the router, wait 30 seconds, plug in the modem, and then, after the DSL light came on, plug in the router. I did all that, but the situation remains the same. Any suggestions? Thank you! Jo-Anne So don't you have to be "pro-active", go into the netbook, find the application that controls which network you connect to wirelessly, find *your* router, and connect to that ? How is unplugging the other equipment, going to cause a "miracle" on the netbook ? You need to take control. You're supposed to be "steering" the netbook, not letting it drive :-) If your Wifi network is secured, it should be taking some extra work on your part, on the netbook, to get it connected. (I.e. keys or passwords to enter) Now, if you've tried to connect to your own wireless network, using some application on the netbook, then you should phrase the question that way. Indicate what tool you would normally use on the netbook to set up Wifi (like Zeroconf or some proprietary tool provided with the netbook), and ask a question about the specifics of that. The reason you don't want to connect to a stranger's Wifi network, is they can "sniff" your packets, extract bank passwords or credit card numbers and so on. That is also one of the reasons, it isn't wise to connect to "free" proxy sites you sometimes see advertised in newsgroups. Such proxy servers can be the tools of evil minds - bent on stealing "WOW gold" or the like. Paul With your prodding, I tried again to get at least the laptop connected wirelessly--and I succeeded. (I needed to input some numbers from the bottom of the router. Why, I don't know, since it had been working properly til around mid-November.) However, I still can't connect with the netbook. What's happening at this point is that although I appear to be connected to my own wireless network, I'm stuck at "Acquiring network address." I opened Network Connections, double-clicked on Wireless Network Connection, and the Status is always the above. Packets are being sent and received, but I'm not connected. Any idea of what I should try next? Thank you! Jo-Anne You could work through some of the ideas here. http://www.wirelessforums.org/networ...blem-5153.html Before reading that, my initial impression, is the DHCP server didn't have an address to give. Some DHCP servers have an address range value - I used to keep mine set at 4 for example, so my DHCP server in the router, would cycle through a fairly small pool of 4 addresses. But it looks like that error message is more indicative that it simply isn't getting through all the way. That's why the first suggestion is to change the SSID (which will likely screw up the other machines), and try to set it up again. If packets really were getting through, and weren't being rejected, then it couid be a setting on the router for DHCP that isn't quite right. Paul Thank you again, Paul! This is going to require more work, I'm afraid. I read the ideas on the forum, but I'll have to gear myself up to trying them. I had no idea wireless connections could get so complicated. I guess I should start with my router's manual. Time to learn what I'm up against. Jo-Anne They mention a Network Diagnostic tool on this page. http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/u...agnostics.mspx About 75% down the page, there is a section on wireless. "its real strength is in wireless networking, an area that still causes more network problems than any other" "Network Diagnostic tool" http://support.microsoft.com/kb/914440/en-us There is no guarantee it's going to help, but it might give you some ideas. Paul |
#7
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router problem?
On 22/12/2010 10:52 PM, Jo-Anne wrote:
With your prodding, I tried again to get at least the laptop connected wirelessly--and I succeeded. (I needed to input some numbers from the bottom of the router. Why, I don't know, since it had been working properly til around mid-November.) However, I still can't connect with the netbook. What's happening at this point is that although I appear to be connected to my own wireless network, I'm stuck at "Acquiring network address." I opened Network Connections, double-clicked on Wireless Network Connection, and the Status is always the above. Packets are being sent and received, but I'm not connected. Any idea of what I should try next? Thank you! Some wireless adapters don't seem to support every form of encryption, even though all options are presented to you as if they are supported. For example, some adapters don't support WPA2, but do support WPA1. Some support only either the AES or the TKIP encryption under WPA, but not both. Others don't support any WPA at all, and only support the older WEP encryption. I'd suggest going back to completely unsecured wireless, test it out. If that works, then go slowly up the sophistication chain, try WEP next, then WPA1 and then WPA2. You might have to reboot the netbook between tests to get it to recognize the new security settings. If you find that it works only under WEP, but not under WPA, then you'll be stuck with WEP. WEP is not great security, but it's better than no security at all. Yousuf Khan |
#8
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router problem?
"Paul" wrote in message
... Jo-Anne wrote: "Paul" wrote in message ... Jo-Anne wrote: "Paul" wrote in message ... Jo-Anne wrote: I'm using Windows XP, fully updated. For a while I've been unable to connect my laptop wirelessly to my network (I have a wireless router). However, it works when plugged in to the router. I recently discovered that my netbook, which appeared to connect wirelessly, was actually using someone else's unsecured network. My local ISP suggested that I unplug the modem, unplug the router, wait 30 seconds, plug in the modem, and then, after the DSL light came on, plug in the router. I did all that, but the situation remains the same. Any suggestions? Thank you! Jo-Anne So don't you have to be "pro-active", go into the netbook, find the application that controls which network you connect to wirelessly, find *your* router, and connect to that ? How is unplugging the other equipment, going to cause a "miracle" on the netbook ? You need to take control. You're supposed to be "steering" the netbook, not letting it drive :-) If your Wifi network is secured, it should be taking some extra work on your part, on the netbook, to get it connected. (I.e. keys or passwords to enter) Now, if you've tried to connect to your own wireless network, using some application on the netbook, then you should phrase the question that way. Indicate what tool you would normally use on the netbook to set up Wifi (like Zeroconf or some proprietary tool provided with the netbook), and ask a question about the specifics of that. The reason you don't want to connect to a stranger's Wifi network, is they can "sniff" your packets, extract bank passwords or credit card numbers and so on. That is also one of the reasons, it isn't wise to connect to "free" proxy sites you sometimes see advertised in newsgroups. Such proxy servers can be the tools of evil minds - bent on stealing "WOW gold" or the like. Paul With your prodding, I tried again to get at least the laptop connected wirelessly--and I succeeded. (I needed to input some numbers from the bottom of the router. Why, I don't know, since it had been working properly til around mid-November.) However, I still can't connect with the netbook. What's happening at this point is that although I appear to be connected to my own wireless network, I'm stuck at "Acquiring network address." I opened Network Connections, double-clicked on Wireless Network Connection, and the Status is always the above. Packets are being sent and received, but I'm not connected. Any idea of what I should try next? Thank you! Jo-Anne You could work through some of the ideas here. http://www.wirelessforums.org/networ...blem-5153.html Before reading that, my initial impression, is the DHCP server didn't have an address to give. Some DHCP servers have an address range value - I used to keep mine set at 4 for example, so my DHCP server in the router, would cycle through a fairly small pool of 4 addresses. But it looks like that error message is more indicative that it simply isn't getting through all the way. That's why the first suggestion is to change the SSID (which will likely screw up the other machines), and try to set it up again. If packets really were getting through, and weren't being rejected, then it couid be a setting on the router for DHCP that isn't quite right. Paul Thank you again, Paul! This is going to require more work, I'm afraid. I read the ideas on the forum, but I'll have to gear myself up to trying them. I had no idea wireless connections could get so complicated. I guess I should start with my router's manual. Time to learn what I'm up against. Jo-Anne They mention a Network Diagnostic tool on this page. http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/u...agnostics.mspx About 75% down the page, there is a section on wireless. "its real strength is in wireless networking, an area that still causes more network problems than any other" "Network Diagnostic tool" http://support.microsoft.com/kb/914440/en-us There is no guarantee it's going to help, but it might give you some ideas. Paul Thank you again, Paul! I'll check them out this weekend. One question, though: Is there any way I can start over with the netbook? That is, can I delete everything related to the router and set things up from scratch? Jo-Anne |
#9
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router problem?
"Yousuf Khan" wrote in message
... On 22/12/2010 10:52 PM, Jo-Anne wrote: With your prodding, I tried again to get at least the laptop connected wirelessly--and I succeeded. (I needed to input some numbers from the bottom of the router. Why, I don't know, since it had been working properly til around mid-November.) However, I still can't connect with the netbook. What's happening at this point is that although I appear to be connected to my own wireless network, I'm stuck at "Acquiring network address." I opened Network Connections, double-clicked on Wireless Network Connection, and the Status is always the above. Packets are being sent and received, but I'm not connected. Any idea of what I should try next? Thank you! Some wireless adapters don't seem to support every form of encryption, even though all options are presented to you as if they are supported. For example, some adapters don't support WPA2, but do support WPA1. Some support only either the AES or the TKIP encryption under WPA, but not both. Others don't support any WPA at all, and only support the older WEP encryption. I'd suggest going back to completely unsecured wireless, test it out. If that works, then go slowly up the sophistication chain, try WEP next, then WPA1 and then WPA2. You might have to reboot the netbook between tests to get it to recognize the new security settings. If you find that it works only under WEP, but not under WPA, then you'll be stuck with WEP. WEP is not great security, but it's better than no security at all. Yousuf Khan Thank you, Yousuf! The confusing thing is that the netbook worked fine with this router for about a year. It's only recently that it started giving me trouble. Question: How would I go back to completely unsecured wireless? Where do I start? In fact, as I just asked Paul, is there a way to start over from scratch? I know that I managed to connect the netbook to my router wirelessly when I bought the netbook. If I can start over, maybe I can get back what I lost. Jo-Anne |
#10
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router problem?
On 25/12/2010 1:43 AM, Jo-Anne wrote:
Thank you, Yousuf! The confusing thing is that the netbook worked fine with this router for about a year. It's only recently that it started giving me trouble. Question: How would I go back to completely unsecured wireless? Where do I start? In fact, as I just asked Paul, is there a way to start over from scratch? I know that I managed to connect the netbook to my router wirelessly when I bought the netbook. If I can start over, maybe I can get back what I lost. Jo-Anne Well, it usually involves pointing your web browser at your network router, and then using its web-based administrative interface. I don't know what brand of router you have, but it's usually the same method in all cases. What you have to do is connect one of your computers directly via wire (i.e. Ethernet connection) to the router. Then you would determine the network address of the router. Usually you can do that just by finding "Default Gateway" when do a listing of your local network connection address(es). So you would open up a command prompt window on your desktop, by typing "cmd". Once the command prompt opens up, then you would simply type "ipconfig", and a bunch of info will show up and you will see the IP address of your Default Gateway. You then copy and paste that IP address into your web browser, and it'll take you to your router's web interface. It'll ask you for a username & password. The username is usually "admin" or "administrator", and the password is whatever you may have set it as originally. Once you enter the administrative interface of the router, then look for a "Wireless" section in it and click it. Here you will see all of the security settings and what they are currently set at. That's all I can tell you in generic router terms. If you need more info about your specific router, then just google your router make and model, and "administration". Yousuf Khan |
#11
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router problem?
Jo-Anne wrote:
"Paul" wrote in message ... Jo-Anne wrote: "Paul" wrote in message ... Jo-Anne wrote: "Paul" wrote in message ... Jo-Anne wrote: I'm using Windows XP, fully updated. For a while I've been unable to connect my laptop wirelessly to my network (I have a wireless router). However, it works when plugged in to the router. I recently discovered that my netbook, which appeared to connect wirelessly, was actually using someone else's unsecured network. My local ISP suggested that I unplug the modem, unplug the router, wait 30 seconds, plug in the modem, and then, after the DSL light came on, plug in the router. I did all that, but the situation remains the same. Any suggestions? Thank you! Jo-Anne So don't you have to be "pro-active", go into the netbook, find the application that controls which network you connect to wirelessly, find *your* router, and connect to that ? How is unplugging the other equipment, going to cause a "miracle" on the netbook ? You need to take control. You're supposed to be "steering" the netbook, not letting it drive :-) If your Wifi network is secured, it should be taking some extra work on your part, on the netbook, to get it connected. (I.e. keys or passwords to enter) Now, if you've tried to connect to your own wireless network, using some application on the netbook, then you should phrase the question that way. Indicate what tool you would normally use on the netbook to set up Wifi (like Zeroconf or some proprietary tool provided with the netbook), and ask a question about the specifics of that. The reason you don't want to connect to a stranger's Wifi network, is they can "sniff" your packets, extract bank passwords or credit card numbers and so on. That is also one of the reasons, it isn't wise to connect to "free" proxy sites you sometimes see advertised in newsgroups. Such proxy servers can be the tools of evil minds - bent on stealing "WOW gold" or the like. Paul With your prodding, I tried again to get at least the laptop connected wirelessly--and I succeeded. (I needed to input some numbers from the bottom of the router. Why, I don't know, since it had been working properly til around mid-November.) However, I still can't connect with the netbook. What's happening at this point is that although I appear to be connected to my own wireless network, I'm stuck at "Acquiring network address." I opened Network Connections, double-clicked on Wireless Network Connection, and the Status is always the above. Packets are being sent and received, but I'm not connected. Any idea of what I should try next? Thank you! Jo-Anne You could work through some of the ideas here. http://www.wirelessforums.org/networ...blem-5153.html Before reading that, my initial impression, is the DHCP server didn't have an address to give. Some DHCP servers have an address range value - I used to keep mine set at 4 for example, so my DHCP server in the router, would cycle through a fairly small pool of 4 addresses. But it looks like that error message is more indicative that it simply isn't getting through all the way. That's why the first suggestion is to change the SSID (which will likely screw up the other machines), and try to set it up again. If packets really were getting through, and weren't being rejected, then it couid be a setting on the router for DHCP that isn't quite right. Paul Thank you again, Paul! This is going to require more work, I'm afraid. I read the ideas on the forum, but I'll have to gear myself up to trying them. I had no idea wireless connections could get so complicated. I guess I should start with my router's manual. Time to learn what I'm up against. Jo-Anne They mention a Network Diagnostic tool on this page. http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/u...agnostics.mspx About 75% down the page, there is a section on wireless. "its real strength is in wireless networking, an area that still causes more network problems than any other" "Network Diagnostic tool" http://support.microsoft.com/kb/914440/en-us There is no guarantee it's going to help, but it might give you some ideas. Paul Thank you again, Paul! I'll check them out this weekend. One question, though: Is there any way I can start over with the netbook? That is, can I delete everything related to the router and set things up from scratch? Jo-Anne I don't know if I can provide a recipe *guaranteed* to reset everything. On the one hand, you can go to Device Manager (devmgmt.msc), and do an "Uninstall". Then, use the "Add Hardware" control panel, to add it back in again. If I look in Network Connections, when I just did that for my new network card, it changed the connection number from 4 to 5. That implies "something changed". But a lot of hardware and their settings, tend to be preserved, even after uninstalling from "Add/Remove" and reinstalling again. The installers don't remove everything. And that can be especially problematic, if some setting is out of range. (That's a problem with graphics cards.) If you go into the registry, and delete the "ENUM" key, that would cause all the hardware to be discovered again. And there is a good chance, all related settings would be turfed. But that will also result in you needing to do a lot of cleanup work afterwards. So that wouldn't be my first choice as a recipe. I've done that before, as a test, on an older OS, and it seemed to work, but it's not something I'd recommend in this case, where you only want to reset one thing. Are you sure you can't enter the settings, with whatever Networking setup box you were using ? It should allow you to change security settings. And use WEP or WPA2 or whatever. "The Windows XP Wireless Zero Configuration Service" http://technet.microsoft.com/en-ca/l.../bb878124.aspx Apparently, you can use the proprietary software that came with the Wifi, or WZC. But they probably both won't be enabled at the same time. You can use "services" type commands, to turn WZC on and off. But I don't know about the proprietary stuff, whether it works the same way. Paul |
#12
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router problem?
"Paul" wrote in message
... Jo-Anne wrote: "Paul" wrote in message ... Jo-Anne wrote: "Paul" wrote in message ... Jo-Anne wrote: "Paul" wrote in message ... Jo-Anne wrote: I'm using Windows XP, fully updated. For a while I've been unable to connect my laptop wirelessly to my network (I have a wireless router). However, it works when plugged in to the router. I recently discovered that my netbook, which appeared to connect wirelessly, was actually using someone else's unsecured network. My local ISP suggested that I unplug the modem, unplug the router, wait 30 seconds, plug in the modem, and then, after the DSL light came on, plug in the router. I did all that, but the situation remains the same. Any suggestions? Thank you! Jo-Anne So don't you have to be "pro-active", go into the netbook, find the application that controls which network you connect to wirelessly, find *your* router, and connect to that ? How is unplugging the other equipment, going to cause a "miracle" on the netbook ? You need to take control. You're supposed to be "steering" the netbook, not letting it drive :-) If your Wifi network is secured, it should be taking some extra work on your part, on the netbook, to get it connected. (I.e. keys or passwords to enter) Now, if you've tried to connect to your own wireless network, using some application on the netbook, then you should phrase the question that way. Indicate what tool you would normally use on the netbook to set up Wifi (like Zeroconf or some proprietary tool provided with the netbook), and ask a question about the specifics of that. The reason you don't want to connect to a stranger's Wifi network, is they can "sniff" your packets, extract bank passwords or credit card numbers and so on. That is also one of the reasons, it isn't wise to connect to "free" proxy sites you sometimes see advertised in newsgroups. Such proxy servers can be the tools of evil minds - bent on stealing "WOW gold" or the like. Paul With your prodding, I tried again to get at least the laptop connected wirelessly--and I succeeded. (I needed to input some numbers from the bottom of the router. Why, I don't know, since it had been working properly til around mid-November.) However, I still can't connect with the netbook. What's happening at this point is that although I appear to be connected to my own wireless network, I'm stuck at "Acquiring network address." I opened Network Connections, double-clicked on Wireless Network Connection, and the Status is always the above. Packets are being sent and received, but I'm not connected. Any idea of what I should try next? Thank you! Jo-Anne You could work through some of the ideas here. http://www.wirelessforums.org/networ...blem-5153.html Before reading that, my initial impression, is the DHCP server didn't have an address to give. Some DHCP servers have an address range value - I used to keep mine set at 4 for example, so my DHCP server in the router, would cycle through a fairly small pool of 4 addresses. But it looks like that error message is more indicative that it simply isn't getting through all the way. That's why the first suggestion is to change the SSID (which will likely screw up the other machines), and try to set it up again. If packets really were getting through, and weren't being rejected, then it couid be a setting on the router for DHCP that isn't quite right. Paul Thank you again, Paul! This is going to require more work, I'm afraid. I read the ideas on the forum, but I'll have to gear myself up to trying them. I had no idea wireless connections could get so complicated. I guess I should start with my router's manual. Time to learn what I'm up against. Jo-Anne They mention a Network Diagnostic tool on this page. http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/u...agnostics.mspx About 75% down the page, there is a section on wireless. "its real strength is in wireless networking, an area that still causes more network problems than any other" "Network Diagnostic tool" http://support.microsoft.com/kb/914440/en-us There is no guarantee it's going to help, but it might give you some ideas. Paul Thank you again, Paul! I'll check them out this weekend. One question, though: Is there any way I can start over with the netbook? That is, can I delete everything related to the router and set things up from scratch? Jo-Anne I don't know if I can provide a recipe *guaranteed* to reset everything. On the one hand, you can go to Device Manager (devmgmt.msc), and do an "Uninstall". Then, use the "Add Hardware" control panel, to add it back in again. If I look in Network Connections, when I just did that for my new network card, it changed the connection number from 4 to 5. That implies "something changed". But a lot of hardware and their settings, tend to be preserved, even after uninstalling from "Add/Remove" and reinstalling again. The installers don't remove everything. And that can be especially problematic, if some setting is out of range. (That's a problem with graphics cards.) If you go into the registry, and delete the "ENUM" key, that would cause all the hardware to be discovered again. And there is a good chance, all related settings would be turfed. But that will also result in you needing to do a lot of cleanup work afterwards. So that wouldn't be my first choice as a recipe. I've done that before, as a test, on an older OS, and it seemed to work, but it's not something I'd recommend in this case, where you only want to reset one thing. Are you sure you can't enter the settings, with whatever Networking setup box you were using ? It should allow you to change security settings. And use WEP or WPA2 or whatever. "The Windows XP Wireless Zero Configuration Service" http://technet.microsoft.com/en-ca/l.../bb878124.aspx Apparently, you can use the proprietary software that came with the Wifi, or WZC. But they probably both won't be enabled at the same time. You can use "services" type commands, to turn WZC on and off. But I don't know about the proprietary stuff, whether it works the same way. Paul Thank you, Paul! This stuff is complex, isn't it! I have a friend who is a programmer, and even he has trouble with wi-fi. He says that about twice a month he has to unplug his router, pull the battery (as far as I know, mine doesn't have one), and then plug everything back in to get it to work again. I'll start reading the router manual tomorrow and see if I can work it out. Jo-Anne |
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router problem?
"Yousuf Khan" wrote in message
... On 25/12/2010 1:43 AM, Jo-Anne wrote: Thank you, Yousuf! The confusing thing is that the netbook worked fine with this router for about a year. It's only recently that it started giving me trouble. Question: How would I go back to completely unsecured wireless? Where do I start? In fact, as I just asked Paul, is there a way to start over from scratch? I know that I managed to connect the netbook to my router wirelessly when I bought the netbook. If I can start over, maybe I can get back what I lost. Jo-Anne Well, it usually involves pointing your web browser at your network router, and then using its web-based administrative interface. I don't know what brand of router you have, but it's usually the same method in all cases. What you have to do is connect one of your computers directly via wire (i.e. Ethernet connection) to the router. Then you would determine the network address of the router. Usually you can do that just by finding "Default Gateway" when do a listing of your local network connection address(es). So you would open up a command prompt window on your desktop, by typing "cmd". Once the command prompt opens up, then you would simply type "ipconfig", and a bunch of info will show up and you will see the IP address of your Default Gateway. You then copy and paste that IP address into your web browser, and it'll take you to your router's web interface. It'll ask you for a username & password. The username is usually "admin" or "administrator", and the password is whatever you may have set it as originally. Once you enter the administrative interface of the router, then look for a "Wireless" section in it and click it. Here you will see all of the security settings and what they are currently set at. That's all I can tell you in generic router terms. If you need more info about your specific router, then just google your router make and model, and "administration". Yousuf Khan Thank you again, Yousuf! As I mentioned to Paul, I'll read the router's manual tomorrow and see if I can get somewhere that way. I do understand a little about the IP address, and I'll check that too. I'll report back if I get the thing to work. Jo-Anne |
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router problem?
Jo-Anne wrote:
Thank you, Paul! This stuff is complex, isn't it! I have a friend who is a programmer, and even he has trouble with wi-fi. He says that about twice a month he has to unplug his router, pull the battery (as far as I know, mine doesn't have one), and then plug everything back in to get it to work again. I'll start reading the router manual tomorrow and see if I can work it out. Jo-Anne Many networking devices (like my ADSL modem/router box), have a small pinhole, with a reset button hidden there. By inserting something that can press the button, without puncturing or damaging it, you can reset the box. The user manual, should tell you where to press, and how long to press, for reset to take place. On some units, you press the button, while powering up at the same time. I'd reset the box, if I thought my new Wifi device, didn't support the same standards, as the existing, working Wifi clients. But if it appears the specs for your new Wifi device, support WPA2 or whatever the other ones are using, I'd just work on the new laptop until I got it working. I wouldn't trash the rest of the working cases, unless there was a good reason. ******* Many people suffer from "network box insanity", where the box crashes, or goes nuts. I had a Linksys product, that would do that *several times a day*. I would power cycle it, like your programmer friend. I did that for years. Finally, I saw a new box on sale, for a very good price. I *never* have to power cycle it. It just works. One thing I learned in the lab, about such things, is this can be caused by the quartz crystal plugged into the main chip in the design. Many designers (myself included), are putzes when it comes to selecting and specifying quartz crystals for things like embedded processors. Rather than learn how, I simple design four-legged oscillator chips in, instead. They cost more, but they're bulletproof, and a customer never has to suffer on my account. (Math, and pictures of the ones I try to avoid :-) If not done right, these can cause boxes to crash. ) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_oscillator The four-legged ones, "take a beating and keep on ticking". If an insane design used one of these, it would be sane again. This still has the two legged kind inside, but an expert in the field, makes sure it works, and all the way from very low temperatures, to very high temperatures. http://www.oscilent.com/graphics/Pro...r_8pin_dip.jpg Paul |
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router problem?
"Paul" wrote in message
... Jo-Anne wrote: Thank you, Paul! This stuff is complex, isn't it! I have a friend who is a programmer, and even he has trouble with wi-fi. He says that about twice a month he has to unplug his router, pull the battery (as far as I know, mine doesn't have one), and then plug everything back in to get it to work again. I'll start reading the router manual tomorrow and see if I can work it out. Jo-Anne Many networking devices (like my ADSL modem/router box), have a small pinhole, with a reset button hidden there. By inserting something that can press the button, without puncturing or damaging it, you can reset the box. The user manual, should tell you where to press, and how long to press, for reset to take place. On some units, you press the button, while powering up at the same time. I'd reset the box, if I thought my new Wifi device, didn't support the same standards, as the existing, working Wifi clients. But if it appears the specs for your new Wifi device, support WPA2 or whatever the other ones are using, I'd just work on the new laptop until I got it working. I wouldn't trash the rest of the working cases, unless there was a good reason. ******* Many people suffer from "network box insanity", where the box crashes, or goes nuts. I had a Linksys product, that would do that *several times a day*. I would power cycle it, like your programmer friend. I did that for years. Finally, I saw a new box on sale, for a very good price. I *never* have to power cycle it. It just works. One thing I learned in the lab, about such things, is this can be caused by the quartz crystal plugged into the main chip in the design. Many designers (myself included), are putzes when it comes to selecting and specifying quartz crystals for things like embedded processors. Rather than learn how, I simple design four-legged oscillator chips in, instead. They cost more, but they're bulletproof, and a customer never has to suffer on my account. (Math, and pictures of the ones I try to avoid :-) If not done right, these can cause boxes to crash. ) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_oscillator The four-legged ones, "take a beating and keep on ticking". If an insane design used one of these, it would be sane again. This still has the two legged kind inside, but an expert in the field, makes sure it works, and all the way from very low temperatures, to very high temperatures. http://www.oscilent.com/graphics/Pro...r_8pin_dip.jpg Paul I'll pass this info on to my friend, Paul; and I thank you very much for it. My router does have a reset, but I've been afraid to cause more trouble by using it. Since both the laptop and the netbook worked with this router for a year or more, I don't know why they stopped. Putting in the WPS PIN from the underside of the router got the laptop back to working. I'll try to figure out what's happening with the netbook. Jo-Anne |
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