Wireless problems driving me MAD!

[swee'pea99]

Where to start....??

Ok, everything was fine till I found out people were piggy-backing on my wireless bradband, so I enabled WPA. Fine.

Then I wanted to connect up an old laptop that doesn't handle WPA, so I thought fine, I'll use WEP.

So I set up WEP. And that's when it all started going tits up.

When I start up the browser it 'can't find site'. Including the router.

When I check out wireless networks, my network - by far the strongest, is not at the top of the list. Instead, it seems to be trying to connect to some other networks - 'acquring network settings' - which of course it can't do, because they all have security enabled. All attempts to put my network back at the top of the list fail.

When I manage to connect, looking at the worles network box, my network says 'not connected', even though it obviously is, because I can reach websites.

Better yet, half the time, in the wirless connections list when I'm *not* connected - and it says in the top right hand corner 'Not Connected', at the very same time, in the body copy below, it says 'Yo are connected to this network, to disconnect, click below.

I've gone back to disable the security altogether, and it *still* can't find 198.162.2.1. (Tho' if I go to the available networks box, and select 'belkin 54g' and connect, it connects.)

Half the time if I am connected, then try to go to a new site, it 'cannot find site because te site is not available while you are working offline. To connect, go to file menu and click to remove the tick by work offline'. Which works, but I never set it to 'work ofline'.

If anyone has any ideas or suggestions I really would apprecviate them, because this is driving me nuts.

 

[accountantpete]

You are not online - the laptop is accessing the site details from your temporary files(this stores copies of websites to speed up the process when you are browsing).

This can be checked by browsing a site that you have not visited recently - you should get the error message.

Can't help any further as I had the same problem and gave up in the end and went back to my ethernet cable.

 

[swee'pea99]

No - I was online - the message was posted from that laptop. And a cable's no solution...the router's up there and I'm down here (on the antique thinkpad + WinME) which has no probs at all - just fire it up and it goes straight to (home page) google.

 

[Bman]

I would recommend "ping" to test if you are connected to the internet or not. Your asking for problems using a web browser to test connectivity (its slightly different in WIN98, I'll do my best to remember it ).

Start > Run > Type "COMMAND" and press enter

You should get a black box with some white/grey writing.

In the black box, type "PING www.google.co.uk" and press enter, obviously dont type the " "

if its working, you should see this :

Reply from 209.85.227.147: bytes=32 time=30ms TTL=243
Reply from 209.85.227.147: bytes=32 time=30ms TTL=243
Reply from 209.85.227.147: bytes=32 time=28ms TTL=243
Reply from 209.85.227.147: bytes=32 time=39ms TTL=243
Ping statistics for 209.85.227.147:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 28ms, Maximum = 39ms, Average = 31ms

If its not working, you'll see "Ping cannot find host...." or Request timed out" or maybe some other error.

 

[alecstilleyedye]

did you reboot the broadband modem, followed 20 seconds later by the router? that can sometimes fix things.

 

[Shaun]

Here's my 2p's worth:

I suspect you've put the wrong WEP key in and your laptop has stored it and is trying to use it each time.

To start with, try removing your wireless network connector and setting it up again from scratch, being careful to use the same WEP key you created on your router.

Alternatively, take your laptop upstairs and connect the network cable directly to the router.

If you have DHCP enabled (AFAIK it should be by default) your laptop will automatically acquire an IP address from your router. (If it doesn't go to Start > Network Connections and make sure your default connector is enabled.)

Once connected, start your web browser and go to the address http://192.168.2.1/ (this is what the manual says is the default address for the Web-Based Advanced User Interface, although your post has a slightly different address?).

Change your router's broadcast name (SSID) to sweepea99 so that you know specifically which router is yours when trying to connect wirelessly. (To do this go to Channel and SSID under the Wireless menu on the left. Type in the new SSID and apply changes.)

Whilst connected, try browsing a series of random sites that you've not connected to before to confirm you have a valid ADSL connection.

Now close your browser, disconnect the cable, and head off downstairs.

Remove any previous wireless connectors you've created to your router from your Network Connections window, and start a new one (making sure you connect to "sweepea99" and, of course, use the correct WEP key.)

Any good?

Cheers,
Shaun

 

[peanut]

it might help us if you post the specs of both of the computers you are trying to access the net from, your windoze versions on both , make of the wireless modem router and make of your wireless cards and your ISP

 

[swee'pea99]

Thanks for getting back to me. Ok, a couple of fine-tunes - first off, I don't have a router and a modem - it's an all-in-one jobbie: router/modem in one. Second, I know the router's connected to the internet - the problem is, my xp laptop can't connect to the router. Whereas on the win me machine if I type 192.168.2.1 (the router's IP) in the browser bar, it takes me straight there, with the XP machine, doing the same thing just produces 'Page not found'.

I was wondering, after sleeping on it, whether the whole problem might be solvable if I could just set the wep password, once and for all. At the moment, I seem to be going round a loop, where I get to the page where you set the password, and find the password I entered has disapppeared - both boxes are clear - and instead there's a tick in a little box that says 'my computer obtains the code automtaically'. So I untick the box, laboriously fill in the password, and connect. Then a little while later, when I've lost the connection and can't reconnect, I eventualy find my way back to this window, where the codes I entered have again disappeared, and once again there's a tick in the little box that says 'my computer obtains the code automtaically'.

Is it possible to set a WEP password in such a way that the computer doesn't delete it and replace it with that ticked box?

Thanks again.

 

[swee'pea99]

Hi

Thanks all. This is just a quickie, to say that my latest didn't take account of the two most recent, which appeared while I was writing it. I shall have a good look at them and report back (tho' it may take some time...I hope to persuade my missus to come out with me for a pre-arranged test pootle on a rather nice looking Calud Butler 531 I saw on my way back from the newsagents, that I think just might persuade her of the benefits on an up[grade from her current sit up 'n beg.) Thanks again. Laters...

 

[peanut]

good luck. Just remember to ride behind her and not streak ahead so she doesn't feel like a geriatric on a shopping trip
A nice gel saddle might help

 

[TWBNK]

If you are using a belkin card I have had problems with them in the past where the things only seemed to work if configured through the belkin utility from the cd it came with.
If i remember correctly it gave a green looking icon in the taskbar.

 

[swee'pea99]

Forgive a dumb question, but when you say "try removing your wireless network connector", how do I actually do that?

(She didn't go for the Claud Butler by the way...put off by the drops. *sigh*)

 

[swee'pea99]

YIPPEE! I did it and it worked! Thanks Admin, you've saved my laptop and my sanity. CC comes up trumps yet again!

 

[Shaun]

See, I go to all sorts of lengths to keep membership numbers up ....

 

[swee'pea99]

Doin't worry I'm not going anywhere...I like it here!

Incidentally, just in case anyone else is having similar problems, I wasn't able to delete the connection - it wasn't an option - but I found that by disabling it, then re-enabling it, it came back to life with my newly-named network on the list, asked for the password, and that was that.