Can't connect to my campus hotspot!

[petedee]

Hey guys hope you can help me out, yes its that "limited or not connectivity" time again.

Here's the deal, I've fresh installed my laptop (an Advent 7660M) with a new copy of windows XP pro SP2, installed all the new drivers for the "PRISM 802.11g wireless adapter" and turned on the WLAN switch to connect to our campus's new hotspots.

Now when i try to connect I get a "limited or no connectivity" bubble and I am unable to surf to any sites (including the one we need to logon to to get online)

I've run ipconfig /renew and it says "unable to contact your DHCP
server. Request has timed out." and ipconfig /all tells me that i have a IP address and a subnet mask but nothing else.

My internet options -> connections -> lan settings is set to automatically detect settings

when i specify my IP address then it says that it is connected however i am still unable to browse anything, the machine is reciving packets but it doesn't send any.

Anyone know whats going on with this thing? I've tried all the fixes and stuff you guys have said

 

[DelJo63]

Which vendor & model wireless? Check to see if the campus is
802.11{a,b,g} Your card must be able to match that deployed on campus,
as they all use different frequencies as well as protocols.

 

[petedee]

The card is a PRISM 802.11g, I'm not actually sure what type of network they are running here as they don't actually tell us (its only a pilot scheme so i doubt they have all the bugs ironed out yet) I've tried practically all of the frequencies i can with my card and nothing seems to work!

 

[The_Maestro]

Signal Strength

What is your signal strength when trying to connect, Are they running DHCP or do you have to specify an ID?

 

[petedee]

I think they are running DHCP (is it usual that a hotspot does?) because i don't have to specify any usernames or passwords or anything, other than when *supposedly* log on using my web browser. Signal strength is pretty much always good because they have at least 2 NAT points per floor, even when I'm sat right next to one i still can't access it.

 

[The_Maestro]

Dhcp

If they running DHCP your PC will automatically get assigned an IP address, then you should be able to connect fine, it sounds like they not running a DHCP so your wireless card is getting a random IP, which is why it says limited or no connectivity. If they not running DHCP you will need to find out what IP range they are running and get all the details
e.g.
I.P 192.168.0.x
Subnet 255.255.255.0
Gateway 192.168.0.1
DNS Primary 196.25.1.11
Secondary 196.43.1.11

That is all the info you would need, specifying the IP will just give your PC a address, but the gateway and dns will tell your PC where the internet is.

 

[DelJo63]

I've tried practically all of the frequencies i can with my card and nothing seems to work!

By frequencies, I refer to the RF signal ban used for 802.11x;
802.11a 2.4Ghz @ 11 Mbps,
802.11b 5 Ghz @ 54 Mbps
802.11g 2.4Ghz @ 54 Mbps
see reference.

Each WiFi adaptor supports 'channels', typically 1->11, which carves the RF ban used by the specific 802.11x into slices and is used separate the users. These channels are SET in the WiFi router or access point(AP) and the client systems(eg: laptops) will adjust acording to the router being accessed.

When you sit near the AP, can you determine the SSID? My Toshiba has software (most WiFi vendors supply something) that shows which SSIDs are available for connections.