Networking problem - please help!

Status
Not open for further replies.
S

stranksy

Hi all!

I'm trying to set up an encrypted wireless network at my girlfriend's house. Attached to her PC with XP is the router (a Netcomm NB5PlusBW ADSL2+ Modem router), and her internet works fine. I can also connect with my Vista laptop successfully to the internet, and have had no problems. Also, we have had no problems setting up another flat mates laptop (who has now left).

However, I haven't been able to set up her other flat mate's laptop. Originally, the DCHP was connecting to some random IP address, and I manually put in one close to the PC that is working (see below)

When I ipconfig/all each computer, I get:
Working PC:
Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : AMANDA
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 4:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : NetComm NB5+4/W USB Network Device
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-60-64-14-B0-CF
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.2
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday, 22 August 2007 8:34:08PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday, 22 August 2007 9:34:08 PM

My working laptop:
Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Sam-PC
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Con
nection
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-19-D2-2E-AD-CB
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::b1aa:e7db:8af8:865%11(Preferred)
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.4(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday, 22 August 2007 8:38:33 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday, 22 August 2007 9:38:33 PM
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 285219282
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

The laptop which doesn't work:
Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : SAGE
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Marvell Yukon 88E8036 PCI-E Fast Eth
ernet Controller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-0F-B0-9B-EC-FA

Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2915ABG Networ
k Connection
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-0E-35-EF-78-18
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.3
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1


It detects and connects to the network fine (with excellent strength), but it doesn't connect to the internet. ANy help or advice would be much appreciated!

Thanks a lot!
Sam
 
The most obvious:
- Update the router firmware to the latest version
- Update the wireless drivers on the computer to the latest version

If it's an older router or network card, then it may have problems with newest encryption types like WPA2 or even WPA

First, set up the network without any security. Only then add features like MAC filtering and encryption. With encryption, work your way up from WEP to WPA to WPA2 to get a common ground that works with everything.
 
on the new laptop, remove all config info and set DHCP for both IP and DNS.
 
Thanks for the replies!

I previously had DHCP switched on (and all IP config cleared), but then it would only detect the network with 'limited connectivity'. Is there a way of directing the DHCP to a similar IP to the router, without manually giving the computer an IP address?

I will try updating the router firmware (it is a brand new router though), and the wireless drivers on the laptop. It is an oldish laptop so maybe it is something to do with the encryption - I will try without encryption. I know the wireless network card works, because it has connected to the internet via another wireless network when it was fixed recently (not sure if that was encrypted though).

Thanks again!
 
stranksy said:
I previously had DHCP switched on (and all IP config cleared), but then it would only detect the network with 'limited connectivity'. Is there a way of directing the DHCP to a similar IP to the router, without manually giving the computer an IP address?
Click to expand...
Manual setup require too much cordination and are easily installed wrong --
your best hope is DHCP. MAKE SURE your router is config'd to provide DHCP
services -- it is not always the default :(

I will try updating the router firmware (it is a brand new router though), and the wireless drivers on the laptop. It is an oldish laptop so maybe it is something to do with the encryption - I will try without encryption. I know the wireless network card works, because it has connected to the internet via another wireless network when it was fixed recently (not sure if that was encrypted though).
Click to expand...
yea, it's common that encryption causes issues, especially when different
manufactures are on the opposite ends.
 
Hi again all,
I've updated the faulty laptop's wireless drivers and the router's firmware is up to date, but still no go.

I tried it at my house which has an unencrypted network, and it connects fine to the network (via DHCP) but cannot get on the internet. When I ipconfig/all it, it seems to be detecting the router address and assigning the correct IP and DNS etc. But it won't connect to the internet! All other computers have been able to connect wirelessly to this network without any hassle.

Although I'm ultimately aiming to be able to set it up at my girlfriend's, it should still work here.

Ipconfig/all for when connected to the unencrypted network:
C:\Documents and Settings\sage's account>ipconfig/all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : SAGE
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : Belkin

Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Belkin
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2915ABG Networ
k Connection
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-0E-35-EF-78-18
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.3
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Tuesday, 28 August 2007 5:45:09 AM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday, 29 August 2007 5:45:09 PM



If anyone has any other ideas they would be much appreciated - I'm running out of guesses!
Thanks a lot in advance,
Sam
 
"won't connect to the internet" means what?

Can you ping the router IP address? Can you ping websites like www.google.com? What if you look up the IP address of a website and ping that?

It could be Winsock corruption. Try downloading and running a program called WinSockFix.
 
Thanks for the reply.

'wont connect to the internet' means that I have no internet access eg via internet explorer. Strange thing is that it could not find host www.google.com or any other site, but when I ping their IP addresses it can do that happily. It can also ping the router address.

I have also already tried the WinSockFix program, but it didn't seem to help the problem.

Thanks again!
 
Is there a firewall on the problem laptop? Or maybe two of them? Try turning it/them off to see if the problem goes away.
 
Thanks for the reply, AlbertLionheart
The Windows Firewall was off, and I turned the Norton one off too, but no internet access with both on, off or one on and the other off!
 
In post 5 you list the result of ipconfig and this shows DHCP and default gateway as 192.168.2.1, yet all the other ipconfig reports you have show this should be 192.168.1.1. Or am I missing something here?
Have you set the NIC settings to default on the problem laptop?
 
Sorry, post 5 shows the ipconfig/all when using the network at my house (i.e. at moment), for router 192.168.2.1 (the unencrypted network). The previous posts show results when using network at my girlfriend's house 192.168.1.1, the network I want to primarily get working.

Sorry about the confusion! What's the best way to set NIC settings to default?

I appreciate the help, thanks.
 
You might want to try also clearing the old connections

On the view wireless connections log , vista stores old connections settings
from other wireless Ranges that are automaticly set wen you walk into their range. i dont know exactly why but they prove to be source of conflict sometimes.
 
Hm. You cannot resolve names, because the DNS server is set manually and does not point to the router. Please set the DNS server to be discovered automatically too.
 
Thanks for that Nodsu, I didn't notice that! Anyway, now I can connect perfectly well to the unsecured networks (without any security), and have internet access. However as soon as I switch on WEP it connects with 'limited connectivity'. It was on 128-bit cipher, and I tried 64 bit but that didn't work.

I want to try WPA but am not sure about the IP address to use and the 'secret'? Any ideas? And do you think this is the best way to proceed? It seems that the security is the problem for this laptop. ANy other ways around this? We need security because there are a lot of flats around us each with wireless.

Thanks!
 
With encryption, everything is exactly the same, only that you have to supply a password (the "key" or "secret") on both the router and the client to be able to use the network.
 
to be precise, you create the key/secret on the router and all connections must
be able to match it to complete the connection.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

D
Patchy ethernet network after replacing motherboard
Replies
7
Views
2K
Gabriel Pike
Gabriel Pike
M
I do not have access to Internet when wired connected (attached concrete info)
Replies
5
Views
2K
MaikuTech
MaikuTech
Kyorisi
"Default Gateway not available" Requires the ethernet adapter to be reset
2 3
Replies
54
Views
12K
Mark Fuller
M

Latest posts

Back