Posted: 5/7/2005 1:03:05 PM EDT
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I'm at my brother in law's place now, he got a laptop, wireless router and wireless notebook card as a gift. I'm trying to network it for him. I was able to network the desktop to the wireless network, using WEP 128 encryption, MAC address filtering and allowing only certain IP addresses. The new laptop though, won't connect. It says that it is connected to the network, but it will not connect to the internet. I can't even ping the other computer or the router, and I can't access the router configuration page either. It is not getting any incoming traffic at all. Any ideas? I've wasted an entire afternoon on this. |
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You are likely NOT connected to the network. Make sure the laptop is on the same workgroup as the other computer. Did you actually get an IP address from the router… what IP address is the laptop showing? What OS with service pack number on the laptop? Make sure the laptop WEP settings and key are correct. Did you add the laptops card to the MAC address filter in the router? Up date the laptops cards drivers if new drivers are available. The Windows XP wireless connection manager does not work well with some laptop card due to the drivers for the card, try removing and reinstalling the drivers and using the manufactures utility if there is one. AND MAKE SURE YOU ARE IN WIRELESS RANGE OF THE ROUTER. |
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Often a wireless client can connect but still has no Internet connectivity. By default most wireless router/AP will have DHCP turned on, so check if your wireless client has obtained an IP address lease. Start, Run, type in "cmd" (without the quotes), hit OK. In the DOS prompt window, type in "ipconfig" and see what IP addy you got. Also you're assuming the router itself has obtained an IP address from the ISP, so go to the router's WAN status page to verify. If both the client and router have IP addresses (client will most likely have a private address, such as 192.168.x.x, the router should have a publicly routable address) you still can't connect, disable both WEP and MAC filter and see if you can connec then. If so, put the securities back on one at a time. |
| First, drop all the wireless security on the router. You should then be able to connect your laptop to the Internet. Then first setup your encryption and verify your connectivity through the router. Then lastly setup you MAC filtering on the router. Take it in small steps verifying your connectivity as you go. |
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I think I got it working... does the encryption key have to be the same on each computer? When I put in my passphrase to generate the keys, it gave me four. I used one on the desktop, and one on the laptop. When I made the key the same on the laptop, it worked. I'm not sure if it was that or something else I was trying at about the same time. The reason I tried to do the laptop all at once, is that I already hooked up the desktop wirelessly step by step and it worked. There's no real advantage to hooking up the desktop with an ethernet cable because there are no other wired computers in the house and the internet is slower than wireless, so it's the limiting factor regarding network speed. |