Laptop/Router Connection Problems

[BALIX]

I guess that this might have been covered before so apologies if it has but I'm having problems connecting my shiny new HP notebook (courtesy of the government HCI scheme) to connect with my older but usually reliable Netgear DG834G router. They both acknowledge each others presence, the signal strength is excellent and it is nothing to do with encryption as the problem is the same with the key enabled or disabled.

Phoned up HP product support but was on the phone for ages without success, and had to reinstall windows at the end of it so I thought I'd try you experts before ringing back that very nice man in Delhi.

Any suggestions would be most welcome...

[Conan the Librarian]

Balix, is this a wireless or ethernet connection that you are trying to make? I have the same router and may be able to wlk though the settings with you if it helps.

Have just re read your post - go into the router settings and check that the wireless side is enabled and that SSID broadcast is on.


Conan

[BALIX]

Conan

Yup, they are both on, in fact the router seems to behaving quite normally as it is wireless connected to another desktop PC that we have in the house. The SIDD name corresponds to what is showing on the laptop and as I said before, the encryption keys match.

[ExGrunt]

Balix,

From what you describe, my instinct is that it is either a TCP/IP issue or a login issue.

I suggest the following:

1. From the router's menus check that the wireless machine is listed under attached devices.

2. If the router is set up to be a DHCP server check that the laptop is also set up to use DHCP. If the router is using static addresses (Unlikely unless YOU have set this up) make sure that the net masks match.

IF the TCP/IP set up is OK then it is likely to be a login issue and that depends on what you re trying to do.

HTH

EG

[BALIX]

EG

Thanks. I've managed to get the thing to connect by manually inserting the IP in the appropriate place. However, that isn't the end of it I'm afraid. For some reason I can't get the laptop to network with the router even though they are seemingly connected.

As a result I can't access the internet. Also, I suspect that the laptop is interfering somehow with the other PC that is wirelessly connected to the router as it keeps dropping its own connection whenever I try and do something with the laptop.

This seriously pisses off my son whose PC it is...

[ExGrunt]

OK

This definitely sounds like a configuration issue.

From the laptop click: Start, Run.

In the dialog box type: cmd

A command prompt window will open. At the command prompt type ping 192.168.0.1

Copy the output and post it to the thread by selecting the output with your mouse the clicking the little black icon in the top left of the menu bar and selecting: edit, Copy. Then in a post press: ctrl+v.

Then in the command prompt box type ipconfig /all and copy and paste the output into a post as above.

That will let us know what is happening on the laptop.

A possible cause of the laptop/PC problem you describe is that most laptops use 802.11b WiFi cards - ie 11Mbps, whereas the DG834G is an 802.11g router ie 54Mbps.

Now what happens is that if the router is set up to use 802.11b&g (Default) it will switch down to 802.11b. If the PC'S WiFi card is an set to run at 802.11g then when the router switches down it will drop the link.

The solution may be that if the desktop's wifi card is Netgear equipment, to reconfigure it to use 802.11b&g, which is a settting on Netgear equipment.

HTH

EG

[BALIX]

EG

Here we go..

Pinging 192.168.0.1 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 192.168.0.1: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.0.1: bytes=32 time=12ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.0.1: bytes=32 time=12ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.0.1: bytes=32 time=12ms TTL=255

Ping statistics for 192.168.0.1:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 2ms, Maximum = 12ms, Average = 9ms

Pretty much gobbledegook to me but I appreciate you trying to pick the bones out of it :ok:

[Conan the Librarian]

Sorry - been away at Heathrow all day and couldn't get back to the thread. A pal with a netgear router had the same problem a few weeks ago, it transpires. He did a master reset with a paper clip on the router and then everything worked nicely.

If you try this at home, make sure that you have all of your ISP details and passwords to hand!


Conan

[BALIX]

Conan

I tried restoring the factory settings - you can do it without a paper clip - but it didn't really help. I can connect to the router but cannot connect the laptop to the internet through the router.

I'm seriously thinking about getting a new router...

[Saab Dastard]

Balix,

Could you go to command prompt again and type ipconfig /all and report the output?

From this it will be possible to see the IP configuration, including whether it is DHCP or fixed IP address, what the subnet mask and default gateway are and whether or not DNS server entries are being passed to the client.

In a previous post, you say that manually entering an IP address interferes with your son's PC - this sounds as if you are assigning exactly the same IP address, which will conflict and stop the other from working.

Each PC (node in IP terms) must have a unique IP address on its local subnet. The subnet is defined by the subnet mask, which divides the 4 octets of the IP address into Network address portion and Node address portion.

Thus 192.168.0.1 with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 has a network address portion of 192.168.0 and a Node address portion of 1.

Therefore another node on the same Network must have a different Node address - thus 192.168.0.2, with subnet mask of again 255.255.255.0.

To talk to any other node, IP uses a simple compare operation (actually a logical AND operation on the binary digits of the IP address and subnet mask) to see if the destination is on the same network - e.g. is 192.168.0.1 on the same network as me (192.168.0.2)? In this case, the network portions are the same (192.168.0), so the answer is yes and the datagram is sent directly to the destination node.

If the destination address is NOT on the same network (e.g. 213.161.73.143, or 192.168.1.1), then the transmitting node sends the datagram to the Default Gateway to be forwarded to the correct network.

Thus endeth the lesson ;)

[BALIX]

Saab

I think I know what you are getting at but unfortunately, the IP address I entered had a different node address.

STOP PRESS!!!!

Whilst typing this message the very very nice man in India called me back!! Now there's a first. After talking me through a few more procedures, his final gambit before admitting defeat was to uninstall the three network adapter drivers, then reboot. (We had tried this last time but that was before I'd got full connectivity). Woo hoo! It did the trick and I appear to be connected to the internet.

Thanks anyway for all your efforts on my behalf, that's what I like about PPRuNe :ok:

[flower]

I have not dissimilar problems connected with my HCI PC. I cannot access a good number of sites.
Can I do what they suggested myself or do I need the "nice man in India" to do it.
I am not at all PC literate

[Conan the Librarian]

Flower, if you can access some sites then you have a valid and viable internet connection. What you might be finding is that if you run Norton Internet Security or similar, that the general level of security is set slightly higher than ideal, thus barring access to many sites.

Come back to us and run us through exactly what is happening and I am confident that there will be some helpful feedback from the chaps.

Conan