Problems with laptop WiFi
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Problems with laptop WiFi
Hi guys,
I thought I'd pop in here before getting in touch with Acer tech support tomorrow.
My housemate recently bought an Acer 1691WLMi laptop. It has the Intel 2200 series internal WiFi.
I have a Belkin FSD7630 WiFi ADSL router/firewall, and use my desktop with a Belkin USB WiFi adapter, which is encrypted with WPA.
The Acer laptop will detect my broadband (and six others on my street!), and will go through the motions of connecting, but eventually it will always fail. It never gets past the 'acquiring network address' stage. However, it will connect with no problems if I take off the security on the WiFi (and yes, before anyone asks, I do make sure the profile has the correct network key and passphrase!). I downloaded the new Intel drivers for the 2200, and the same happens when using the Intel WiFi software instead of the Windows XP wireless utility. I have also made sure the Belkin router has the newest firmware.
Any ideas? Am I missing anything obvious?
I thought I'd pop in here before getting in touch with Acer tech support tomorrow.
My housemate recently bought an Acer 1691WLMi laptop. It has the Intel 2200 series internal WiFi.
I have a Belkin FSD7630 WiFi ADSL router/firewall, and use my desktop with a Belkin USB WiFi adapter, which is encrypted with WPA.
The Acer laptop will detect my broadband (and six others on my street!), and will go through the motions of connecting, but eventually it will always fail. It never gets past the 'acquiring network address' stage. However, it will connect with no problems if I take off the security on the WiFi (and yes, before anyone asks, I do make sure the profile has the correct network key and passphrase!). I downloaded the new Intel drivers for the 2200, and the same happens when using the Intel WiFi software instead of the Windows XP wireless utility. I have also made sure the Belkin router has the newest firmware.
Any ideas? Am I missing anything obvious?
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I don't know the kit in question, but i've seen it before - WEP and WPA may be 'standards' but i've come across too much wireless kit that will just not talk the same 'standard' as anything else.
Cheap unbranded OEM hardware is usually the worst offender, but the name brands seem to get things twisted occasionally. At least the brands generally update drivers, so the best bet is to just keep updating, most of the time it'll spring to life one day. They usually manage to get at least one flavour right too, so it's worth trying to see if it works with WEP rather than WPA, or vice versa. If they all fail then maybe it's something else going wrong.
WPA is the better protocol, but even the supposedly insecure WEP-64 is fine for home use IMHO - you're just trying to stop people casually logging on, rather than providing bomb proof security, so it's worth trying them all. If everything else fails then just disabling SSID broadcast plus a MAC address ACL is reasonable, that'll put it out of reach of any neighbour you're likely to have.
Cheap unbranded OEM hardware is usually the worst offender, but the name brands seem to get things twisted occasionally. At least the brands generally update drivers, so the best bet is to just keep updating, most of the time it'll spring to life one day. They usually manage to get at least one flavour right too, so it's worth trying to see if it works with WEP rather than WPA, or vice versa. If they all fail then maybe it's something else going wrong.
WPA is the better protocol, but even the supposedly insecure WEP-64 is fine for home use IMHO - you're just trying to stop people casually logging on, rather than providing bomb proof security, so it's worth trying them all. If everything else fails then just disabling SSID broadcast plus a MAC address ACL is reasonable, that'll put it out of reach of any neighbour you're likely to have.
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Thanks Evo,
I forgot to mention that I'd tried WPA, WEP (64 and 128) and still nothing.
You're right about security, of course. Anyway, I can't see many hackers trying to wardrive around here, as one of the networks from down the street is unsecured...the laptop can connct to that no problem (it's tempting, its a 4MB line rather than my own 1MB!)
I'll have to read up about the MAC address thing...
I forgot to mention that I'd tried WPA, WEP (64 and 128) and still nothing.
You're right about security, of course. Anyway, I can't see many hackers trying to wardrive around here, as one of the networks from down the street is unsecured...the laptop can connct to that no problem (it's tempting, its a 4MB line rather than my own 1MB!)
I'll have to read up about the MAC address thing...
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The Mac address ACL is very simple to setup. A Mac address is a 'unique' identifier for every network card; on Windows, typing ipconfig /all will tell you what it is (Windows calls it the 'physical address') and it will be something like 00:0d:93:ff:fe:ce. The router will allow you to set a list of allowed Mac addresses - connection requests from anything else will be refused. When you get new hardware, just add it to the list.
It's not foolproof, because there are ways of finding out the Mac address of other wireless devices and some network cards will allow you to override their preset Mac address (i.e. they can 'lie' and claim that they're you, so the router allows them in). The chances of anyone being able to actually do it are pretty low, however, and even if they could they're not going to bother with you when there's the open connection just down the street. The pragmatic approach is just to be harder to crack than your neighbours...
edit: and I actually think wireless is quite good at sticking to standards - there's a lot of different kit out there, and most of it interoperates. Having spent a day trying to get a Solaris box talking SSL to an AIX box, I reckon that Sun can't implement a specification it wrote itself, while IBM implemented it in two different ways in two of its own products...
It's not foolproof, because there are ways of finding out the Mac address of other wireless devices and some network cards will allow you to override their preset Mac address (i.e. they can 'lie' and claim that they're you, so the router allows them in). The chances of anyone being able to actually do it are pretty low, however, and even if they could they're not going to bother with you when there's the open connection just down the street. The pragmatic approach is just to be harder to crack than your neighbours...
edit: and I actually think wireless is quite good at sticking to standards - there's a lot of different kit out there, and most of it interoperates. Having spent a day trying to get a Solaris box talking SSL to an AIX box, I reckon that Sun can't implement a specification it wrote itself, while IBM implemented it in two different ways in two of its own products...
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Just came on to post a question about a similar thread.
Came home today and found that the laptop is not finding any webpages on our network. We have a desktop connected to the network which runs fine so it's just the laptop which has suddenly lost connection.
If i disconnect then try to reconnect I get the 'aquiring server address' stage, then it just stop and disappears. The utility which came with the modem says im connected to the network at 54.0 mbps and the strength is very low, but I cannot connect to the router to configure it.
So I cannot connect to the router but the PC is using it fine meaning that the router is obviously still getting the net and passing it on fine, it's just my laptop won't connect.
In my room I can pick up someone else's network which isn't protected and i've tried connecting to it and using it and it works fine... any idea whats up? The problem sounds similar to the one described above.
I'm on BT using the Voyager 2100 if it helps..
Came home today and found that the laptop is not finding any webpages on our network. We have a desktop connected to the network which runs fine so it's just the laptop which has suddenly lost connection.
If i disconnect then try to reconnect I get the 'aquiring server address' stage, then it just stop and disappears. The utility which came with the modem says im connected to the network at 54.0 mbps and the strength is very low, but I cannot connect to the router to configure it.
So I cannot connect to the router but the PC is using it fine meaning that the router is obviously still getting the net and passing it on fine, it's just my laptop won't connect.
In my room I can pick up someone else's network which isn't protected and i've tried connecting to it and using it and it works fine... any idea whats up? The problem sounds similar to the one described above.
I'm on BT using the Voyager 2100 if it helps..
Spoon PPRuNerist & Mad Inistrator
joe2812
I had a similar thing with a BT voyager - rebooting the voyager worked a treat! Also happens with my Netgear at home, particularly if I try to run at 54. I guess it is not surprising that 11G drops out more than 11B.
It seems to be a not uncommon problem with SOHO WAPs, especially if you drive them at .11G. I've never seen it happen on the Cisco WAP kit we have at work, though. We have 3 per floor over 4 floors, with interleaved channels (on .11B).
I suppose you get what you pay for!
SD
I had a similar thing with a BT voyager - rebooting the voyager worked a treat! Also happens with my Netgear at home, particularly if I try to run at 54. I guess it is not surprising that 11G drops out more than 11B.
It seems to be a not uncommon problem with SOHO WAPs, especially if you drive them at .11G. I've never seen it happen on the Cisco WAP kit we have at work, though. We have 3 per floor over 4 floors, with interleaved channels (on .11B).
I suppose you get what you pay for!
SD
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a lot of routers benefit from the occasional kick. If you reboot them, leave power off for about 30 secs and then switch back on. Just check that there is nobody else (and if security is turned off, that includes the neighbourhood) doing anything critical. You may be able to reboot via software, but I always prefer the power approach
Conan
Conan
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I have just found this old thread and would like to bring it to the top of the pile again.
My Belkin modem/router will only allocate a network address to one wireless computer at a time. If my desktop wifi is on and I try and connect with my laptop, it says it is connected and "aquiring network address" but never gets past that point unless I disable my PC wifi. Once my laptop is connected, if I re-enable my PC wifi the PC won't get past the "aquiring network address" message until I disable the laptop wireless adaptor.
The router lists both computers with their associated network addresses but can't seem to deal with both at the same time. I have tried setting the network addresses manually in the computers with no success.
I will shortly be connecting the PC to the router with a network cable which gets round the problem until my son arrives at home with his wireless laptop and we are back to square one when my wife is using the wireless laptop at the same time.
Can anyone help??
My Belkin modem/router will only allocate a network address to one wireless computer at a time. If my desktop wifi is on and I try and connect with my laptop, it says it is connected and "aquiring network address" but never gets past that point unless I disable my PC wifi. Once my laptop is connected, if I re-enable my PC wifi the PC won't get past the "aquiring network address" message until I disable the laptop wireless adaptor.
The router lists both computers with their associated network addresses but can't seem to deal with both at the same time. I have tried setting the network addresses manually in the computers with no success.
I will shortly be connecting the PC to the router with a network cable which gets round the problem until my son arrives at home with his wireless laptop and we are back to square one when my wife is using the wireless laptop at the same time.
Can anyone help??
