WiFi network help, please!
 

One for the network gurus - Laptop Dell Inspiron 8100, XP Professional, 3Com WiFi card. Boot up and WiFi reception is shown as Good or better. My Network Places shows connection is Good. Try to log on with PlusNet and get dialogue box saying unable, address not recognised. Address is correct. Attempt to login on 192.168.1.1, to check and fix the router and get same dialogue box!! Select Repair function in the 3Com details box and get "Repair failed due to not able to renew IP address".
I have got the IP address and the Subnet Mask details but have no idea how to fix the problem. Anybody, any helpful suggestions, please?
TIA

PC isn't getting an IP address from the router

have you tried turning the router on/off?
if that fails, reset the router to defaults and then set up all the networking again

what make of router? are you using WEP or WPA encryption?

Thank you, Milo.
Router is a Thomson Gateway and it is working perfectly with two cable connected desktops.Encryption is WEP. Have switched the router off and on (with long delays) several times. When I try to get into the router setup via its address, I get the same failure indication as for the Web.

Is not the default 192.168.1.254 or have you changed it?

A Thomson is normally 192.168.1.1 - unless its one of the old Speedtouch models supplied by BT

To the problem
You're using WEP
WEP can be either "open" or "shared". Its an option under the advanced settings tab in the windows wireless network setup tool. However often with third party setup tools you don't get the option and it defaults to "open" and can't be shared
Set the PC up to use the Windows setup tool - not the 3Com one and try using the "shared" option
Also if you can get access to the router via a cable, try to change the channel its running on. Some network cards don't like running on channel 1 or 13 - even though these are the only two channels which don't overlap into another

If that still wont fix it then press the reset button (usually hidden in a pinhole), to set the defaults and then reprogram it. Make sure you have the ISP user name and password before you try this (who is the ISP??)

Thanks again, Milo and BOAC - yes 1.254 it is. The most frustrating bit is that it is getting excellent WiFi reception but just won't use it!:* Will try channel changing from the desktop and see if that works.

Confused now - where did 192.168.1.1 (post£1) come into it?

same here - I thought it WAS 192.168.1.1. for one of those
No chance the gateway has been manually set incorrectly on the PC?

CJ - - it's Saturday night where I am - can you put us out of our mysery and tell us what happens when you enter that in your browser? 'Channel changing' WAY down the line.

Are you saying you also cannot connect to the router management portal? What does ipconfig/all show? Switch off any firewall maybe.

- that is what this is all about.

Just checking! Ipconfig/all shows what gateway address?

Apologies for the confusion chaps:O The .1.1 address I tried initially 'cos that was what I was directed to by the help line a year or so back. All wrong, of course!! The correct address IS 1.254! However, the response to that is still the same - to the effect that the address is not recognised. Pinging the Beeb via the cmd route gives a similar reply. The 'Repair' function in My Network Places brings up the 'failed due to unable to reset IP addresss.
Having a think about it (there's a novel concept!) if I mess about with the router (reset, etc.,) it will affect the two desktops which are working fine so I reckon the answer is to save the MyDocs contents from the laptop to a card and then do a total rehash back to factory settings and start again. Drastic, possibly, but, at least it shou;d 'clear the tubes' so to speak.
Comments???
Thanks again everyone.

CJ - if you follow that suggestion, NB it is ipconfig /all (with a space)

CJ
have you tried changing the laptop network settings from open to shared?

I think he has fainted!

Well it's either this or pulling cleavers from the flower beds. Damn this sun. Resetting the laptop sounds way to drastic. Network card config ok, autonegotiate on? If you connect by cable is it ok? Any firewall running?

Again apologies to all. I'm having some difficulty getting my head around some of these options - e.g. removing the WEP protection, 'cos I can't access the £$%"*** router to modify anything at all. The router itself is working fine on the other two machines so I'm assuming that the fault(s) lie with the lappie. It has worked in the past but I have no idea when , or which operation, caused the problem. I've done the My Docs transfer and there's nothing else on the machine of consequence so the rehash is looking increasingly favourite - it's more in line with my (lackof) skill base!!

Sorry for not paying attention but if its working ok from the cabled pc's why can't you change the router from there? Are all machines xp?