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?

CJ - possibly the last attempt from me - what happens if you type in 192.168.1.254? If nothing works, I reckon your wifi is knackered in the router. Cannot see it as problem for the lappie. Have you tried another wireless PC?

Indeed so, Mr O. - Unfortunately, when I try to make contact from my desktop, I get a request for User Name and P/W and the standard admin/admin isn't accepted :sad:
Ther is a certain amount of time constraint on this 'cos SWMBO is off on her travels until tomorrow and I can spread my domestic confusion unhindered! :E

Ah!!! BOAC - now there's a thought! ... could well be. Anyway, the die is now cast - rehash in progress and we shall see if that has any improving effect. Will report back and many thanks to all. The suggestions made may well be useable for other members with similar problems.

that last comment of yours rather reinforces the suggestion that the router is the problem

Ah. If its any consolation the local Fun Prevention Officer has found a social conscience and gone off to do something community spirited. It's just a coincidence that it involves sitting down talking to other women is it? And in the meant I am left to tackle a hawthorn hedge armed with nothing more than seceteurs and a spirit of hope. Ok well usually the default ip address is on a sticker on the thing but a Google search should get you the default password and username and reset procedure. Is it locked to BT ? Using ipconfig from one of the pcs should get the actual gateway address. For name/password try blank/blank, admin/admin, admin/Admin......Someone on Google will have been through this already.

Oh, too late!

- crikey - this is worse than trying to get blood from a stone!

Do we NOW understand that 192.168.1.254 reaches your router wirelessly or wired or not?? If so, your router wifi is ok. Answers on a postcard?

If we are talking wired and you cannot get in, do a factory reset on the router and use the default u/n and p/w

Too late. Rehash in progress, presumably reset of laptop from recovery partition?

BUT it is not the laptop, is it? On the other hand, perhaps the lappie 3com card is knacked. We may never know, without the third degree.:)

but from my reading of things he can't log into the router from the machines which are cabled, so he still can't check the wireless settings on the router.
I think even after the laptop has been reloaded the router is still going to have to be reset to defaults before we can make any sense of this
It would help to know the exact model of the router and the ISP - as these are sometimes supplied with fixed settings for the ISP

An issue here is that the OP has got confused by too many of us chipping in with ideas and has stopped listening, or else has just decided to listen to what he fancies

As Donald said "We don't know what we don't know":) I reckon C J would have been an excellent secret agent and resisted all interrogation methods.:ugh:

...but we were all saying the same thing!

Let me summarise two pages:

We don't know which IP address he is using to connect to the router by cable or wireless

We don't know whether the router has been reset to factory and default used.

We don't know details of the router.

In my opinion, laptop reset etc is a waste of time at the moment, as is ipconfig /all

Still, it is raining here and I cannot get out to the Amberley Gardens Festival.

Now threatening rain here too. Wouldn't ipconfig off a pc have at least given us the gateway address? Then check laptop set up to receive dhcp address or stuff in a static address.Then check card config. If OP confesses to router details then can find router reset process and defaults. Only fly in the ointment is suspicion of BT involvement.

I'd agree with that summary from BOAC, except its sunny here

As to using IPCONFIG, the problem is we don't know if he's using a fixed IP address or DHCP

...suspect we'll hear shortly.

Gosh chaps, I really am most grateful for all your help - just need a better brain to understand it!
Update ... Have, at last managed to login to the router:ok: Helps enormously if the password is entered correctly!!! Anyway, have completed a reset plus resetting the networking setup and the result is - zilch. The only new thing is that when I try to connect to the Plusnet wireless net (which is visible and strongly received) is a message something like "Windows is unable to find a certificate to allow you to connect to this network" or some such. Have no idea what this means ... any suggestions, please?

The wired in pc can or cannot get online(irrespective of laptop)? Think there is a setting in xp to override the certificate issue-MM will know.

Heard of Google? Let me google that for you


First hit:ugh:You just never know.

Fix “Windows was unable to find a certificate to log you on to the network”

Beat me to it....

Thank you chaps - Whoops of joy followed by ashes!! the 'certificate' message no longer appears but still no wireless internet:sad: One slight change is that using ipconfig generates the autoconfig address and the subnet mask. I then tried ipconfig /renew. It activated (I think) but no change.I now have wads of paper covered with indecipherable scrawls but no progress to report. Ain't pooters wunnerful!:yuk: