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Wireless Connection.Idiot in need of help.
14 Answers
I have NTL cable broadband, and have bought a wireless kit which consisits of a wireless router, a wireless adaptor,an ethernet cable, a USB cable, and a couple of installation discs.I purchased this kit because it was recommended by NTL, and it is supposed to be easy to set up, but I must be doing something wrong because I cannot get it to work.My laptop is only 1 month old and has 802.llb/g (whatever this means).I follow the instructions on the disc,but when I get to the point where I connect,it says it cannot locate a wireless connection.I know this sounds stupid,but do I need a wireles network card? Someone I work with said that because my laptop is new,it will most likely have one already installed.
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That could well be your problem. A lot of notebooks don't come with wireless adapters installed. If you have a friend who as one, then a good idea would be to borrow his and test your laptop with it. The problem could also be that you do have one, but your house has stupidly thick walls. Check the connection with your laptop really near the router to test this.
Check the processor on your laptop, if you are running "centrino" technology, then a wireless card should be built into the laptop already. If not, then try using a 54g wireless network adaptor, they cost around �25 from maplins or comet and are realy easy to use. I had similar problems with my network using NTL when I first started and one simple mistake was not enabling the wireless on 2 of the laptops, I know it sounds silly but it might be something similar that is giving you grief. I hope you get up and running soon
Thanks for your replies.My laptop has an AMD Mobile Sempron processor.When I look at my connections it has a wireless LAN connection which I enabled when I tried to set up the router.It cant be the thickness of the walls because my laptop is about 3 feet away from the router at the moment.A wireless adaptor came as part of the kit I bought and it was connected to a USB port when I tried to set it all up.Could I be connecting the router up wrongly?My NTL cable modem has an ethernet port and a USB connection, which plugs into the USB port on my laptop. I removed the USB cable from my cable modem and laptop, and connected the ethernet cable to the my NTL modem,and the other end into my wireless routers ethernet port.I plugged the wireless adaptor into one of my laptops USB ports.This leaves me with a spare cable in the kit,and this is a USB cable which is the same as the one which went from my NTL cable to my laptops USB port.Could I be setting he cables up wrongly.The router has 2 identical ports on it,one named ethernet and the other named cable/DSL, and a third port called USB.
You wrote that your laptop has 802.11 b/g (commonly known as Wi-Fi) which means it is 'wireless ready' and it should be able to 'talk' to the wireless router directly.
Forget the wireless adaptor (it is surplus to your requirements). Use the Ethernet cable to plug the Cable Modem into the Router's cable/dsl port and see if an indicator lights up. Then follow the instructions to connect via Wi-Fi.
You've done everything right so far. You say in your original post that your laptop has 802.11b/g, that's the wireless so you don't actually need the USB adaptor.
Also, on your router, you can plug the modem into either the ethernet or cable/dsl socket. At the moment, I'd recommend the ethernet socket as the other socket may be firewalled or any number of other things that muddy the water.
I don't know where to start with this but I'll give it a go. Also, I'm only going on what I had to do to get mine working.
If you connect your laptop to the modem directly with the ethernet cable, do you get a connection? I'm assuming you do since you've had it working before. Have you used the setup utility of the modem? Have a look at the manual but it's probably something like typing 192.168.1.1 into a browser address bar then entering a default password.
See if your modem has DHCP (dynamic host control protocol) which will assign IP addresses to everything else on your network. If it does, leave it on. While you're here, turn ON all security features such as firewall and NAT. Don't forget to save your changes!
Continued....................
Also, on your router, you can plug the modem into either the ethernet or cable/dsl socket. At the moment, I'd recommend the ethernet socket as the other socket may be firewalled or any number of other things that muddy the water.
I don't know where to start with this but I'll give it a go. Also, I'm only going on what I had to do to get mine working.
If you connect your laptop to the modem directly with the ethernet cable, do you get a connection? I'm assuming you do since you've had it working before. Have you used the setup utility of the modem? Have a look at the manual but it's probably something like typing 192.168.1.1 into a browser address bar then entering a default password.
See if your modem has DHCP (dynamic host control protocol) which will assign IP addresses to everything else on your network. If it does, leave it on. While you're here, turn ON all security features such as firewall and NAT. Don't forget to save your changes!
Continued....................
(beaten to it but it's typed already so I'm keeping going!!)
Next, do the same to access your new router without it plugged into the modem. If the address you need to access the router is the same as that of the modem, that's a problem and will need to be changed. You should be able to change the routers IP address on the first page, make it almost the same as the modems address by adding a bit to the last number only, ie: 192.168.1.5 . If the router has DHCP, turn it off, along with any NAT or firewalling since the modem is going to be doing all that stuff.
On your laptop, access the wireless connection in the network connections bit of Control Panel. You should be able to do a Site Survey or something similar. See if you can access the router. If you can, then see if you can access the internet. If you can't, you may have to set up your router to specifically allow your laptop based on its MAC address (probably printed on the bottom). If you can access the internet, (miracle of miracles!) read up about WPA or WEP and put them to use. Anything in this department is better than nothing.
I really hope even a little bit of this is useful and/or relevant. Let us know how you get on, in my experience, wireless networking isn't as straightforward as they'd have you believe.
Next, do the same to access your new router without it plugged into the modem. If the address you need to access the router is the same as that of the modem, that's a problem and will need to be changed. You should be able to change the routers IP address on the first page, make it almost the same as the modems address by adding a bit to the last number only, ie: 192.168.1.5 . If the router has DHCP, turn it off, along with any NAT or firewalling since the modem is going to be doing all that stuff.
On your laptop, access the wireless connection in the network connections bit of Control Panel. You should be able to do a Site Survey or something similar. See if you can access the router. If you can, then see if you can access the internet. If you can't, you may have to set up your router to specifically allow your laptop based on its MAC address (probably printed on the bottom). If you can access the internet, (miracle of miracles!) read up about WPA or WEP and put them to use. Anything in this department is better than nothing.
I really hope even a little bit of this is useful and/or relevant. Let us know how you get on, in my experience, wireless networking isn't as straightforward as they'd have you believe.
I think im almost there.My laptop says I am now connected wirelessly,but I just get the usual error page you get when you cant access the internet.Ralph, you mentioned a MAC address,what exactly is this? I checked the bottom of my laptop and apart from the serial number and the Windows label,the only other label is a transmitter module label.Is this anything to do with a MAC address? I am completely baffled when it comes to messing around with IP addresses and DHCP.How do I access these?
That's how you get your MAC address but since your laptop is seeing the router (or appears to be) then the problem is likely to be between the modem and router.
You need to get the books for the modem & router out and have a look at how to configure them using their web interfaces.
Every bit of equipment on a network needs a unique IP address. What a DHCP server does is give out those numbers when a bit of equipment connects. It's really useful on big networks where there's lots of pc's to set up since it's all automatic but it's kinda overkill for a home network (or a notwork!) What I ended up doing here was turning DHCP off on everything and assigning static IPs to everything.
Perhaps everything will be a bit clearer if you find how to access the web interfaces. You need to make sure that the two devices are using different IP numbers (only the last number should be different) and at the most, only one of them should have DHCP enabled.
When you're in the modem setup, you may see other IP addresses for things like DNS1 & 2 or Gateway IP. Don't freak out, write them down and if you find a space in the routers setup with the same name, put them in there as well.
I hope I'm not making this needlessly difficult. I'm waiting for someone to come along and tell you to right-click an icon and select the "Fix my internet connection" option. No doubt you're doing the same!
You need to get the books for the modem & router out and have a look at how to configure them using their web interfaces.
Every bit of equipment on a network needs a unique IP address. What a DHCP server does is give out those numbers when a bit of equipment connects. It's really useful on big networks where there's lots of pc's to set up since it's all automatic but it's kinda overkill for a home network (or a notwork!) What I ended up doing here was turning DHCP off on everything and assigning static IPs to everything.
Perhaps everything will be a bit clearer if you find how to access the web interfaces. You need to make sure that the two devices are using different IP numbers (only the last number should be different) and at the most, only one of them should have DHCP enabled.
When you're in the modem setup, you may see other IP addresses for things like DNS1 & 2 or Gateway IP. Don't freak out, write them down and if you find a space in the routers setup with the same name, put them in there as well.
I hope I'm not making this needlessly difficult. I'm waiting for someone to come along and tell you to right-click an icon and select the "Fix my internet connection" option. No doubt you're doing the same!
I,m nearly finished.I decided to uninstall everything and start again, and I am now sending this reply using my wireless broadband connection (at last!).My only concern is that the connection shows that it is unsecure.I do not have any manuals to refer to ,and I cannot find any info on the installation disc.How do I secure my connetion.
Did you manage to access the web based configuration page on your router? Start up another browser window and type 192.168.1.1 into the address bar. Don't use http: or any of that. If that doesn't work, try 192.168.1.2. You'll hopefully get a prompt for a username & password and it'll most likely be admin & admin.
To secure your connection, you need to use WEP or WPA encryption on both the router and laptop. You'll enter a password on both bits and that's it.
What make & model is your router?
To secure your connection, you need to use WEP or WPA encryption on both the router and laptop. You'll enter a password on both bits and that's it.
What make & model is your router?
I have accessed the web based configuration, and followed the set up instuctions and have also changed the password,but my connections still shows as unsecured.How do I actually access the WEP/WPA on my laptop and router, and what exactly do I do once I have accessed them.Apart from the security issue. everything else seems to working ok,and I have been wirelessly connected for about 4 hours now.The make of my router is Actiontec, and the model is GT701-WRU.
Greetings TEAK36, glad to know it's working now.
I found the manual for the router HERE. On page 32 it gives instructions on how to apply WEP or WPA. WPA is best but your laptop needs to be able to support it as well. If you go to your wireless network settings on your laptop either through the flashing icon in the system tray or through Control Panel....Network Connections, right click on it and choose Properties. There should be a tab in there for Wireless Security or something like it. Have a mooch around and see if WPA is selectable anywhere. If it is, activate WPA on your router first with a key that you write down! Then apply WPA to your laptop with the same key. If WPA isn't supported, Just use the highest form of WEP that the two things have in common.
Hope it all goes well (and easy!). Let us know.
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