uk.comp.home-networking
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: Well I tried

Subject: Re: Well I tried
From: "Mortimer" <me@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 30 Jul 2008 12:07:22 +0100
Newsgroups: uk.comp.home-networking

"Ted" <ted99@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message 
news:9xFjk.83110$7O1.78126@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> robert wrote:
>> Ted wrote:
>>> On the laptop, I could pick up a few networks, one of which seemed to be 
>>> mine as it was showing as unsecured whereas the others were showing as 
>>> secured (plus other network stuff unrelated to me).
>
>> First thing is to connect to your router via the cable, login as admin, 
>> change the password and give your network a name you can recognise but 
>> which doesnt reveal your name or address  ie dont use "Brownatno10".
>>
>> You also need to get the internet connection via the router working for 
>> your pc or laptop via the network cable before trying the wireless.
>
> I made the various name changes but couldn't get an internet connection on 
> the pc when the pc was connected to the wireless router by cable. However, 
> I could get a wireless connection on the laptop (a few networks!) but I 
> couldn't get the connection secured.

Can I check: is your first sentence talking about a different PC to the 
second sentence?

If so, it looks as if you have two different problems. Let's consider them 
separately.

1. PC connected to by Ethernet cable. This ought to work without any 
configuration, providing that the PC hasn't been set to use a static IP 
address. Check first that the router has a status light for the port that 
the cable is plugged into (typically the port and its corresponding light 
are numbered 1-4); the ethernet post on the PC may also have a status light. 
If these are not lit, you may have a problem with the router or PC card or 
the cable. Assuming that the lights are OK,  see what ipconfig and ping 
report (see below for details of these tests).

2. The PC which is connected by wireless can connect to the router but you 
are having problems with an encrypted connection. First of all, let me check 
that you understand that encryption is turned on at the *router* not at the 
PC: having gone into the router's config page and enabled (for example) 
WPA-PSK encryption (*) with a suitable neywork key (password), the PC will 
detect that it is now dealing with an encrypted network and will prompt for 
the key to be entered; having done this once, the PC will remember it and 
will not prompt for it again.


Ipconfig/ping tests:

a) Start | Run | cmd - a black window with white writing will appear
b) In that window, type "ipconfig" [press the enter key] (without the double 
quotes). This should display something like

Windows IP Configuration

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

        Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
        IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.2
        Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
        Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1

c) In the same window, type "ping 192.168.0.1" [enter] - alter the four 
numbers if necessary to match those listed as Default Gateway in the output 
of ipconfig. This should give the response

Pinging router [192.168.0.1] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 192.168.0.1: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64

Ping statistics for 192.168.0.1:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),

Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 1ms, Maximum = 2ms, Average = 1ms
d) type "ping news.bbc.co.uk" [enter] which should give the same response 
but with address 212.58.226.8; the "time" values may also be larger, around 
15-30 ms.

If these tests fail, post what response you get and one of us will try to 
diagnose the response.



(*) Enabling wireless security

The exact details will vary from one router to another, but typically you 
use Internet Explorer or Firefox to browse to a "web site" 192.168.0.1 
(modifiy this value to match the Default Gateway value given by ipconfig) 
and then go through the menus to find the Wireless menu and then Security. 
Tell us the make of router and we can give more specific instructions. 



<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>