I cannot access my router. Please help

Question

I have a DELL router that came with my laptop. A week ago I needed to go into it and setup some port forwarding. When I typed in fttp://my.router or http://192.168.2.1, I was prompted for my user/pass. I could not remember if I had set one or not. So I was told to do a hard reset and redo the setup so I can make a new user/pass.I now know that I could have just entered 'admin/admin'.  Now the simple DELL setup CD, that worked fine the first time, freezes up every time. After holding in the router's reset button for 10 seconds should  reset it to factory settings, enabling me to log into it through Explore using fttp://my.router, admin/admin, but I cannot get the user/pass prompt to pop up. I have tried: Holding the Shift key and click Refresh after loading http://my.router - in case it was a cache problem. 'Start - Run - cmd.exe.  When the box opens, type IPCONFIG /ALL and enter.  The Default Gateway entry will be the address of the router.  Put that into IE and see if you can get a login prompt.  It should be 192.168.xxx.xxx where the xxx are numbers between 0 and 255.' - but the Default Gateway is blank The computer does pop up the little XP balloon when I connect the router. So I know my computer is seeing it. I am just trying to setup the first, hard wired computer. Does anyone have any idea what the problem could be? Thanks

jmwills · Answer

I do not use the Dell routers but for a Linksys router the Default Gateway would be192.168.1.1

Try powering down everything, inlcuding your modem for a few (5) minutes and then power back up the modem, router , and PC in that order. Have you tried the tutorial for that router?

jwatt · Answer

I have tried:'The Default Gateway entry will be the address of the router. Put that into IE and see if you can get a login prompt. It should be 192.168.xxx.xxx where the xxx are numbers between 0 and 255.' - but the Default Gateway is blank If the gateway is blank, and IP address reported by ipconfig for your laptop begins with 169.254, the router is not responding to your laptop's request for an IP address. The 169.254 address is being autoassigned by the laptop. That probably means the reset didn't work. But it sounds like you followed the correct procedure for resetting the router. I'd suggest contacting Dell Wireless Support again, and be sure that you can get the router reset properly. People have had many problems using the installation CD. The best way to configure the router is via a Web browser. Are you using the laptop's Ethernet interface to access the router? And which router is it? Once you get the router reset, you should be able to proceed. Jim

jwatt · Answer

OK, that sounds good. What IP address does your desktop have? We need to find out whether it received its IP address from the 1184, or had to "make one up" because it couldn't get one from the 1184.

Jim

lesheets24 · Answer

It is the 1184 router. I'm not worrying about the laptop right now. Just trying to get my desktop setup as the first computer (hard wired).

lesheets24 · Answer

Thanks for your help guys. lol I finally gave up trying.

A friend of mine told me to copy the setup CD to an HDD and try running it from there. It worked! He told me this technique works many times when the CD nolonger works.

Thinking about it, this has worked when a device needed a driver that could not find it on the CD.

Thanks for helping!

Networking, Internet, & Bluetooth

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