IP Addie/Limited or no connectivity problem

Question

I just got my dell inspiron 6000 and am trying to connect to my home network, I have a D-link 624 router, I see my network in the available networks list on my laptop and selected it, and entered my wpa passkey it the says it's acquiring network address. I then get the message "limited or no connectivity"
When I check the wireless network status and click the support tab I see the following
"You might not be able to access the internet or some network resources. This problem occurred because the network did not assign a network address to the computer.
I tried clicking the repair button and it says it's "renewing your IP address"

I then get the message "Windows could not finish repairing the problem because the following action could not be completed: Renewing your IP address"

I do know the wireless router is functioning because I was able to access it with my PSP. So what can I try to get the laptop to connect?

Message Edited by Tristanne on 01-24-2006 08:18 PM

volcano11 · Answer

Are you absoultely, 100%, completely postive, and bet on your life sure that you have entered the exact WPA hex key on your network connection?  Did you set up MAC Address Filtering when you set up the security features of the router, and if so, are you absolutely, 100%, completely positive, and bet on your life sure that you entered the correct MAC address in the router's table of allowable MAC addresses?  If you have any doubt, reset the router to its default settings or temporarily disable the security until you are sure that you can make the connection.   Steve

volcano11 · Answer

WPA is much more secure than WEP. Has WPA worked before? Perhaps some setting just got corrupted before. Try using WPA again. Start with a simple pass key, make sure it works, then make things more complex, checking each time.

Steve

Tristanne · Answer

Okay I'll try WPA again. I noticed in my router settings it allows you to select either WPA, WPA2 or WPA-AUTO does it matter which one I select?

And one more question. My router allows you to turn of broadcasting the SSID which I did but once I did my laptop lost the connection. My PSP worked with it off. Do I have to leave the broadcasting on for the laptop, or is there a way to set it to keep the connection with it off?

volcano11 · Answer

Enable the security settings, one step at a time, checking to see that the network connectivity is still present after each step. Start simple and work to more complex settings. If you need to, create a text file with the hex key, by copying from the router configuration page, pasting into a text file, saving the text file to removable media, then copying the key from the text file into the network card's configuration settings.

Steve

Tristanne · Answer

Hi Yes, I made sure I entered the correct pass key. I checked the Mac setting and it said MAC filters were disabled.
I turned off the router and pressed the reset button, but I don't think it worked because the same network name that I entered and passkey are still on there.
I'm not sure if there's something else I'm supposed to do to get this to restore the default settings or how to disable the security settings on this router. but I'll keep trying.

Tristanne · Answer

Okay, I found out how to turn off the security after I did and tried to connect again it worked. But I don't want to have the security turned off to use this. What can I do to get it to work with the security on?

Tristanne · Answer

Well, I switched to the WEP 128bit passkey and it works with that enabled, looks like it was just some conflict with the WPA passkey. But since that is supposed to be better protection I would rather use that if I can.
Do you know if there is a way to make that work?

volcano11 · Answer

WPA PSK is definitly supported on the Intel card. WPA2 is more secure, but you I don't know if the Intel card supports it. It might with the lateset drivers from Intel. Some say that you are more secure if SSID broadcasting is turned off. Still, it does not offer that much security (good hackers can still get around it), and it may cause problems and slow downs on the network. I leave SSID broadcasting enabled. If you choose to disable it, you will have to remeber the SSID of your network and then open the Utility that you are using to configure the wireless network on your computer and manually enter the SSID in order for your computer to find it.

Steve

Tristanne · Answer

Well I tried to connect again using a simpler WPA key and still no luck. I guess there is some confict between the D-link router and the intel card. But I don't know what to do to fix it. I guess I can e-mail the D-link people and see what they suggest.

JPB985 · Answer

As a result of the input of others users, I discovered the key to making my D-Link DI624c work with the 2915ABG network adapter and permit full access to the internet for my Inspiron 6000.

I now have security on my wireless network and feel that I can now work on allowing file and printer sharing over my network. Because I earlier was unable to successfully enable the security without running into the "limited or no connectivity" result on the wireless connection for the Inspiron 6000, I was reluctant to open the network between the PC's.

My DI-624c uses Firmware Version 2.70, the most recent (as of 1/26/2006) Version offered by D-Link. Other more knowledgeable users have found later Versions, but I have not. My 2915ABG adapter is working under the Driver Version 9.0.3.9, dated 9/12/2005.

The key was the change from WPA2-PSK to WPA2-Auto as the Security mode. Though I am unsure as to the degradation in security with this step-back, the network is secured by a strong password, and I am reasonably sure it cannot be violated unless someone resets the router back to the "default" settings through the 10-second hold of the reset button on the router.

I must say that I am disappointed with the support provided by Dell through its chat sessions and Intel whose response is to send you a listing of wireless technology files to read. While intellectually stimulating and then frustrating, the files do not provide the answer to curing the problem. I am especially dismayed by D-Link, a company that apparently takes the attitude that if their router works through their wireless devices on other PC’s, it obviously is not a problem for them if your PC, using an Intel adapter, has "limited or no connectivity" through their router. Ultimately, they will pay for that attitude through an ever-shrinking customer base.

On the other hand, I am thankful that Dell supports this Forum through which so many people are willing to help others through their hard-earned, real-world expertise in finding ways to make things work.

Tristanne · Answer

Hi,
Thanks for the information, using WPA2-auto worked! I had given up after calling D-link and they said it was a known issue and all they could suggest was to see if Intel had a driver I could download to fix the problem. I went by their site and couldn't find anything specific about this problem so started to e-mail their support but got stuck when they asked for all this info on what firmware and other things I was using before I could even submit the question.

Honestly, If it weren't for discussion boards like this I don't think I'd ever have gotten past the point of turing on a PC! ^_^

BTW, I did look up what was the difference between WPA and WPA2 and this is part of what I found. After reading it I feel even better using WPA2.

What is the difference between WPA, WPA2 and 802.11i?
Let's start by looking at what is not different. First, WPA2 and 802.11i are the same. WPA2 is the name used by the Wi-Fi Alliance, whereas 802.11i is the name given to the standard by the IEEE. You may also see the term RSN, Robust Security Network, which is part of WPA2/802.11i but is often used interchangeably.

Second, WPA and WPA2 can use the same authentication methods, because they are all EAP based. EAP stands for Extensible Authentication Protocol and, as the name suggests, many different protocols can be built on top of EAP. So both EAP/TLS as well as EAP/PEAP-MSCHAPV2 will work both for WPA and for WPA2.

A key difference between WPA and WPA2 is the underlying encryption method. For WPA this is TKIP/RC4, for WPA2 this is CCMP/AES. AES is the Advanced Encryption Standard and is used by the US Department of Defence as a replacement for older encryption standards. It is very secure. AES can be used in several modes - CCMP is the mode used by WPA2. You will see both terms used interchangeably.

RC4 is the cypher on which the older WEP standard is based (to be consistent we should call it WEP/RC4 here, WEP being the way the RC4 cypher is used). RC4 has some key vulnerabilities, that make it difficult to design secure encryption using that cypher. It is these vulnerabilities that led to the demise of WEP/RC4... so how can a TKIP/RC4 be secure? Because TKIP uses the RC4 cypher in such a way that the vulnerabilities that are in the cypher do not materialize. So even though WEP/RC4 ("WEP") and TKIP/RC4 ("WPA") are based on the same underlying cypher, one is considered secure and the other is not.

Having said that, the new CCMP/AES is preferable over TKIP/RC4. Also note that you will not normally see the term RC4 being used in accesspoints or wireless software.

There are other benefits of WPA2 over WPA which will not be discussed here.

Thanks again!

Networking, Internet, & Bluetooth

IP Addie/Limited or no connectivity problem

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