Wireless Access

Question

I have an  Intel(R) PROset for Wireless card that I am having trouble accessing the internet with.  Instead, I must connect directly to the internet via cable to the modem.  I am using an Inspiron 8600 Dell.  The other computers in the house I am in connect fine to the wireless network without cables.  I am probably overlooking something simple, can anyone attest to something like this?  Any help would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you.

volcano11 · Answer

With the ethernet cable not plugged in, if you open Network Connections, right click your wireless connection and select 'View Available Wireless Networks', can you see your wireless network?  Do you have any security settings enabled on the router, like WEP or WPA encryption or MAC Address Filtering?   Steve

dezmand · Answer

I can definitely see my wireless network when I go into my network places and right click it.  It is also possible that I could have encryption on.  How would I find out if there was an encryption on?  Thank you very much.

volcano11 · Answer

When you select your wireless network and click on the Connect button, does it ask for an encryption key?  If you log in to your router's configuration page from another computer and check the wireless security settings, does it show that encryption is enabled?   Steve

dezmand · Answer

It does not ask for an encryption key when i choose connect to my wireless network.  And I cannot log into my router's configuration page becaue it is asking for a username and password which I somehow do not know.   I might not be doing it right, but I have gone to start-> run->  command, ipconfig, (then took the IP address under default gateway and pasted it into the internet address bar).  I was then prompted with a username password which i didn't know.  Was this process correct in attempting to find the router's configuration page?  If not can you please let me know how to or if their exists an alternative.  Thank you.   Interestingly enough, there is no number next to default gateway on the computer that is not obtaining a wireless connection.

volcano11 · Answer

The username and password for a router depend on whether or not you changed them from the default values and the default values depend on the make and model of the router.  Defualt username and password for many brands are both 'admin' without the quotes.    If you have other computers that connect by wireless, you can at least see if they require an encryption key (which would tell you that encryption is indeed enabled) by going to Network Connnections, right clicking the wireless connection, selecting Properties, then clicking the Wireless Networks tab, selecting the wireless network in the list, and clicking on the Properties button.   Steve

dezmand · Answer

Ok- For the computer that is connecting to the wireless network under properties in the wireless network tab under 'network authentication' I see 'open' selected from the dropdown menu, and under 'Data Encryption' I see 'disabled' from the dropdown selected.   For the computer that is not connecting to the wireless network under properties in the wireless network tab 'date encryption' and 'network authentication' do not have check marks in their boxes.   What does this mean going forward?  Thank you very much.

volcano11 · Answer

Apparently your router is not using encryption (which means that anything you send across the network could potentially be picked up by someone else in the vicinity, and anyone within range of your network can connect to it.   Exaclty what happens when you view avaialble wireless networks, select your network, and click on the Connect button?   To help troubleshoot this problem, go to Start > Run and type cmd then click OK. In the command prompt window that opens, type ipconfig /all then hit the enter key. Write down the output from this command or select it and save it to a txt file, then copy this output into a reply to this message.   Steve

dezmand · Answer

when i view available wireless networks and hit connect, nothing happens. The wireless icon in the lower right hand side of the monitor says that I am connected with an excellent connection. However, once I take the cable out, I cannot get an internet page to load-page cannot be displayed.

Here is the copied output of my ipconfig. Thank you.

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]

C:\Documents and Settings\Brad Zale>ipconfig/all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : brad

Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :

Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown

IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom 440x 10/100 Integrated Cont

roller

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-0F-1F-13-AF-90

Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes

Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.3

Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0

Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1

DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 64.105.189.28

64.105.179.139

Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Monday, September 03, 2007 4:23:27 P

M

Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, September 06, 2007 4:23:27

PM

Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network

Connection

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-0E-35-B2-0C-3C

Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No

IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.5

Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0

Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

C:\Documents and Settings\Brad Zale>

volcano11 · Answer

Your probablem is that you have your TCP/IP properties for your wireless adapter set to a static IP address. You need to set it to obtain an IP address automatically. Open Network Connections, right click your wireless connection and select Properties. Find the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), select it, then click on the properties button. Put a check mark next to 'Obtain an IP address automatically', and, if necessary, put a check mark next to 'Obtain DNS server address automatically'.   Steve

dezmand · Answer

Alright, seems to have worked, thank you very much.

Networking, Internet, & Bluetooth

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