Try restarting both router and the modem ( leave it off at least for a minute). Sometimes data transmission messes up and you need to give it a reboot. Chances are, you already tried this method, but if not...try it, it might help.
I've been going around in circles for days with a similar issue. I have a new Inspiron E1405 with Win XP Home and an Intel 3945ABG configured by Intel ProSet/Wireless. My home network uses a Netgear814v2 router. First I found out the E1405 was connecting to the Internet through every wireless network in the neighborhood except my own (which I noticed after I kept losing service every few minutes). Then I got it finally to connect to my network, but it didn't get an IP address. Then it got an IP address but couldn't access the Internet. Then I lost the connection entirely and couldn't get it back for days; finally I shut down every computer in the house, the router, and the DSL modem, and turned them back on in sequence: modem on, wait 5 minutes, router on, wait 5 minutes, computer on. Finally I got my connection back.
Problem is I can connect to the router and to other computers on the local network, but not anything outside that. If I ping a non-local host, even by numeric IP address, all I get is "Destination host unreachable" and 100% packet loss. Despite all the wireless headaches this seems to be more than a wireless problem, since even with wireless shut down and the laptop wired to the router I can't get out of the local network.
Meanwhile, while trying to fix the wireless connection I set the IP address manually, and now I'm sorry I did this because I can't figure out how to re-enable DHCP. Oh, I can find the Properties window that has a radio button to "Obtain IP address automatically", alright, but if I select this and then try to close the process to save the setting it hangs the process ("not responding") and when I try to shut it down anyway ("End now") I lose everything except the Dell screen background--even the task bar is gone--and the system doesn't even respond to Ctrl-Alt-Del, only to holding the power button down until it shuts off. Of course when I power back up, the wireless IP settings are unchanged: manual IP address, no DHCP.
I've tried the Troubleshooter software but always seem to end up being told to contact the person who manages the network at my site. Since this is in Win XP *HOME*, guess who that person is?
So:
1. How can I re-enable DHCP for the wireless card (and make it actually "stick" that way)?
2. How can I begin to troubleshoot the lack of Internet connectivity (realizing that is probably isn't strictly a "wireless" problem)?
One more thing to try, Unplug the modem for 30 seconds and plug it back in reseting it and then unplug the router for 30 seconds. After that then try my next suggestion.
With the router, either take the power out for an hour and see if it reset, hit the reset button the router if there is one, or use the default router settings and take note of what you edited. About your notebook not connecting even when conneted through a wired connection. Is that for Internet explorer only, or is that also for ping, and firefox, itunes, messengers, etc.
I already went through the "unplug and wait 30 seconds" drill. Actually I waited more than 5 minutes. This was how I finally restored my wireless connection to the LAN. And yes, even ping cannot get outside the LAN; it's not just IE.
In the recommendation to reset the router to factory settings, you forgot the first step: "Find your router's manual and look up the factory password so you'll be able to get back in after you reset it." Fortunately I keep that manual handy. So I reset the router, tried the wireless connection (still the same problem), and restored the settings from a backup I made just before resetting.
I notice that actually I do have Internet connectivity through the Ethernet cable as long as that connection is enabled. (The thing I didn't think of before is, every time I disconnect and reconnect the cable, I have to bounce that connection--that is, disable it then enable it again.) But whenever I'm using the wireless connection, every attempt to ping a host not on my LAN results in "Destination host unreachable". (And I did check that the same host does respond to "ping" when I correctly re-enable the wired connection.) This was also true when the router had the factory settings (so my entire network was open and unsecured).
I'm wondering if maybe this *is* a hardware problem and I should actually contact Dell service.
Very Intense David289, I did forget about the "default" password. Im glad you had the manual and stuff. Usually some routers/modems just have: Admin as their username and no password. But NOT all modems/routers. Have you tried other ports, switched with a different router? If you switch with a good router and cant get through you know its the router. Ive seen cases that the wireless is defective. I would try swapping for a known good router like goto a friends and connect or something. If you can it must be your router and get netgear on the phone, if you cannot it has to be your wireless modem in your notebook.
I finally got the wireless connection to work a few days ago, and it has been doing well since then.
The following might be interesting to someone in a similar situation. One of the things I had done while attempting to make the wireless connnection connect was to manually set the IP address and DNS server addresses for this computer rather than using the default setting, which is to get these automatically from the network. Having done this, for some reason the computer would not let me make any other changes to those settings--I could neither change the IP address or DNS addresses used by this computer, nor could I change back to using automatic settings. I could edit the numbers or activate the buttons in the TCP/IP Properties window, but as soon as I tried to close the Wireless Connection Properties window, the process would hang and could not be ended. I would finally reboot the computer, after which the IP address and DNS addresses would still be at the settings that I had tried to change from.
Whether this was what prevented this computer from reaching the Internet through the router, I don't know. But it certainly was incorrect behavior and very inconvenient (since the IP address was stuck at one address forever).
In the end, I restored the computer back to the factory settings. (I could not use the Windows restore function to return the computer to the checkpoint before I started working on it; I had to use the Dell restore function, Ctrl-F11.) This restored the TCP/IP settings and also wiped away the copies of AIM and Messenger that my daughter had installed. Then I made sure that the very first network connection I made was via the wireless link to my own router and not to any of the other wireless access points that we can occasionally pick up at my house. From there on it went pretty smoothly, though I did turn the router off and back on again before I was able to actually get a connection.
So it seems I actually had a software (not hardware) problem in the new computer (not the wireless router) after all, since restoring the software to the factory configuration seems to have been what I needed to fix. The lesson seems to be, when all else fails start over again with the computer exactly as it was when it was shipped.
vladsky
4 Posts
0
July 25th, 2006 19:00
vladsky
4 Posts
0
July 25th, 2006 19:00
David289
3 Posts
0
July 26th, 2006 04:00
I've been going around in circles for days with a similar issue. I have a new Inspiron E1405 with Win XP Home and an Intel 3945ABG configured by Intel ProSet/Wireless. My home network uses a Netgear814v2 router. First I found out the E1405 was connecting to the Internet through every wireless network in the neighborhood except my own (which I noticed after I kept losing service every few minutes). Then I got it finally to connect to my network, but it didn't get an IP address. Then it got an IP address but couldn't access the Internet. Then I lost the connection entirely and couldn't get it back for days; finally I shut down every computer in the house, the router, and the DSL modem, and turned them back on in sequence: modem on, wait 5 minutes, router on, wait 5 minutes, computer on. Finally I got my connection back.
Problem is I can connect to the router and to other computers on the local network, but not anything outside that. If I ping a non-local host, even by numeric IP address, all I get is "Destination host unreachable" and 100% packet loss. Despite all the wireless headaches this seems to be more than a wireless problem, since even with wireless shut down and the laptop wired to the router I can't get out of the local network.
Meanwhile, while trying to fix the wireless connection I set the IP address manually, and now I'm sorry I did this because I can't figure out how to re-enable DHCP. Oh, I can find the Properties window that has a radio button to "Obtain IP address automatically", alright, but if I select this and then try to close the process to save the setting it hangs the process ("not responding") and when I try to shut it down anyway ("End now") I lose everything except the Dell screen background--even the task bar is gone--and the system doesn't even respond to Ctrl-Alt-Del, only to holding the power button down until it shuts off. Of course when I power back up, the wireless IP settings are unchanged: manual IP address, no DHCP.
I've tried the Troubleshooter software but always seem to end up being told to contact the person who manages the network at my site. Since this is in Win XP *HOME*, guess who that person is?
So:
1. How can I re-enable DHCP for the wireless card (and make it actually "stick" that way)?
2. How can I begin to troubleshoot the lack of Internet connectivity (realizing that is probably isn't strictly a "wireless" problem)?
David
AvidChronos
21 Posts
0
July 26th, 2006 05:00
With the router, either take the power out for an hour and see if it reset, hit the reset button the router if there is one, or use the default router settings and take note of what you edited. About your notebook not connecting even when conneted through a wired connection. Is that for Internet explorer only, or is that also for ping, and firefox, itunes, messengers, etc.
David289
3 Posts
0
July 27th, 2006 03:00
In the recommendation to reset the router to factory settings, you forgot the first step: "Find your router's manual and look up the factory password so you'll be able to get back in after you reset it." Fortunately I keep that manual handy. So I reset the router, tried the wireless connection (still the same problem), and restored the settings from a backup I made just before resetting.
I notice that actually I do have Internet connectivity through the Ethernet cable as long as that connection is enabled. (The thing I didn't think of before is, every time I disconnect and reconnect the cable, I have to bounce that connection--that is, disable it then enable it again.) But whenever I'm using the wireless connection, every attempt to ping a host not on my LAN results in "Destination host unreachable". (And I did check that the same host does respond to "ping" when I correctly re-enable the wired connection.) This was also true when the router had the factory settings (so my entire network was open and unsecured).
I'm wondering if maybe this *is* a hardware problem and I should actually contact Dell service.
David
Message Edited by David289 on 07-27-200612:43 AM
AvidChronos
21 Posts
0
July 27th, 2006 16:00
David289
3 Posts
0
August 4th, 2006 02:00
The following might be interesting to someone in a similar situation. One of the things I had done while attempting to make the wireless connnection connect was to manually set the IP address and DNS server addresses for this computer rather than using the default setting, which is to get these automatically from the network. Having done this, for some reason the computer would not let me make any other changes to those settings--I could neither change the IP address or DNS addresses used by this computer, nor could I change back to using automatic settings. I could edit the numbers or activate the buttons in the TCP/IP Properties window, but as soon as I tried to close the Wireless Connection Properties window, the process would hang and could not be ended. I would finally reboot the computer, after which the IP address and DNS addresses would still be at the settings that I had tried to change from.
Whether this was what prevented this computer from reaching the Internet through the router, I don't know. But it certainly was incorrect behavior and very inconvenient (since the IP address was stuck at one address forever).
In the end, I restored the computer back to the factory settings. (I could not use the Windows restore function to return the computer to the checkpoint before I started working on it; I had to use the Dell restore function, Ctrl-F11.) This restored the TCP/IP settings and also wiped away the copies of AIM and Messenger that my daughter had installed. Then I made sure that the very first network connection I made was via the wireless link to my own router and not to any of the other wireless access points that we can occasionally pick up at my house. From there on it went pretty smoothly, though I did turn the router off and back on again before I was able to actually get a connection.
So it seems I actually had a software (not hardware) problem in the new computer (not the wireless router) after all, since restoring the software to the factory configuration seems to have been what I needed to fix. The lesson seems to be, when all else fails start over again with the computer exactly as it was when it was shipped.
David