Laptop connectivity problems

[Tefler]

My laptop, with Windows XP, has been running happily through a Linksys wireless router for a couple of years. Today it wouldn't connect. I had done nothing to it, there had been no updates, so there appears to be no reason for this. With an automatic IP address, in ipconfig, I got all the zeros. So, I gave it a static IP address. This allowed it to make a connection with the router. However, I still can't access any webpages. Outlook will send messages, but cannot receive any. And pinging the router times out. I would be really grateful for any ideas at all what I might try next.

[Panic Button]

When our connection through a Linksys router failed, despite numerous reboots of computers and router, I gave up.

Later that day I tried and it was all OK.

I decided it was probably nothing to do with my equipment, but was probably Tiscali going down for a while.

If not that, then perhaps it's time to buy a new router.

[vascop]

Can you connect with any other computers? At least that will establish if the wireless network is there. You can't connect if there is no signal from the router. Also if your laptop has a WIRED network adaptor, then connect to the router with a network cable and see if you can then connect to the internet and check the router settings. At least that will tell you if the router is OK or not.

[Tefler]

Thanks, both, for the ideas. Yes, I can connect through my computer wired to the router. I'm getting connection with the router wirelessly on my laptop, but can't actually get any response from the router when pinging or trying to access anything on the web.
I've reset the router, closed down and rebooted, deactivated the firewall, threatened the machine and been nice to it. Nothing so far has worked.
Any more suggestions would be welcomed.

[vascop]

if your laptop is definitely connected to the router wirelessly then you must be pinging the wrong IP address. Make sure that you are using the correct one. 192.168.1.1 or whatever it is. As you have reset the router the IP address will be back to the default.
You should also be able to get the router logon screen to appear in your browser by typing in the IP address of the router.
I have a Linksys WMP54G router myself. I would guess yours is very similar.

[Tefler]

Thanks for your time again, Vascop. Yes, I'm sure I'm pinging the right address. Wireless icon reckons I'm connected to my network and the strength is excellent, but no, it won't ping the router or any other website. Nor am I able to connect to the router logon screen.

I've been to the logon screen through my PC and have checked that my passwords, etc are ok. I've also changed the channel in there as a 'clutching at straws' thing to do (you never know, next door may have a new microwave or something). Still no joy. I'm totally nonplussed by this.

[vascop]

I suppose it could be a problem with the Windows firewall or the router's own firewall. Have you checked these?
By the way, are you still not using DHCP?

[Tefler]

Thanks again for your time, Vascop, and sorry for the delay in replying - my PC decided to go down with a virus and it's taken me an age and a half to sort it out.

As for DCHP, I've no idea whether I'm using it or not. I know what it means, semantically, but not what it means in reality!

Anyway, I have now got Internet connection through the laptop. Removing the firewall completely didn't solve the problem, so it obviously wasn't that that was getting in the way. So, I did a factory reset - no joy. I then looked for anything else I could twiddle and changed the WEP setting to WPA and, hey presto! It worked.

Thanks again for your help with this - even if advice doesn't work, it's useful to get it as one idea can lead to another in such situations - and all ideas give one hope for an eventual solution!

[vascop]

No problem. Glad you got it going. DHCP is where the router controls the IP addresses of the computers talking to it. Best to enable it on the router. The opposite is static IP addresses.

[Tefler]

You see - when things go wrong with these machines, it means you have to learn more about them. Thanks for the info.