Quizzes & Puzzles7 mins ago
Wireless Connection.Idiot in need of help.
Answers
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For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.You wrote that your laptop has 802.11 b/g (commonly known as Wi-Fi) which means it is 'wireless ready' and it should be able to 'talk' to the wireless router directly.
Forget the wireless adaptor (it is surplus to your requirements). Use the Ethernet cable to plug the Cable Modem into the Router's cable/dsl port and see if an indicator lights up. Then follow the instructions to connect via Wi-Fi.
Also, on your router, you can plug the modem into either the ethernet or cable/dsl socket. At the moment, I'd recommend the ethernet socket as the other socket may be firewalled or any number of other things that muddy the water.
I don't know where to start with this but I'll give it a go. Also, I'm only going on what I had to do to get mine working.
If you connect your laptop to the modem directly with the ethernet cable, do you get a connection? I'm assuming you do since you've had it working before. Have you used the setup utility of the modem? Have a look at the manual but it's probably something like typing 192.168.1.1 into a browser address bar then entering a default password.
See if your modem has DHCP (dynamic host control protocol) which will assign IP addresses to everything else on your network. If it does, leave it on. While you're here, turn ON all security features such as firewall and NAT. Don't forget to save your changes!
Continued....................
Next, do the same to access your new router without it plugged into the modem. If the address you need to access the router is the same as that of the modem, that's a problem and will need to be changed. You should be able to change the routers IP address on the first page, make it almost the same as the modems address by adding a bit to the last number only, ie: 192.168.1.5 . If the router has DHCP, turn it off, along with any NAT or firewalling since the modem is going to be doing all that stuff.
On your laptop, access the wireless connection in the network connections bit of Control Panel. You should be able to do a Site Survey or something similar. See if you can access the router. If you can, then see if you can access the internet. If you can't, you may have to set up your router to specifically allow your laptop based on its MAC address (probably printed on the bottom). If you can access the internet, (miracle of miracles!) read up about WPA or WEP and put them to use. Anything in this department is better than nothing.
I really hope even a little bit of this is useful and/or relevant. Let us know how you get on, in my experience, wireless networking isn't as straightforward as they'd have you believe.
You need to get the books for the modem & router out and have a look at how to configure them using their web interfaces.
Every bit of equipment on a network needs a unique IP address. What a DHCP server does is give out those numbers when a bit of equipment connects. It's really useful on big networks where there's lots of pc's to set up since it's all automatic but it's kinda overkill for a home network (or a notwork!) What I ended up doing here was turning DHCP off on everything and assigning static IPs to everything.
Perhaps everything will be a bit clearer if you find how to access the web interfaces. You need to make sure that the two devices are using different IP numbers (only the last number should be different) and at the most, only one of them should have DHCP enabled.
When you're in the modem setup, you may see other IP addresses for things like DNS1 & 2 or Gateway IP. Don't freak out, write them down and if you find a space in the routers setup with the same name, put them in there as well.
I hope I'm not making this needlessly difficult. I'm waiting for someone to come along and tell you to right-click an icon and select the "Fix my internet connection" option. No doubt you're doing the same!
I,m nearly finished.I decided to uninstall everything and start again, and I am now sending this reply using my wireless broadband connection (at last!).My only concern is that the connection shows that it is unsecure.I do not have any manuals to refer to ,and I cannot find any info on the installation disc.How do I secure my connetion.
To secure your connection, you need to use WEP or WPA encryption on both the router and laptop. You'll enter a password on both bits and that's it.
What make & model is your router?
I have accessed the web based configuration, and followed the set up instuctions and have also changed the password,but my connections still shows as unsecured.How do I actually access the WEP/WPA on my laptop and router, and what exactly do I do once I have accessed them.Apart from the security issue. everything else seems to working ok,and I have been wirelessly connected for about 4 hours now.The make of my router is Actiontec, and the model is GT701-WRU.
Greetings TEAK36, glad to know it's working now.
I found the manual for the router HERE. On page 32 it gives instructions on how to apply WEP or WPA. WPA is best but your laptop needs to be able to support it as well. If you go to your wireless network settings on your laptop either through the flashing icon in the system tray or through Control Panel....Network Connections, right click on it and choose Properties. There should be a tab in there for Wireless Security or something like it. Have a mooch around and see if WPA is selectable anywhere. If it is, activate WPA on your router first with a key that you write down! Then apply WPA to your laptop with the same key. If WPA isn't supported, Just use the highest form of WEP that the two things have in common.
Hope it all goes well (and easy!). Let us know.