Wireless Network Problem

[garthparties]

Hi All,

I posted this in the Windows XP forum, but no one offered any help. I figured that I would post it in the Networking section to see if anyone here had any ideas. Thanks!

I have read this site often, but this is my first post. I have a weird problem with my new wireless network. I am running an HP Pavillion laptop with XP SP2. The router I am using is a Linksys WRT54G.

I have two laptops in the house (one Mac and the PC). The Mac sees the network fine and can browse without problem. The PC says that it is connected to the wireless network, but it will not browse. No programs that need access to the internet work either. Sometimes I can ping the router when I am "connected" wirelessly but not consistently. I cannot ping any external IP addresses.

I have all ready tried the TCP/IP and winsock2 refreshes.

The really weird thing is that I can connect to other wireless networks in the area and browse them without problem. Also, if i wire directly into the router I do not have a problem.

I spent 2 hours on the phone with a guy from Linksys today to no avail. He said that he thought it might have something to do with the fact that I just moved into a high-rise apartment building, so there are a lot of wireless networks in the area.

Any help that anyone can offer would be great!

-garth

[Freaktech]

Could you go to command line when you are connected to the wireless and run ipconfig /all
and post the results here.

[garthparties]

I will do that when I get home from work. Thanks for the response!

[garthparties]

I ran the ipconfig/all. I ran it when I was attached to my neighbor's unencrypted network and my own (not working) network. The results were the same for each. I presume this fact does not bode well for fixing the problem...

Anyway, here are the results:

Windows IP Configuration:
Host Name..................................:brad-ad2e43e01b
Primary Dns Suffix.......................:
Node Type..................................:Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled......................:No
WINS Proxy Enabled...................:No
DNS Suffix Search List.................:hsd1.ma.comcast.net.

Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:
Connection Specific CNS Suffix......:hsd1.ma.comcast.net.
Description..................................:Intel (R) PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network Connection
Physical Address..........................:00-0E-35-39-88-39
Dhcp Enabled...............................:Yes
Autoonfiguration Enabled...............:Yes
IP Address...................................:192.168.1.122
Subnet Mask.................................:255.255.255.0
Default Gateway............................:192.168.1.1
DHCP Server.................................:192.168.1.1
DNS Servers.................................:68.87.71.226
68.87.73.242
68.87.64.146
Lease Obtained..............................:Tuesday, August 19, 2008 7:50:47PM
Lease Expires................................:Wednesday, August 20, 2008 7:50:47PM

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
Media State..................................:Media Disabled
Description...................................:Realtek RTL 8139 Family PCI Fast Ethernet NIC
Physical Address...........................:00-0F-B0-03-5D-F4

[zeroth]

Same results? Are you saying you picked up the same IP Address 192.168.1.122 on both routers?

[garthparties]

Yes, the IP address is the same when I am on both routers. 192.168.1.122

[zeroth]

For one thing, you've got a media disabled message re: your ethernet adapter on this connection. Can you check that first?

I'd like to see an ipconfig /all from both connections.

[garthparties]

Isn't the media disable message message for the wired connection?

I am at work now. I will rerun the two different ipconfig/all when I get home.

[zeroth]

Yes but it means you've got the wired connection enabled alongside the wireless. While testing wireless, you might want to disable the wired connection just for elimination purposes, AFTER running the two ipconfig /all so you won't change anything in the reports you post before we get to see them.

[garthparties]

OK. I'll do that when I get home. Thanks.

[garthparties]

Unfortunately, I didn't have time to run the ipconfig/all functions tonight. I will do it tomorrow. Thanks to everyone who has offered help so far!

[Freaktech]

Open control panel, click on Network Connections, right click on you wireless connection and click properties. Click on Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) once to highlight it and click properties. Make sure you are set to Obtain an IP address automatically, and Obtain DNS server address automatically.

This will verify that DHCP is enabled. I know your post of the original ipconfig /all listed it as enabled, but I don't see how you would get the same IP address different routers.

[garthparties]

I am set to obtain both IP address and DNS server automatically.

[garthparties]

Here are the ipconfig/all results when I am connected to my neighbor's wireless network:

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : brad-ad2e43e01b
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : hsd1.ma.comcast.net.

Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : hsd1.ma.comcast.net.
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network
Connection
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-0E-35-39-88-39
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.122
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 68.87.71.226
68.87.73.242
68.87.64.146
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, August 21, 2008 11:47:01 A
M
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Friday, August 22, 2008 11:47:01 AM

[garthparties]

Here are the results of the ipconfig/all when I am "connected" to my own network. The IP address is still the same even though I have it set to autoconfigure. Also, I turned of the wired connection to avoid any confusion.

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : brad-ad2e43e01b
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : hsd1.ma.comcast.net.

Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : hsd1.ma.comcast.net.
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network
Connection
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-0E-35-39-88-39
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.122
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 68.87.71.226
68.87.73.242
68.87.64.146
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, August 21, 2008 9:08:59 PM

Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Friday, August 22, 2008 9:08:59 PM

[zeroth]

OK, there's a couple of things going on here. Are you connecting to your neighbors network from your house, or are you going over there? If you're going over there, can you maintain a connection all the way back to your place?

Can you get your neighbor to turn of his router while you test yours?

[garthparties]

Hi zeroth,

I am connecting to my neighbor's network from my apartment. I just moved into a large apartment building in downtown Boston, so there are a lot of wireless networks in the area. I do not even know who this network belongs to. I just hooked into it to test my computer's wireless ability. I cannot ask the owner to turn it off, because I don't know who the owner is. Sorry.

[zeroth]

I think I've narrowed down the problem but let's try a few things. First, I don't think you're connected to your router at all. What ISP do you use?

Take a look at all the wireless networks you can see from your computer - what name is your router broadcasting? On your wireless connection, do you have TCP/IP set to Obtain IP Address Automatically, and the same with Obtain DNS servers automatically.

After these checks on your ethernet settings, can you sign onto your router and check a few things, like have you got DHCP enabled? If you need instructions, just ask.

If we find what I believe we'll find, it's a router issue...in any case, it's probably just a simple fix once we locate it.

[garthparties]

I use Comcast. The modem is getting a signal. When I wire directly into the modem of the router I am able to access the internet.

Our network's name is Brevra. I can see it an 9 others from my computer.

TCP/IP and DNS are set to obtain automatically. DHCP is also set to automatic.

Thanks for the help.

[zeroth]

Let's check to see if you are really connecting to your router and not someone else's. First, connect to the router by cable and disable your wireless connection. Then go to the setup page in your Linksys router and change the Starting IP Address to 192.168.1.200. Then the Maximum Number of DCHP Users, you can just change to 10 or something small.

That will give you a pool of possible IP addresses that the router can hand out. From 192.168.1.200 to 192.168.1.209

When you sign on wirelessly, check for wireless networks near you first and choose your router and then you should have an IP in the above range. If you don't, you're signed on to a neighbor's network and not yours.