Wireless Network Problem - Page 2

[garthparties]

Yea, the computer still can't browse or access the internet in any way. The Mac is still connected. It is able to browse with the changed DNS address. However, I only changed the DNS on the PC. I didn't change any DNS settings in the router. Also, the channel has been set to 9 since I spoke to Linksys on the phone a week ago or so.

What do you mean turn off encryption on the card? I can go into the router settings and turn off the WPA, but is there more to it than that?

As far as other posters helping out, Freaktech had posted in the beginning but hasn't posted in a while. Does anyone else have any ideas?

[zeroth]

maybe we're getting somewhere.

Goto Network Places, right click Properties and then right click your Wireless Network Connection and Properties. Then the Wireless Networks tab. Under your Preferred networks you can check out your encryption key...make certain this is the same as your router (you can also turn it off and check out if encryption is the issue)

I can't see much else it can be since the card doesn't seem to be a problem, it connects to other networks. If you can see the PC and therefore it's card, maybe you can go to the router DHCP client table and kick that user off deliberately, reboot and see if it picks it up clean. The Linksys routers keep info in their memories about certain users and will always try to give a user the same IP address. I guess you can also try a reset on the router - you'll have to reconfigure all your settings though.

[zeroth]

I'm going to give you a tool that might help diagnose your issue. I just thought about it. You will use this at your own risk as it has some power - tread lightly - sort of like working with regedit. It's called netstumbler

It will turn your ethernet adapter into a super search antenna and you can see some interesting information on the neighbors' networks that might help you. It reports dynamically so you can walk around the neighborhood and see what's happening in detail. We use this in laying out and engineering municipal wireless networks.

I'm hoping that the security settings are off and you don't have to go this route. But you'll have it if you need it. Remember that it's taking over your wireless card, so you'll probably have to reboot the computer to go back to normal adapter mode.

zeroth

[rbell96630]

I have the same problem. I have Windows XP, it says its connected but i cannot browse. I have done all sugestions that you have offered and it is still not working if any one has any ideas please email me
[e-mail]

[zeroth]

Here's something else you can try. I have not tried it myself so again, we're getting creative here. You can delete your wireless adapter in device manager and then reboot the machine. The machine will theoretically recognize your adapter as new hardware and you SHOULD get a new driver install with default settings. Again, try this at your own risk. This would eliminate any issues with the card as your router should pick up a default Wifi card with no problems.

[garthparties]

I will give these fixes a shot when I have some time. Thanks for thinking hard about potential solutions!

[garthparties]

Hi zeroth. A couple of things.

1. The security on the network is set to WPA Personal. I checked my PC's security settings. It was set to WPA, but there is also a WPA-PSK option. I tried switching between the two. This did not seem to help.

2. I turned off the security settings on the router and booted my laptop off the DHCP client table manually. At first I got an error that said "Windows was unable to find a certificate to log you on to the network." At this point I tried pinging the router and I got a good, clean connection. However, I restarted the computer and, at first, it was not able to even connect to the network. After trying a few more times, I am now back to the original problem. I do not get a new error message. It says I am connected and then nothing loads. Firefox says "Connection Error" in the bottom right corner.

I am going to try to reset the router to its manufacturer defaults. I will try to connect that way. If that doesn't work I will try some of your more "creative" techniques.

[garthparties]

I just reset the router and tried to connect. I am having the same, original problem. One thing I did notice, however, is that I have been assigned the 192.168.1.122 IP Address that I was originally assigned (before we made all the changes). Is it unusual that I would be assigned the same IP Address twice? Could this indicate a problem?

[zeroth]

Let's see, first, I would use the WPA-PSK You might get some option underneath that...if you use TKIP as your option it will let you choose a Network Key. That's what you want, the same key as the router. Later editions of Linksys routers offer AES, which is the best available encryption but most cards do not...just fyi. But the encryption should be exactly the same protocol and key on both the router and the card - that could easily be your problem.

BUT, if you intended to turn encryption off to test the connection, you will need to turn it off on the card as well as the router. If you are resetting the router, it will come up with no encryption so the card should have no encryption as well - this is just basic troubleshooting...eliminate anything that MIGHT cause the problem.

Anyway, that's probably where those messages came from...the router shook hands with the card and the card couldn't find the security certificate it was looking for.

[zeroth]

I just reset the router and tried to connect. I am having the same, original problem. One thing I did notice, however, is that I have been assigned the 192.168.1.122 IP Address that I was originally assigned (before we made all the changes). Is it unusual that I would be assigned the same IP Address twice? Could this indicate a problem?

I got sidetracked writing that other post and missed this one. Yes, that's suspicious, if you remember there was someone else that didn't like that as well. Routers do remember the IP they assigned last time...since you reset yours, I'm tempted to say you're not connected properly to yours. It's what I thought since the beginning of this post and that's why I asked you to change your pool of IP addresses, so we could make certain. The only problem with this is that your router could have assigned you 192.168.1.122 and is just repeating that from somewhere. You can always set up your router to deliver say only 2 IPs, starting at 192.168.1.47 and to include only two IPs in the range...that way, while testing, you'd know exactly which IP addresses to expect in an ipconfig report.

One way to attack this issue would be to change the router's local IP address - then when you're looking at your reports they would include say, 192.168.1.2 as the Default Gateway. Anything that you can change to keep your router unique from the other routers around you will help. One thing that netstumbler can do for you is tell you exactly what channel everyone else is on, btw. Then, there are only three non-overlapping channels on the ones that are available in 2.4 GHz. So if there are lots of routers, that may very well be your problem, just like the tech guy told you.

[zeroth]

Just a couple of other notes...while I've been "trying" to help you I've cleaned up my own network a bit and these ideas came to mind. You can tell I'm not really a tech support type, I'm just trying to make sure there's not something obviously wrong here since nobody else seemed to chime in.

On the router, did you check the Wireless tab to see if you have "mixed" and SSID broadcast "enabled"? Or course, it will be set at the default now.

I'm just thinking that one of the two notebooks could have a "B" only card in it.

Anyway, if the router is set at default and the wireless card (without the security set for your wireless network name of course) set at default settings...as it connects to other routers around you without security, it should connect to yours at default. There's nowhere to go from there, period.

I hope you find out what this is...maybe it's time to open a new thread with a different header in Network Security, or even here and see if you can get another brain working on this. I still think there was something in the security and simple at that and I'll be surprised if you haven't gotten it working once you take everything to default.

[garthparties]

I tried installing new drivers for my wireless card and that didn't do it. I am officially out of ideas. I called Linksys again and they basically told me that there was nothing they can do. This is so frustrating.

[garthparties]

I just downloaded NetStumbler. Here are the results.

It sees my SSID. It is green (presumably this means it has good signal strength). There is a lock in the green circle (encrypted?).

Name is blank.
Channel: 6
Speed: 54 Mbps
Vendor: (Fake)
Type: AP
Encryption: WEP
SNR: 56
Signal+: -40
Noise-: -100
SNR+: 60
IP Addr is blank
Subnet is blank
Latitude is blank
Longitude is blank
First seen: 10:20:51PM
Last seen: 10:26:45PM
Signal: -43
Noise: -100
Flags: 0411
Beacon Interval: 100
Distance is blank

I don't know what a lot of this means. Some interpretation would be nice.

[garthparties]

Also, it says that 34 APs are active, and it says "GPS: Disabled" on the bottom and "56/56" in the lower right hand corner.

Thanks

[zeroth]

Go buy a new router and card from Walmart, Target, Best Buy wait a few days put the broken one back in the box and return it for a refund. If the new setup doesn't work, take the PC and trade it in on another Mac.

Just kidding, sort of, don't give up, I still say it's something simple.

[zeroth]

I just downloaded NetStumbler. Here are the results.

It sees my SSID. It is green (presumably this means it has good signal strength). There is a lock in the green circle (encrypted?).

Name is blank.
Channel: 6
Speed: 54 Mbps
Vendor: (Fake)
Type: AP
Encryption: WEP
SNR: 56
Signal+: -40
Noise-: -100
SNR+: 60
IP Addr is blank
Subnet is blank
Latitude is blank
Longitude is blank
First seen: 10:20:51PM
Last seen: 10:26:45PM
Signal: -43
Noise: -100
Flags: 0411
Beacon Interval: 100
Distance is blank

I don't know what a lot of this means. Some interpretation would be nice.

First, there's no name. Is there something that tells you this is your SSID? Also, you're using WEP. That's not right. Let's get the thing set up with no security...take it one step at a time and don't change more than one thing at a time...I never though this would be so complicated so we'll approach it from a standard troubleshooting technique here, since it looks like it's you and me.

Oh, and also the channel is set to 6. If you did a reset, how come WEP is turned on?

[zeroth]

Also, it says that 34 APs are active, and it says "GPS: Disabled" on the bottom and "56/56" in the lower right hand corner.

Thanks

What I'd like to do is to organize these 34 APs so that we can see which ones are one which channels...you should be able to see this info from the netstumbler report.

Then, after you've taken the security off the router, go to the wireless network card and take off any security there, as well as passwords.

Then look at that channel study and see where they all are - don't take time to give all 34, just how many on channel 6, etc.

[garthparties]

It has seperate categories for SSID and Name.

I reset the router while I was on the phone with Linksys. I think re-enabled security (WPA, though, not WEP) after I got off the phone and decided to throw in the towell.

On another note, is there a way to duplicate this whole thread in the Network Security Forum?

[garthparties]

I have disabled the security.

[garthparties]

I have taken security off the router and the network card.

There are 8 networks on channell 1.
7 networks on channell 6.
1 on channel 7.
and 24 networks on channell 11.

[zeroth]

OK, if we take this logically, you should erase the wireless network connection and start over clean. If the router is clean and the card is clean, they should connect.

However, I don't know how to safely do that, especially on a notebook. I've just highlighted each of the Connections under my Network Connections screen and there is no "disable" button available, it's grayed out.

Is the adapter card in your notebook removable or built it?

While you're at it, right click on your Wireless Network Connection and see what's listed...maybe we're missing something there. I would assume the Linksys guy would have checked all this but now we've got to make certain. You should have Client for Microsoft Networks, File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks, QoS Packet Scheduler, and Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and they should all be checked. Also check the bottom two boxes for notifications.

While you're in there, hit configure on Connect using and goto advanced and make sure you have Ad Hoc Channel and 802.11b/g checked and the correct channel chosen.

I hate to give you so many things to check but we've done the obvious and it hasn't worked...so far.

[garthparties]

My laptop has a removable network card.

All of the appropriate boxes are checked.

The Advanced Settings have Ad Hoc Channel 802.11b/g checked. However, it has 11 selected from the drop down box. Right now, my network is set to channel 6.

[zeroth]

I have taken security off the router and the network card.

There are 8 networks on channell 1.
7 networks on channell 6.
1 on channel 7.
and 24 networks on channell 11.

Yeah, no wonder you're having problems. In addition to all of this other checking, can you tell me why you want to be wireless when you can obviously connect via ethernet cable to the router? I'm just sort of kidding you here.

Seriously, I have seen some schools with a router in every room with 20+ computers on each of them, so it can be done (They did have some issues when the classroom doors were open, incidentally). Try channel 3 (preferred) or 9. 1,6 and 11 are the non-overlapping ones. You're just going to have to fit in somewhere. At least now you know what your environment looks like spectrally.

[zeroth]

My laptop has a removable network card.

All of the appropriate boxes are checked.

The Advanced Settings have Ad Hoc Channel 802.11b/g checked. However, it has 11 selected from the drop down box. Right now, my network is set to channel 6.

OK, that all looks good. Hopefully, when you get the channel selected and both card and router on the same channel, everything will come together. Good luck, I'm signing off until tomorrow.

My last suggestion if none of the above works out is to remove the wireless adapter, eliminate the driver, etc., (I don't know how to do that) and let plug & play re-setup the card when you plug it back in.

[garthparties]

At first glance, it does not appear as though these latest fixes worked. I will look closer this weekend and possibly try to remove the wireless card.

[garthparties]

My computer has been very slow lately (on and off the internet) and has been acting weird otherwise. I think I am going to reformat the harddrive. Hopefully this will fix ALL of my problems. I will let you know.

[zeroth]

Good luck...before re-formatting, I would give the folks at the Virus, Spyware, etc. forum under Windows a chance to help you fix it first. There are some tools listed there under the sticky posts that make it pretty easy to straighten out any software issues.

[garthparties]

Thanks, zeroth. I'll give those a shot first.

[garthparties]

Just thought I would give an update. I reformatted my hard drive and downloaded network magic to manage the internet connection (instead of letting windows do it). Now it works! Yay! I have no idea why this works now, but it does. Thank you to everyone who tried to help (especially zeroth)!