Member Avatar for bebego

I am trying to get connected with my sisters apple router next door. She has the router in use with both her apple computer and laptop. I use to be able to connect with my wireless laptop but now I can't. Don't know what changed. My laptop shows a strong signal and when I look at the networks in the area, I see hers but i can't cconnect. HELP!!!!!

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by hotmatrixx

Dani AI

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A compact troubleshooting checklist that builds on ’s and ’s points and adds a few things I don’t see mentioned yet.

Start with the basics (with permission from the router owner): confirm the exact passphrase and whether the router’s wireless security or SSID was changed. Beyond that, the common causes are: saved/wrong profile on the laptop, encryption/protocol mismatch (WEP vs WPA vs WPA2, TKIP vs AES), MAC-address access control on the router, DHCP not handing out an IP, or an adapter/driver issue on the laptop.

Quick client-side checks (do these before changing router settings):

  • “Forget” the network on the laptop and reconnect from scratch.
  • Power-cycle laptop and router.
  • Check the laptop’s IP. On Windows run:
    ipconfig /all
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew
ping <router IP>

    A 169.254.x.x address means DHCP failed. “Authentication failed” usually means wrong key or an encryption mismatch.

Router-side things to ask your sister to check:

  • Is MAC filtering or an access-control list enabled? Is there a guest network that isolates clients?
  • Has the router been set to an “n-only” or 802.11 mode your adapter doesn’t support?
  • Is the DHCP pool exhausted or are too many clients attached?
  • Any recent firmware changes or a security upgrade (e.g., WPA2-only) that older adapters can’t use?

More troubleshooting tips: try an Ethernet connection to confirm the LAN/WAN is fine; test with another wireless device; update or roll back the laptop’s wireless driver; check router logs for denied authentications. Only temporarily disable wireless security to test, and only with the owner’s OK. If none of the above helps, a factory reset on the router (reconfigure afterward) will clear access-control and profile errors but is a last resort.

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Member Avatar for cohen

Hello and Welcome to Daniweb,

  1. Have you got the correct password???
  2. Have you recent install any software on your computer???
  3. Has she done anything to the setup??
  4. Has she changed any settings at all??
  5. Have you changed any computer settings at all??

Thanks,

Cohen :)

Member Avatar for bebego

other then any updates when its pops up . where do I begin to check what I need to do?

Member Avatar for cohen

other then any updates when its pops up . where do I begin to check what I need to do?

Answer my questions above and then we can continue :)

Cohen :)

Member Avatar for hotmatrixx

I am guessing you are running xp?

first, ask her if she has added a secure key. I am guessing that she has - probably to keep you (and others) out? :-)

XP and previous versions of Windows do not automatically configure the security settings. It must be done manually.

XP instructions:
First look closely at the wireless router in the Wireless networks dialog(start-control panel-network connections-wireless). does it say secure connection, and have a little padlock? you will need to find out the following from your sister.
network authentication(128bit, wep, wpk, wpk2 etc)
security type (aes, tkip etc)
and the network key(password)

go to the sidebar in the wireless dialog, go advanced settings, go to the wireless tab, click on her router, click properties, and all that info you have goes in the boxes.

If you cannot get that information then I would suggest that you should not be trying to access that router in the first place. Note that DaniWeb does not support such conduct in anyway shape or form.

Let me know how you get on...


in the wireless

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