SG Broadband Community

Hi. I have a D-Link Wireless Router and a D-Link Wireless card for my laptop. I have it setup as such. Cable modem in to router. Cable out to primary PC. I have DHCP turned off in the router, and I have assigned local IPs to the primary PC and to the laptop. Primary PC sees the internet, does everything normal.

The laptop connects... sort of. I can ping the router, but the primary computer cannot ping the laptop. I can see the laptop being logged onto the network when I open up the router's web interface. I have both lights on the card flashing simultaneously and I can't access the internet or share anything on the local network.

Yes, I have tried resetting everything involved. Am I doing something wrong?

Just some preliminary thoughts...

Has networking been set up on both computers and they're both members of the same workgroup?

Do you have firewalls running on both computers, or either one of 'em?

Is network filesharing enabled? Do you have specific folders enabled for sharing?

What is the gateway set on the laptop? It should be the router address.

I have run Network Wizard on both computers. Did the setup "My Computer Connects to the Internet through a residential gateway." Both in the same group (I originally had a clever network name but changed it to MSHome after typing it for about the 11th time. )

Firewall is running on the main computer.

Network filesharing is enabled. I do have specific folders enabled for filesharing.

The gateway on the laptop is set to the router address. DHCP on the router is turned off and the IP addresses are manually assigned.

My main concern is just getting the internet running on the laptop. Since that comes directly from the router, I would think that the firewall on the main computer wouldn't matter too much.

It should be seeing the router as the gateway, and if it's all set up as you indicated, it should at least be getting the internet.

When you set up the static addresses and disabled DHCP, I'm assuming you did create the static addresses you want to use in the router's setup pages?

Otherwise, what DNS server entries did you put in there for the laptop?

WEP settings or somesuch? MAC filtering?

For testing purposes, you might want to try letting it get its settings from the DHCP server by enabling that on the router and setting the laptop to "Automatic..." instead of static. At least you could see if it was something with the static settings, perhaps.

Not familiar with D-Link cards, but my Microsoft and Netgear cards if the lights are blinking that is not a good thing. When I have a good connection the lights are solid.

Unless there is a reason for turning of DHCP I would recommend allowing the router to hand out the IPs...that way the router can see everyone on the network.

From the router's web interface, is there a way to see which systems are connected to the router? Sounds like the laptop may not actually be connecting to the router.

Hehe... yeah, I am pretty sure blinking lights = not a good sign with just about any hardware.

I turned off DHCP because it wasn't working when I had it turned on, and I was reading in some other places where it said to try giving it a static IP. I will try it again, though.

In the router page I created the static IP for the laptop and told it to allow it to do anything from any port, but it didn't change anything. Oddly enough, I did not have to create an entry for the main computer to work just fine.

From the router's interface you can see which systems are online and it lists the MAC for the laptop under the wireless section, so it is connected as far as I can tell.

For the DNS server for the laptop I put the router's IP. I have WEP active with a 64 bit hexadecimal encryption, and I changed the TCP/IP settings to the same 10-digit code that I put on the router.

Caravaglia,

1. Enter a static IP number for each computer in the router, make them outside the DHCP range so they're not affected if you switch DHCP on or off.

2. I don't have your router, so I can't be sure, but get the real DNS numbers by typing ipconfig /all at a command prompt...don't just enter the router's IP address for them. Sounds like you'll have to use the main computer to do that.

3. I have a cheap D-Link PCMCIA wireless card for an old laptop and it seems it blinks a lot....when it's trying to figure out it's address, DNS servers etc.

4. I don't want to tell you to kill the WEP encryption, but it might not be a bad idea while you're testing all of this to get it to work properly.

5. What is the cable modem and ISP?

I'l try killing the WEP. I had it off when I startedfor the same reason.

ISP = Adelphia modem = Motorola

Is the router firmware up to date? It would probably be a good idea to refresh it, in any event.

You can probably access the cable modem by addressing...

http://192.168.100.1/

...from the laptop's browser. Just to see if you're even getting across the router.

Everytime you make changes, it's a good idea to go back through the process of shutting down the computers, shutting down the router and cutting the power to the cable modem for at least a few minutes and then restarting them all in reverse order...giving them time to cycle through their setup routines.

Ok, I reset everything to factory default. Turned off WEP completely. DHCP is on again. Changed TCP/IP on the laptop to obtain address automatically.

It just sits there cycling through saying, "Acquiring network address..." then it tells me I'm connected with "Limited or No Connectivity." The same two lights are flashing and I can't access anything.

All Firmware is up to date.

I suggest you do an ipconfig /release and ipconfig /renew from a command prompt.
Then search for wireless networks and click on connect.

Caravaglia,

Do you know anyone with another PCMCIA card you could put in that laptop? It seems you have gone through everything...ten times!

"Limited Wireless Connectivity" can mean a lot of different things. I get that from my neighbor's system.

Is SSID enabled and did you give it a unique name? (Obviously, if you did a system reset, it should be.) Still, it might be a way to troubleshoot.

I'm stumped!

If the laptop can ping then router, then you are 1/3 of the way there.
Double check the gateway
Double check DNS....enter the 2x DNS servers that your ISP hands down to your router. Some routers allow you to simply enter their LAN IP as your DNS server, since all they do is relay the DNS. But others don't do that..in any case, it's faster and more reliable to enter your ISPs 2x DNS servers.

Workgroup is irrelevant

Kill any software firewalls, the WinXP built in firewall won't matter, but I've seen some 3rd party software firewalls/internet security suites interfere with internet connections because something got screwed up with them.

Perhaps the TCP stack/winsock is hosed....there are tons of free utilities out there which can rebuild that from scratch.

Article on static LAN IPs:
http://www.speedguide.net/read_articles.php?id=177

Well... All firewalls are totally disabled. I redid the Winsock. Now I cannot log onto the network at all. Whereas before I was getting hung up on "Aquiring network address" now I got nothin. I tried connecting with a hard wire... I had ping access. I could even ping google! But no internet.

I hate networks.

After doing the winsock change, I decided to try hardwiring the system again. Now it works. But still not with the wireless.

Sigh.

My first reaction is that it has to do with the wireless settings. (Duh!)

By now, I've lost track of where you are (and you probably have, too!)

Try to return everything to the defaults...even if that means flashing the router and building a new network via the XP network wizard.

1. Addressing: both router and computer set to DHCP? Automatic? Check what addresses are enabled, by default...ensure some number of connections are allowed.

2. WEP/WPA = OFF?
3. Enable wireless
4. Give the cable modem/router/computer another round of powering off and then restarting...the modem...then the router...then the computer.

See what that turns up.

You never replied if you had access to another wireless NIC. That's certainly worth a try given you've tried everything else...10 times!

Finally, try to keep smilin'...it can't hurt, and just might help!

Because I hate it when I try to lookup a problem and the person never posts the solution:

I switched out the router for another D-Link router. Works just fine now. Go figure. I don't know exactly why it works now and not before since the router was working at a friend's house before he gave it to me, but problem solved. Hope this helps someone else.

Thanks for posting that.

After all you went through, I had a similar experience when I disconnected everything to rewire the office in my basement.

Nothing worked.

Then, after calling Comcast, I discoved I had powered off the cable modem and never powered it back on. Even switched "off" it would cycle through a whole series of L-E-D indicators but never result in a connection. Embarassing!

Yeah, you know... I don't mind when there is a problem that requires research and work to fix, but I hate not truly understanding what the problem was to begin with.

Oh well. And it is pretty stupid to design a cable modem that cycles through the LEDs whilst off. That is like having a lamp that lights up when you unplug it!