Limited or no connectivity

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Hi

My laptop has just thrown a wobbler an is not allowing me to connect to the internet.

I am using a netgear MA101 and MA102 Access point. This access point is plugged into a belkin wireless router which in turn is connected to my set-top box. The computer I am typing on has a wireless connection to the belkin. The netgear appear to be talking to each other ok, but when it tries to setup to connect to the internet then no IP adrees is returned. ( I have also tried with the netgear direct into the set-top box and with the netgear MA101 connecting to the belkin wireless)

I have been through setup a few times, changes to the network configuration but still no good.

I have checked services.msc and made sure that the wireless zero configuration is disabled and stopped.

Please help before I loose the rest of my hair !!!

Sid

 

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Forgive me, Sid...but what's a "set top box"? Is it a computer that's sharing it's internet connection with the rest of your network? If you have a wireless router which I presume is what's handing out dynamic IP addresses, why use an access point? Won't the wireless netgear adapter on the laptop talk to the belkin directly? You say you are using a computer that communicates directly with the belkin and can hit the Internet just fine.

I'm sure I don't have a correct picture of your network. I created a wee diagram of what you've described using just the details you've included. Off hand, if your belkin is handing out IP addresses using DHCP, it would have to go through your AP to give an address to the laptop and that won't work. You might want to take the AP out and see if it works better.

If I've misunderstood your network setup, please let me know and I'll try to amend my diagram to reflect its true nature. Thanks.

 

tripwire45

Nice diagram. The set top box is my telewest set top box which has modem built in.

The reason why I am using the AP is because when I first got broadband I only had 1 computer. When I got my others I got the belkin router and just plugged the AP into it and hey presto it all worked including the WEP

The problem I have now has just happened in the past 2 days and whatever configuration I use I can't get on to the internet with the laptop.

I strongly believe that something has gotten screwed with my XP Home SP2 setup but as I bought it from Compaq with XP preloaded I have no XP disc to re-install.

Sid

 

I guess one thing I want to know is if the diagram is accurate. I've modified it somewhat based on what you've added.

If the issue is not with your AP but with XP, you should have a rescue disk that was shipped from Compaq. Also, is the warranty still in affect? If so, you can call Compaq tech support and see what they can do for you.

You might want to try a few things first.

• Disable WEP and see if you can connect
  Take out the AP and see if the laptop can directly connect to the Belkin.

What sort of adapter is your PC using to connect to the Belkin? Sometimes the equipment of different wifi vendors doesn't like to work well together (I know it's supposed to but reality is different than advertising).

I still don't know which device is supposed to be your DHCP server. If you have more than one device handing out dynamic IPs, you could be having a conflict at that point.

Anyway, take a look at the updated diagram, try those troubleshooting tips and let me know how it works. Also, I really am curious as to which device hands out IPs.

EDIT: Oh duh! Also, have you moved anything around lately. If the router and AP are too close together, interference could cause one device not to function well. I had a problem with my wireless router interfering with a cordless phone even tho the cordless phone was on a completely different frequency. Just a thought.

 

Tripwire45

The diagram is spot on.

As you can probalbly guess I only know a very small amount about networking just picked up from trial and error.

When you ask about which item is giving out IP's then all I can think of is the set top box modem. The reason I say this is because if I disconnect every thing and just have my laptop connected to the modem via the AP (which was the original setup) I still have the same connectivity problem. the IP's returned are in the range of 169.254.202.209 but they change each time I try the repair connection button.

Earlier on today I tried connecting a wireless dongle and connecting direct to the belkin router (which is what my kids have on their computer) this installed an communicated with the router but still would not let me connect to the internet. This is why I think it is something is the laptop setup but I just can't put my finger on it.

Then computer is out of warranty, I have spoken to telewest today, theyt were very helpful but I still have the problem.

Sid

 

The IP range 169.254.0.1 through 169.254.255.254 is the range of addresses a Windows computer configured to receive IP addresses dynamically will assign itself when it cannot connect to a DHCP server to get an address. You can find out about them here:

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/A/APIPA.html

What is the IP address of the computer you are on now. If you don't know how to find it, here's how:

Click Start
Click Run
Type cmd in the Run box
Click OK
The command window will open
Type ipconfig/all
Press Enter
Your IP address and other networking info will appear.

Try connecting your laptop to the set top box with an Ethernet cable and see if it gets an IP address and hits the internet.

Assuming it does, connect the wireless router to the set top box and see if the laptop can connect to the router. If it can't but the PC you are using can, then it might be the laptop's wireless adapter. On the laptop, you might have to open a command window as I've described above and type:

ipconfig /release
After it responses type:
ipconfig /renew
and see if it picks up a new IP wirelessly through the router.

If it doesn't, you've narrowed it down to something on the laptop. If it does, then your next step is to put the AP back in the loop and try again.

You might want to get into the configuration settings on the set top box, the router and the AP. I still think there's some sort of incompatibility involved where two devices are set to operate on different networks.

 

thanks, I shall try what you suggest but may take some time.

I only have cables available which are used to go from the AP to the router and the router modem will these be ok to connect from the computer to the modem or do I need a cross over connector.

I tried to find the IP with what you said but I can only get as far as the router 192.168.2.2 . DHCP, DNS and gateway are all on 192.168.2.1

Sid

 

Ok. What that tells me is that the Gateway, DHCP and DNS servers are all on the set top box and its LAN interface has an IP of 192.168.2.1.

Your router has an IP of 192.168.2.2 which it looks like it's getting from the set top box. In order to communicate with the Internet, all computers on your home network will have to have addresses somewhere in the range of:

192.168.2.3 through 192.169.2.254

This assumes a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 but it's a common home set up. If the wireless router is also trying to be a DHCP server, things could get pretty muddy on your network but I don't think this is the case since the computer you are on can connect to the router and the internet. I'd be willing to bet that the wireless AP isn't getting an IP or at least isn't allowing DHCP requests and responses through so the laptop can't get an IP through it.

If WEP is set up on the AP, disable it and disable it on the laptop's wireless adapter and see if that works.

 

Once you disable the WEP as Trip suggested I'd try reinstalling your entire network again.

Run the windows network wizard on all your computers again.

This is a quick and easy way to sort out a changed or corrupted setup.

Neall

 

Sorry haven't responded for a while. Tried a few of the suggestions but I was convinced that it was to do with my windows setup. Tried doing windows repair and completely screwed up. Should get laptop going again over weekend and I shall start again.

Thankyou tripwire and neall for you assistance and I hope to talk again in the near future.

 

No worries, sixpintsid. Sorry we weren't able to help more. Come back anytime.

 

Eventually after sorted out the laptop founs that the AP was faulty and no providing the IP address. Since then I have updated to a proper modem rather than through my set top box.

I have change my configuration and I have 3 computers, running xp pro, xp home and win 98. They are all on wireless through the belkin router.

All 3 computers can network and share fine but the win 98 system for some reason cannot get on the internet. I run TP/ICP for internet and IPX/SPX for file sharing.

I have not spent a lot of time on this as yet but if you have any suggestions they would be much appreciated.


Best regards

Sid

 

I suspect Windows 98 has limited wireless abilities which may inhibit its Internet access. Google was of limited assistance in this area. The most promising link seems to be this one;

http://www.wi-fitechnology.com/viewthread645.html

This poor fellow seems to have a problem similar to yours but no one has answered him either:

http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/win98/t1127843017

This seems to be a tutorial for making Windows 98 wireless. I'm including it in the hopes that it will help:

http://www.cmu.edu/computing/documentation/wireless_98/Wire_Win98.html

BTW, congratulations on getting the dodgy AP issue sorted.

 

Sid you don't need IPX/SPX for file sharing. IPX/SPX is a protocol used by older versions of Novel Netware. You can safely remove that protocol from your Network connection properties. TCP/IP is used on the Internet and it is now the most common protocol used in Windows LANs (local area networks). TCP/IP will handle your file sharing and the sharing of other resources such as printers too!

(edit) Forgot to mention that on Windows 98, in order to find out the IP settings, you need to type winipcfg at the command prompt (access command prompt by start > run > command)

For the Windows 98 box to surf the net, it must have the correct default gateway setting, it is the default gateway that is the exit door or the way out of your local network. Also, check the IP address is in the same range as was mentioned earlier by Tripwire45 in this thread.

Pete