Windows 7 & Wanadoo Livebox

[Suninfrance]

I've just got myself a new laptop and today was going to start loading it up with all the necessary bits I need.

I started with my internet connection which is via Wanadoo (or Orange as it is now, but I'm still Wanadoo).   Put the disc in and got as far as connecting the dongle (USB), but the computer won't recognise it.

Can I just copy the settings from the connection I have on my old laptop, or do I have to do a complete installation from the Wanadoo Livebox disc (which doesn't seem to want to work.

Jan

xx

[Mr Coeur de Lion]

You don't need the dongle or the cd, your new laptop should have built in wi-fi.

There's probably a button on your laptop that you need to press that will activate the wifi on it and then it should find the livebox.

Then simply enter the livebox password (found underneth) and then press a button on the livebox to associate it with your laptop.

[Suninfrance]

The manual says to press fn + f3 to turn wifi on and off - it is currently in the on position and the wifi indicator is orange.  It tells me the connection is available and of excellent strength but will not connect.

Have unplugged livebox and replugged it.  Tried again, but no luck, hit the troubleshoot button and it fixed a "problem" but now says "Wanadoo did not allow a connection from this computer".

[Mr Coeur de Lion]

I'm not that familiar with windows 7, so hopefully someone else will help, but what have you done to try and connect to it? Has a box come up where you can enter a password (which is the 26 digit password underneth your livebox)?

[Suninfrance]

No - nothing like that.  Just get a  box telling me I've got good excellent signal strength but the computer will not allow connection.

[Danny]

You don't say which model livebox you have but there is normally a pairing button (as Richard suggested) to press which gives about 10 mins to enter your code.

If that does not work you may need to change the settings of the livebox.

Danny

[Suninfrance]

I can't even get to the point where it tells me to enter the code.  It seems there is no association between the computer and livebox available on the laptop.  The wireless indicator on the laptop should be green, but it's orange (or red), although it is tells me I have a signal.

[AnOther]

Seems to be some confusion here, if you are trying to use an external Wifi dongle then don't, you should not it with a new laptop which will without doubt have built in Wifi so chuck it in a drawer and start again, but not with the CD, you absolutely do not need it and all it will do is scatter useless garbage all over your nice new laptops hard drive.

I presume that you can access your livebox from the laptop via an ethernet cable ?

[Mr Coeur de Lion]

I wonder if you have half installed the dongle and this is causing a conflict?

Go into device manager under control panel/system and see if your dongle is listed under networks. If it is, delete it, reboot and try again with the inbuilt wifi.

[Suninfrance]

Oh b****r, don't tell me I've mucked it up before I even got a chance to use it.  How about if I restore it to the factory default and start again?

[AnOther]

That might not be a bad idea [;-)]

[Jako]

As the usb dongle was not recognised by your computer, I don't think that is the problem. But the wanadoo disc might have 'killed' the correct setup of your computer, destroy that disc as it can only cause problems, never solutions.

Don't forget that the livebox uses two protection schemes: the password and a mac filter.

If you don not add the mac address of your new computer in the mac list of your livebox it will never ever be able to access the livebox, even with the correct password.( assuming both the livebox and your computer use the same encryption protocol)

Your livebox will automatically add the mac address of all active computers in the neighbourhood when you press the pairing button.

But you still need to enter the right password within 10 minutes and use the same encryption protocol ( wep, wpa, wpa2...) that you use on your livebox.

The easiest way is to connect the new computer to your livebox using a utp cable. Then enter the setup of your livebox HERE and check the security setup of your livebox (wireless, wireless network setup). You may enter the new mac address manually ( it is usually printed on a sticker on the back of your new computer and on the package) and copy the other parameters to your new notebook

[AnOther]

I don't know what you are going on about manually entering a MAC address for, you are just confusing an already confused poster.

It is completely uneccessary and I doubt it will be found anywhere on the computer or the packaging as it is not something the average user will ever need to know or use.

K.I.S.S. [;-)]

[Suninfrance]

Thank you all for your help.  I had a friend come over today who spent a good hour or so sorting out the problem and I am now connected to the internet on the new laptop - Yippppeeeee.

My next question is abour Firefox.  Downloaded and language set as English, but although the tool bar is in English the search field is in French and searches come up mainly in French.  Anyone know how to change the home page search field to English?

Jan

[Mr Coeur de Lion]

In the top right hand of the google page, it should say Paramètres de recherche. Click on that and you'll be able to change the language to English.

[Suninfrance]

All done now.  Just got to find time to load all my programs now and find out which ones don't work with windows 7.

[AnOther]

Congratulations !

If you find something which is unhappy with Windows 7 then right click on it's setup.exe or install.exe, then choose Properties then Compatibility. Tick Compatibilty mode then choose an operating system you know it works with.

[Suninfrance]

Thanks for the advice.  I know my family history package has a Windows 7 patch, so I'm OK with that one, but wasn't sure about the others. 

[Jako]

[quote user="AnOther"]

It is completely uneccessary and I doubt it will be found anywhere on the computer or the packaging as it is not something the average user will ever need to know or use.

K.I.S.S. [;-)]

[/quote]

This is the most reliable and common procedure and the MAC address is always both on the package and on any equipment that has a MAC address. For wireless routers that do not have an "easy pairing button" ( 99,9%!) it is the only method, so most users will have to do it this way.

Unless you assume most users don't use the mac filter even when it is "on"by default. [:P]