Wireless Connectivity

[bixy]

My laptop tells me that it is connected to the modem and receiving a strong signal. I click on Internet Explorer but it does not connect. What am I doing wrong?

Patrick

[Pierre ZFP]

Need a bit more info - did it ever work before? is it a new installlation? is the router connected to the net? Does the laptop have the MAC address of the router?

Diagnoses like this can be tricky, without all the info its impossible.

[bixy]

Hello Pierre. Thanks for replying. I have a PC connected to the internet with a Netgear wireless modem router via an ethernet cable. This works fine. I have just brought over the laptop, it picked up the signal, I put in the WAP codes [or whatever its called] and it said I was connected, strong signal etc. I thought that was it and all I needed to do was click on IE but no go. I'm afraid I don't know what a MAC code is. Not sure if its relevant but the PC is running Vista and the laptop XP.

Patrick

[bixy]

Hello Pierre [or anyone] any ideas?

Patrick

[Pierre ZFP]

You have to tell the laptop that it has to use the specific router.  Somewhere on the router there is a MAC code - 16 character code.  This needs to be entered into your network connections and bingo! that should be it.  Sorry, have to go now but there's loads of stuff in the IE help files

[Clair]

Bixy

Try this thread, it might help...

http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/954927/ShowPost.aspx

[tenniswitch]

[quote user="bixy"]Hello Pierre [or anyone] any ideas?

Patrick
[/quote]

Bixy, have you gotten this solved yet?  Basically, your laptop needs to recognize (and allow connection to) your router and your router needs to recognize (and allow connection to) your laptop.  From your description it sounds as if your laptop recognizes the router but your router settings are blocking the connection from your laptop.

You can find your laptop's MAC address by going to Start/run/cmd/ipconfig/all.

I don't know off-hand what you need to do to your router settings for a WEP connection as I use the somewhat stronger WPA, and as I've just gotten back to France after a 24+hour trip, I don't have the energy to research this right now.

If you're still having problems tomorrow, please post again.  In the meantime, please figure out whether you're using WEP or WPA encryption.  That will make it easier for me (or anyone else) to help you.

[bixy]

Thanks for the replies. Somehow I managed to make it work. I'm not sure how I did it but I didn't enter the MAC address anywhere. I did go to Internet options and on the Security tab changed the settings from Custom Level to Default level - no idea if this did the trick.

Patrick

[tenniswitch]

Congratulations!  We've all got so much software these days, with so many security settings (browser, firewall, AV, router, etc.), that it can be really difficult to track down what's blocking access.  I'm glad to hear that you solved your problem.

[ChezShells]

The trick is to get the wireless device the correct IP address (192,168 etc etc) usually when its connected but no internet its given the wrong IP address (169 etc etc), the old off/on disable/enable can do the job.