Wireless broadband connection help required

[Techniquest]

Right-o lads and lasses, I need some tech help here.

Yesterday, my new broadband account went live, and got it working on the laptop. Unfortunately, even with the correct details blah blah blah, it insists it cannot connect wirelessly on the laptop.

Any ideas on how to fix this? Or even the best way of entering the SSID and WPA-PSK keys for the wireless connection?

All help appreciated.

 

[P156KWJ]

is it a laptop with a wi-fi network card shovved in the side?

 

[Techniquest]

It had a wireless card pre-installed somewhere on it when we got it.

 

[D306]

What make is your router?

Also, make sure that you've double checked the WEP key and also check the mac address

 

[Techniquest]

This router is a Netgear one. Going to have a look at the MAC address later today.

 

[D306]

right. As my dad has a wifi laptop with a netgear router, I may be able to help. What problems are you getting completely? List them all as it'll be easier for me to help you then

 

[djw1981]

The security feature on my (old) NETGEAR DG384G v2 have always been pathetic - not connecting despite correct setup and SSID / WEP etc, and then blocking all connections thereafter. Thus I risk unsecured wireless when I want it wireless and run wired (and thus wireless turned off at router when not). It is an area in which the BT Home Hub, which I set up for my sister, amazed me!

I want a proper wireless router etc but at the moment it is down the list of financial priorities.

 

[Techniquest]

Ta for the posts thus far gents, I will comment later when I have that list of problems coming.

 

[Beaker]

Have you turned the wireless card on ?

 

[Techniquest]

Stupid question, but yes...

 

[Daniel]

Open an internet browser and type in 192.169.1.1 or if that doesn't work 192.168.2.1

That's your router control panel. Check your security settings - firstly that the password is correct, but look for MAC adress filtering. If its off, its not that. If its on, check that your laptop's MAC adress is on there.

 

[Techniquest]

Ta Daniel, I'll have a look in a bit now I've had some food.

Bloody laptop, gets on my pip with its randomly not liking programs et al...

 

[Craig]

Can the laptop detect the network but not connect to it? If it doesn't even detect the network you might need to enable broadcast SSID in the router control panel.

 

[Techniquest]

Hmm, I'll check that thing about broadcasting SSID. Sounds like a likely cause.

Having looked at it, one of the network connections I found in Control Panel's Network Connections (surprise surprise) says 'Network cable unplugged'. B.S., as there's no network cables for it (it's wireless!) and everything appeared to be working normally. 'Local Area Connection' is the name for it.

Any clues as to what causes the above? It worked last night!

 

[will1337]

That's probably your onboard network card for wired networking.

 

[Techniquest]

Appears to be what's stopping me from connecting though.

I enabled SSID broadcasting, which got me a bit further, but no joy.

What is interesting is I've now right-clicked the wireless connection thingy in the bottom-right, opened 'View Wireless Connections', which displayed the connection I should have, clicked Connect, a few moments later it worked.

Restarting now to see if it works still.

EDIT: Appears to now be working. Many thanks to everyone who offered help. Particular thanks go to Craig for the suggestion that made the most difference!

 

[Guinness]

I personally blame Norton Anti Virus

 

[Techniquest]

Norton Anti-Virus 2007...Biggest pile of crap ever!

 

[mbonwick]

Get the free upgrade to '08 then

I had no trouble setting my WiFi up - biggest challeng is seeing if the card will work with the new Vista PC

 

[djw1981]

Personally I find AVG much better than norton.

 

[me123]

I've had to get rid of AVG myself and revert to Norton. AVG slows my computer down by popping up all the time and it took about 10 minutes to start it up. Norton has few problems on my PC in terms of speed.

 

[djw1981]

Norton killed my PC speed, and when scanning it slowed mine to a crawl! AVG free is very good and scans without me knowing. PC Doctor looks after my spyware issues.

 

[Techniquest]

Get the free upgrade to '08 then

I had no trouble setting my WiFi up - biggest challeng is seeing if the card will work with the new Vista PC

There's a free upgrade to the 08 one?! Where? And how come no-one told me before?!

 

[Guinness]

While touching on the subject, I've had problems with Norton on my Step Dad's laptop and his Sky Broadband. It was installed on the system but my brother (Thinks he know what's hes doing but doesn't type of persona) deletes some files rather than uninstalling properly, thus causing nothing to connect to the internet.

Hours of going through registry's, Windows folders... UGH.

 

[Techniquest]

Fun...

 

[mbonwick]

There's a free upgrade to the 08 one?! Where? And how come no-one told me before?!

Yeah, from 07 onwards, Norton uses the same key database. Basically, you pay to have the key which you use on any version of the software.

Just download the 08 free trial from http://www.symantec.com/redirects/norton/norton_com/nis08/

and enter you existing product key when required.

Simple - took me all of 5mins. It's a dead easy way of getting 1 year cheap - if you buy 07 now, you usually get a discount, and it's a valid subscription.

Michael

 

[Techniquest]

Ta, will try that! Saves buying another anti-virus for now.

Is it much better than 2007's one though?

 

[mbonwick]

UI is pretty much the same, liveupdate is now integrated into the main program (You can get round this by going start - run - type "luall" (without quotes) - OK

I think it's slightly less hungry. Scanning is faster