network help please...

mark richards

mark richards

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Been trying all f'#-='/ing day to get wireless connection on laptop.... went back to vista instead of xp..(wifes laptop) it works ok when its wired to router but not on wireless ... is it a driver problem? when i used the flash drive to set up wireless network , it works ok on my laptop,but says that its invalid network settings, on hers...key not valid
 
Have you tried resetting the router? Use your good internet connection to do that!
 
if you have the software / install disc that came with router, you can reset off that......
 
need more info mate.....are you just using the wireless built into the laptop? if so, what is this flash drive with drivers about?

If you could post a screen shot of the problem message as well you might find a solution more quickly.
 
The first thing i would do it trun off all the security on the wireless router and see if you can connect. At least then you can eliminate secrity settings.

As the error is invalid key i would 'assume' the driver is ok, as its getting a response... It cant hurt to grab the latest one from the internet if you can get on it :)

Also check the type of encryption you are using on the laptop matches that on the router.
 
Blue Eagle said:
need more info mate.....are you just using the wireless built into the laptop? if so, what is this flash drive with drivers about?

If you could post a screen shot of the problem message as well you might find a solution more quickly.
Click to expand...

yes using built in wireless.... the flashdrive is used to link all the computers, as a network..
 
eeverson said:
The first thing i would do it trun off all the security on the wireless router and see if you can connect. At least then you can eliminate secrity settings.

As the error is invalid key i would 'assume' the driver is ok, as its getting a response... It cant hurt to grab the latest one from the internet if you can get on it :)

Also check the type of encryption you are using on the laptop matches that on the router.
Click to expand...

thats what the flashdrive is for , (the encryption key)...
 
Are you mixing up windows networking and wireless settings?

For the wireless just make sure that all the devices are using the same technology (preferably WPA2 with AES, failing that WPA) and the same key. I have seen problems with key encryption not matching ie your text string gives one hex string on one device but a differnet one on another device. Look to check that the hex strings for the keys match.

Check that all the wireless devices support the same system - ie if one is using TKIP rather than AES then you will not get stuff working.

Worry first about getting each device to talk to the router. Once the tcp/ip is working and you have internet connectivity from every device then you an start worrying about windows networking (but on your own - imho it is a pile of stinking poo)

The router is the key device - everything else needs to interact with it so it needs to be set to support the lowest common denominator of the attached devices.
 
who? said:
Are you mixing up windows networking and wireless settings?

For the wireless just make sure that all the devices are using the same technology (preferably WPA2 with AES, failing that WPA) and the same key. I have seen problems with key encryption not matching ie your text string gives one hex string on one device but a differnet one on another device. Look to check that the hex strings for the keys match.

Check that all the wireless devices support the same system - ie if one is using TKIP rather than AES then you will not get stuff working.

Worry first about getting each device to talk to the router. Once the tcp/ip is working and you have internet connectivity from every device then you an start worrying about windows networking (but on your own - imho it is a pile of stinking poo)

The router is the key device - everything else needs to interact with it so it needs to be set to support the lowest common denominator of the attached devices.
Click to expand...
you what?:shrug:that means jack to me mate....
 
mark richards said:
Been trying all f'#-='/ing day to get wireless connection on laptop.... went back to vista instead of xp..(wifes laptop) it works ok when its wired to router but not on wireless ... is it a driver problem? when i used the flash drive to set up wireless network , it works ok on my laptop,but says that its invalid network settings, on hers...key not valid
Click to expand...

it maybee that your vista laptop is trying to connect using IPV6. (you will need to google this) Disable IPV6, AND LEAVE ipv4 and have another go

Vista is overly sticky with remembering old keys - if you get it wrong, it continues to send the old key. You may need to uninstall and re-install the wireless adapter (sure fire way of deleting all the old keys)
 
Richard King said:
it maybee that your vista laptop is trying to connect using IPV6. (you will need to google this) Disable IPV6, AND LEAVE ipv4 and have another go

Vista is overly sticky with remembering old keys - if you get it wrong, it continues to send the old key. You may need to uninstall and re-install the wireless adapter (sure fire way of deleting all the old keys)
Click to expand...

id be surprised if IPv6 was causing it, im yet to have any issues since it was introduced.

deleting old connections/passwords is easy:

network and sharing center -> manage wireless networks -> highlight the connection -> remove
 
mark richards said:
right....I'm back again, to much problems with vista.. not only net probs but programs too...I had a copy given to me, reinstalled xp pro....managed to find most drivers ....but still got problem with wireless, it works for a few minutes then goes off....
Click to expand...

either your card and/or drivers are duff or youre getting interferance from a neighbours network or electrical device.

out of interest try changing the wireless channel on the router. also make sure your router is not near... fridge, microwave, bunches of power cables, power transformers etc.
 
thanks all... This has been a pain, I've reformatted this laptop before,with no probs ..
this time different story, it lets me get internet with cable, but not without? its not the router because i can use another one on it???? is it a security issue? it did pick it up for a few seconds to let me go on-line then dropped it...
would all the IP addresses be the same on my network?
this is a sony vaio laptop running xp pro..thanks.
 
While you are trying to get this to work i'd disable any wireless security on the router, Also if your using a Intel based wireless card check you have the latest drivers as some of the eairler versions had a know issue with WEP protected networks and YES all IP address should be different for each computer on the network they also need to be on the same subnet, what address are you getting ?
 
Dogfish_magnet said:
While you are trying to get this to work i'd disable any wireless security on the router, Also if your using a Intel based wireless card check you have the latest drivers as some of the eairler versions had a know issue with WEP protected networks and YES all IP address should be different for each computer on the network they also need to be on the same subnet, what address are you getting ?
Click to expand...
thanks mate, just downloading new drivers from net... will let you know how i got on...mark
 
mark richards said:
thanks mate, just downloading new drivers from net... will let you know how i got on...mark
Click to expand...

Mark - if that doesn't work find the make and model of your router and PM me with it and your phone number and I'll give you a ring and see if i can help.
 
Just to clarify what Paul said in regards to IP addresses, your router is probably set to is issue IP address via dhcp, the address will be something like

192.168.0.* or 192.168.1.*

The star will be a number between 1 to 254

So for instance if you were to have three PC\Laptops at home regardless of them using cabled or wireless connections they would have an IP address like

Router 192.168.1.1
PC 1: 192.168.1.2
PC 2: 192.168.1.3
PC 3: 192.168.1.4

You can check what IP address has been given to your PC by openning a command prompt window (start >> run then type cmd and click OK) and typing the following:

ipconfig

Look for the either ethernet adaptor if it is cabled or wireless adaptor and it will say something like:

IP address 192.168.1.3
subnet mask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.1.1

The subnet mask should be the same on every PC\laptop and the gateway should be the IP address of your router.

I hope this helps

Tim
 
That look very much like IPV6 which is the next version of IP Addresses, you could disable IPV6 if you are not using it. Unfortunately I don't have a PC with XP on that I can get to at present so I had a quick google and found this Microsoft link

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555059

Hope it helps

Tim
 
You will have an IP address for every network interface on the PC. So as you have a wireless card and a wired card you will have two of them.

If you have reinstalled XP then have you updated all the microsoft patches? Early versions didn't really support any wireless seurity properly.

Do you know what the security settings on your router are?

You should have WEP/WPA/WPA2 as a security type and possibly TKIP or AES as encryption types as well as a key.

You need to have the same settings on your laptop. A basic install may not have given you the correct software security on the laptop.

Get the correct updates onto the laptop to enable it to handle the security that the router is using.

Set up the laptop security to match the settings on the router. - how you do that depends on the network adapter in the laptop.


Can you confirm what wireless security settings are being used? Not the actual key, but the protocols WPA/TKIP or whatever.
 
mark richards said:
thanks tim, for some reason ,theres two ip addresses on laptop?
this is whats on the laptop, fe80::21a:80ff:fe7d:b728%7
what-ever that means?
Click to expand...

follow ipconfig with "/all" and you should get the IPv4 address back... i.e:

ipconfig /all

if you get more than one set of addresses back you want the one labelled the wireless connection.
 
mark richards said:
thanks tim, for some reason ,theres two ip addresses on laptop?
this is whats on the laptop, fe80::21a:80ff:fe7d:b728%7
what-ever that means?
Click to expand...

it is ipv6 address, and some routers dont support ipv6

By disabling IPV6, the IPV4 protocol will be used and will be in the regualr 198.xxx.xxx.xxx fornat
 
Richard King said:
it is ipv6 address, and some routers dont support ipv6

By disabling IPV6, the IPV4 protocol will be used and will be in the regualr 198.xxx.xxx.xxx fornat
Click to expand...

if your router is only IPv4 compatible it should still just issue you with the correct IP. IPv6 does still show up if you try and ping or do an ipconfig but it doesnt mean that it should cause issues.
 
Sounds very much like a problem I had when I bought my first vista machine. The router had got a little long in the tooth and there were no firmware updates to make it work with vista. Although it did work fine with no passkey, once I turned on the security it didnt want to know.
 
thanks all for your help, i can't understand what the problem was .... I downgraded from vista to xp pro ,on this laptop a year ago ...same disc no problems ,used same install disc again ,problems ,I've not changed router or settings???? the only difference is i cant remember where i had the ethernet drivers from....mark
 
mark richards said:
hi ,again ...who? the protocol is wpa... when i go on network connections ,the wireless network has a red cross on it ...so i do repair network connection... then its says that its repaired the network...when i try to go on-line it says ...cannot find server?????
Click to expand...

wpa on what?

Fill in this:

Log into the router and get these settings
Router
wireless network name/SSID (typical defaults to 'linksys')
channel:
security type: WPA2/WPA/WEP/None:
encryption method: AES/TKIP/Auto/none:
speed:802.11a/802.11b/802.11g/b+g/n/....:
Is there an access list set up?
Have you set up the key?



And give the settings from the laptop:
security type:
encryption method:
speed:

On the laptop what is your wireless device - is it built in or is it a usb or pcmcia card?

Can you see a list of wireless networks on the PC?

Obviously any key needs to be the same on both the router and the laptop but you probably shouldnt publish that here. When comparing the keys look at the hex values the 0bac6ef321... not the raw text eg 'james bond'
 
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