Wireless networks will be the death of me

I am having major problems with a clients PC. Basicaly when I enable WEP and put in a wep key it still says its unsecured.

The other problem is another machine on the same network can see the connection but Firefox and IE won't work with it but I can ping google.

I spent two hours trying to figure it out and it is still not done.

I think the machine which will not connect has loads of spyware so that is probably the problem, the WEP issue is really confusing me.

 

Tell the client that the problem is down to 'thick air', a phenomenom whereby patches of particularly dense air prevent wireless networks from operating correctly. Once dense air accumulates around a piece of electronics it is notoriously difficult to disperse, and can only be rectified by immersing the affected equipment in liquid nitrogen, an action that often results in the destruction of the equipment. Therefore, the only sensible option is to stick wires between the relevant boxes to bypass all substandard air.

It's worth a try

 

I really do feel for you AT! I HATE networking with Windows.

 

hmmm

ping uses ICMP, IE does not. Ping will operate through any gateway, it seems you have a problem with your IP settings ie. gateway etc..

 

I am having major problems with a clients PC. Basicaly when I enable WEP and put in a wep key it still says its unsecured..

What says it is still unsecured? the router or the network tab in control panel?

 

Sorry the network tab in control panel.

I the gateway was 192.168.1.1 which is the same as the IP of the router so that is fine. The subnet was 255.255.255. I did networking quite deeply at university so I am getting quite frustrated.

I didn't know that about ping though it certainly clears up that mystery.

I am thinking of selling this router on ebay and just swapping it for a Netgear one.

 

Do you mean that you cannot see the little padlock on the network icon/ if so, this is relater only to the windows firewall...?

forgive me if it looks like I am being funny, have you tried looking here?

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q313242

 

No. 192.168.1.1 is the LAN IP address of the router as seen by the wireless network.

All the clients should be set to use DHCP. The router will then assign IP addresses to the clients as they connect. These IP addresses are typically 192.168.1.2, 192.168.1.3, etc. Usually you can specify the range in the router settings.

The IP address of the ISP's gateway will be something quite different. That gateway will assign a WAN IP address to the router when the router connects.

A router has two IP addresses - one inward facing for the LAN (wireless network) and one outward facing for the WAN (broadband or whatever).

Hope this helps.

 

another tip - get the network working, i.e. all pc's with internet connection, and seeing each other successfully

then enable WEP and configure.

another tip - pc's are a nightmare. fixing people's pc's always takes longer than u anticipate. and building brand new pc's to sell; every now and again, u get a duff component.

my tip from a little experience of running a part time business - building websites reaps bigger rewards.

 

Avoid 108Mbps ones. Mines sh*t and apparently due to the core design.

Regards your problem, does the router serve an HTTP interface for configuring it?

If so - can you access it (the router) from a browser on a client PC WITHOUT WEP enabled? If yes you know that TCP/IP is working and will allow http. If however you cant access external resources via HTTP, this would suggest a WAN rather than LAN problem (restart of DSL/cable modem is obvious next suggestion).

Regards WEP keys, make sure theres no kooky requirement regards length vs bit size. Netgear insist on a 5 character sting if using 64 bit, whereas my Intel pro gear doesnt. In in doubt resort to using the actual WEP key rather than phrase.

Regards my Netgear I've actually disabled WEP, but setup an access control list so only specific IP numbers can connect. This has removed the need for me to secure access point using WEP and works faster.

Also ensure any software firewalls are disabled until you have things working.

 

I have used the wep key because the D-LINk dosn't support the use of phrases.

It had some stupid low rent virus checker on it so I need to try disableing that, the problem I was having with it is the machine was so slow it was taking 5 minutes to respond.

It does have a web config ulility, one laptop works fine with it (minus the WEP) the other shows the router is giving it a DHCP IP address and shows up as if everything is working but the browsers won't let me access the web config ulility or the web.

Also you're right about the 108mbps, the so called 802.11g+ standard has not been announced by the IEEE yet. Manufacturers are making their own standards and it causes many problems. At least with 54mbps 802.11g comptability in theory is not an issue although I know it still is.

 

Got it sorted?

You might like to try using assigned IP addresses. In the 'old days' it used to be more stable than DHCP I found. In fact I still use it so I can port forward.

 

I am not going back till Monday when I will bring my own laptop and a Netgear router with me.I have also tried both DHCP and manual assignments.

Todays is tomorrows job, replacing a chipset fan.

 

Alternatively (or as added security) change the network address range from the default.The whole world uses that 192.168.0.0 network range. There is absolutely no reason why you have to too. Change it. You LAN network is effectively invisible to the outside world (excepting other wi-fi networks of course) and if you stick it on something like 172.128.0.0 instead then none of the people on the default networks will be able to use your network resources.


ps - yes I'm aware that there are pre-defined network addresses for A B & C networks but the truth is there is no actual law, (no RFCs are not laws IMO), that says you HAVE to stick to this convention within your own private network.

GTM

 

If you pick an internal IP range that happens to be in actual use outside you had better hope that it's not an address you'll ever want to visit.... There's no point at all in worrying about this, a bad guy who can see your network can see your DHCP server and gets an address, whatever range you've chosen.

FWIW the non-routing ranges are,

10.0.0.0 - 10.255.255.255
172.16.0.0 - 172.31.255.255
192.168.0.0 - 192.168.255.255

Choose something from one of those.

Paul