Wireless woes

[Jamie_Beatson]

Hi guys,

Just bought my mum a new laptop, but we're having trouble getting it connected to our wireless network at home.

The computer "sees" the network - which is unsecured and doesn't have any password at all on it, so it should be a case of simply clicking connect and away you go.

However, the instant you click "Connect" it says no, and asks if you want to diagnose the problem.  However, if you click diagnose, it says there is an "unknown error".  I have disabled all possible firewalls and checked as many settings as I can think of, but I'm getting nowhere.

Any ideas?

Cheers,
Jamie

[robwhizz]

What OS do you have on the laptop?
What router do you have?
Do you have anything else connected via wireless?
Has you or anyone else setup the router or is it out of the box with default settings?
Have you tried rebooting the router?

Is there a specific reason to have an unsecured wireless network?

First thing I'd do is check to see if you have any settings that say something like access list/restrictions/MAC filtering. It's possible that the router is blocking MAC addresses that aren't on the 'approved' list, but unlikely if you haven't set it up to do that.
I'd also turn on some kind of security and try connecting.

[Jamie_Beatson]

Windows XP on the laptop.  Router appears to be a D-Link.  Have restarted it to no avail.  It was set up straight out of the box on deault.  My own laptop has been happily connected up to it for months, as has my sister's Macbook.

How do I go about setting up security on my router?

[Jamie_Beatson]

Set up some WEP security, but still it won't connect...

[Dud]

I often get issues with windows wireless config. Try using another wireless connection manager.

Dud

[Whatever]

Wireless Zero is pretty good to be honest, a lot better than most of the 3rd party software that comes bundled.

What channel is the access point set to? Some laptops cannot see higher than channel 9 due to where they are made in the world, that's worth a try, but it wouldn't normally even see the access point.

If you cannot get it to connect without security, I personally would take it off temporarily to create less potential issues.

Have you tried updating the drivers for the wireless card to the latest ones?

[Jamie_Beatson]

Access point is six.  The laptop is literally straight out of the box.  It sees the network, and even recognises that I have added a WEP password to it, and when I put the password in on the laptop it recognised I had got it correct and should be able to connect. But it wouldn't.  It clearly gets a signal (full strenght) and is communicating in some way with the router, but simply will not connect to the network.

[Whatever]

We've gopt someone else with this issue today.

Can you try connecting to a different wireless network somewhere to prove the laptop's ok?

[Jamie_Beatson]

Took it to a friend's house last night - connected to his wireless network without the slightest of hitches - it worked perfectly!  Still no joy at home though.

[Chris H]

As robwhizz has said, check the state of MAC filtering on the router, probably under advanced. Try adding your laptops address to the list and see what that does.

And if you have a linux live-cd knocking about then see if you can connect with that. Suggest Puppy if you need to download one.

[robwhizz]

I might be worth looking at what wireless mode you are using. You've got b, g and n. You could do with knowing what your other devices have too.
If it's set to 'n', but the laptop can only do 'g' then it's not going to work. It's probably set to mixed but try using just 'g' or 'g and n' etc.

I believe that using mixed modes can upset some wireless cards in rare cases. Never come across it myself though, but I'm sure I've read about it. Can't hurt to try it anyway.