Wireless Broadband problem

lad12

Hi All,

My wireless is giving me a "Limited or no connectivity" error with my laptop.

I have 2 laptops..One of my laptops works fine. The second one gets this error when i try to connect to the router?

My ip for this laptop is 169.254.....

I have googled the error and found links to different scripts to fix a problem that might be in the registery but it hasnt worked.

Anyone know what the problem might be or how i can fix it.

Cheers.

trant

Hi,

What is your ISP? Is the 169.254.XXX.XXX IP address you mentioned one you set or is it simply the one that appears under network connection properties, as from what I remember the 169 range appears under Windows when it cannot connect to your DHCP server.

Try this..

Open up connection settings on the laptop that's working and copy the DNS, default gateway and subnet mask onto the second laptop. Instead of leaving the "Optain IP address automatically" radio button checked, specify all of the above (again, copying from the laptop that's working by right-clicking on the wireless network connection and going to status > support (I think) and clicking details). This should bypass the DNS server on your wireless router which may be causing the problem.

Hope this helps.

Foxwood

lad12 wrote:

Hi All,

My wireless is giving me a "Limited or no connectivity" error with my laptop.

I have 2 laptops..One of my laptops works fine. The second one gets this error when i try to connect to the router?

My ip for this laptop is 169.254.....

That means it didn't estabish a connection with the wireless router.

Do you have encrytption enabled on the router? Does the laptop see the name of the router? Are you using the XP "Wireless Zero Configuration" tools to manage the wireless connection or are you using the drivers that came with the card?

Is the wireless built in to the laptop, or is it a USB or PCMCIA wireless adapter? What is the model (of the laptop if built in, of the adaper if not).

Saruman

Limited or no connectivity happens only if you have your laptop/pc set to DHCP but cant contact a dhcp server. If you get 169.254 etc thats a windows one like trant said.

So yes putting in the settings manually should sort it out;... dont forget to use a different end number for the IP address though..
Only thing is you should not need to do this and if the other computer is set to dhcp and is working then the router is fine and you pc has a problem... could be anything from firewall problem to tcp/ip prob.

sometimes putting in manual settings and getting it working then setting back to DHCP can sort.

Foxwood

trant wrote:

Open up connection settings on the laptop that's working and copy the DNS, default gateway and subnet mask onto the second laptop. Instead of leaving the "Optain IP address automatically" radio button checked, specify all of the above (again, copying from the laptop that's working by right-clicking on the wireless network connection and going to status > support (I think) and clicking details). This should bypass the DNS server on your wireless router which may be causing the problem.

If the DHCP server on the router wasn't working, then the first laptop probably wouldn't work either.

lad12

Hi guys,

Thanks for the replys..

I have tried copying over the data onto the second laptop. The connection will show as being connected but when i try open ie browser it fails to connect.

Foxwood i have the wep key enabled on the router only. The wireless card is PCMCIA wireless adapter. Its a Buffalo WLI-PCM-L11

This wireless card has worked on the college network however this is the first time ive tried it on the eircom broadband wireless router.

I have recently intalled windows xp service pack 2 onto the laptop.

trant

Sorry, meant to say you'd need to change the last digit of the IP address.

Do you have MAC filtering / access control list enabled by any chance?

lad12

Hi..Im not to sure tbh...

Can you tell me exactly where i should in put the data on the second laptop?

Foxwood

lad12 wrote:

Hi..Im not to sure tbh...

Can you tell me exactly where i should in put the data on the second laptop?

Leave the laptop set to get it's IP address automatically. If it works on one laptop, then the problem isn't that you're not getting an IP address, it's that you're not connecting to the router.

You say that you "have the wep key enabled on the router only". That's your problem. You can't connect to a router that has a WEP key unless you enter the WEP key on the laptop too. You must have put it on the working laptop at some stage.

If the router (and both laptops) supports WPA (it may be called WPA-PSK), you should use that instead. The encryption is better, and by and large it seems to interoperate between different brands better than WEP does.

Put the WEP password on the laptop first, and make sure everything is working. Then check that both laptops and the router support WPA-PSK, and upgrade everything to use that instead.

lad12

Yes i have entered the wep on the second laptop. it connects then says acquiring network address..But never gets any furthe..as i then get the message limited or no connectivity. I can see the network but it just wont connect with the router

MunsterCycling

Then you have entered it incorectly, try again. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Don't type the key in, store it in a text file on a USB stick and copy and paste it in as needed, stops the typos from driving you round the twist.

MC

lad12

Yeah i tried this..It didnt change anything i still get the limited or no connectivity.. I think if the wep key was incorrect it wouldnt even try to connect to the router..

Foxwood

lad12 wrote:

Yeah i tried this..It didnt change anything i still get the limited or no connectivity.. I think if the wep key was incorrect it wouldnt even try to connect to the router..

Turn off WEP entirely, for troubleshooting purposes.

This sort of thing has often been a problem with WEP. It's just another reason for upgrading to WPA-PSK.

<edit> I just checked the Buffalo website, and that's a really crappy old card that doesn't even support WPA. I also found a couple of pages, like this one that suggest that Buffalo's implementation of WEP wasn't "standard" enough to interoperate with other vendors equipment. You could try installing the latest drivers from April 2003, and see if that helps. </edit>

formatman

go to the properties of the network connection and make sure windows is set to obtain an ip address automatically

go to the run line and type

cmd

then type

ipconfig /release_all

then type

ipconfig /renew_all

formatman

actuall release_all is wrong


just type ipconfig /release

and then ipconfig /renew

lad12

Turn off WEP entirely, for troubleshooting purposes.

This sort of thing has often been a problem with WEP. It's just another reason for upgrading to WPA-PSK.

<edit> I just checked the Buffalo website, and that's a really crappy old card that doesn't even support WPA. I also found a couple of pages, like this one that suggest that Buffalo's implementation of WEP wasn't "standard" enough to interoperate with other vendors equipment. You could try installing the latest drivers from April 2003, and see if that helps. </edit>

Yeah It works now when i turn wep off altogether. So im thinking i cant have any security then.How ever i live in the sticks and dont expect anyone to be trying to connect to the network.

I mite try and download the drivers you recommended.


Thanks for all yer help

Foxwood

lad12 wrote:

Yeah It works now when i turn wep off altogether. So im thinking i cant have any security then.How ever i live in the sticks and dont expect anyone to be trying to connect to the network.

Your call - I only recommended it for troubleshooting purposes.

But do yoursel a favour and repace that POS card anyway.