Step by step help

magpie

OK, here's the deal.

I have a €45 el cheapo wireless router from Komplett and a laptop with a wi-fi card.

Somewhat rashly I assumed it would be plug and play and one would pick up the other. This ain't happening.

How do I get my laptop to pick up the signal from the router? What do I need to configure? Do I need to set up a network? What?

There are bugger all instructions with this thing so I need step-by-step help, PLEASE!

seamus

eep. First off - Model and Make of the router please?

I assume the router and the laptop have ethernet ports?

Your first step is to plug the laptop into the router using an ethernet cable to configure the router. This is usually done through a web interface. So you plug the laptop into the router, boot it, and then you get the message "Local Area Connection is now connected". Open Internet Explorer and go to http://192.168.1.1 (although this address varies depending on the router - check the manual).

After that we need to know the model, and how experienced/knowledgeable you are about these things.

magpie

Router is a CNet CNBR-914W

how experienced/knowledgeable you are about these things

I can follow instructions Not too hot on networking TBH

I've connected the laptop to the router and rebooted it, but no "Local Area Connection" message came up.

EDIT/ The little Local Area Connection icon in the task bar is now up, and when I click on it it says "status- connected". I've tried going to 192.168.1.1. and 192.168.1.254 which is what it says in the manual but it comes up with "That page cannot be displayed"

Manual says

The device default LAN IP address is 192.168.1.254, the user must set the PC IP address as the same domain and connect the device via an Ethernet cable.

How do I do this? I've checked in 'cmd' and my IP is currently 192.168.0.1

seamus

Have a look at this:
http://www.answers.vt.edu/ask4help/connection/vtkb697.htm
Set your IP address for the Local Area Connection to 192.168.1.1

Then try again to connect to http://192.168.1.254 via Internet Explorer.

magpie

What should I put in as my

1) Default Gateway
2) Subnet mask: its currently set to 255.255.255.0
3) DNS Server address

My IP is now set to 192.168.1.1 but no joy connecting in Explorer

seamus

magpie wrote:

What should I put in as my

1) Default Gateway
2) Subnet mask: its currently set to 255.255.255.0
3) DNS Server address

My IP is now set to 192.168.1.1 but no joy connecting in Explorer

Sorry, yeah. Set your default gateway to 192.168.1.254. Subnet mask is fine. Ignore the DNS settings for the moment.

Make sure you're setting it for the Local Area Connection and not the Wireless Lan Connection

To see if it's working, go to Start, Run..., type "cmd" and hit OK. At the prompt then type "ping 192.168.1.254" and if you get replies, then you know it's working.

magpie

Yeah, did the ping and got back replies. "Packets sent 4, received 4, lost 0"

Still no joy connecting via internet explorer though

This is all the manual says:

Status
From this chapter, it describes how to use the web management, a web browser-based utility that allows the user to remotely configure and manage the device.
The device default LAN IP address is 192.168.1.254, the user must set the PC IP address as the same domain and connect the device via an Ethernet cable.
Enter the username and password when prompted, the default username is "admin", and the default password is "admin" too. If the user wants to change the password please refer to password section to see how to change the username and password. See as following.

Some gobbledegook from other users here http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=302462&cks=SER

seamus

Curious.
Does it prompt you for a username and password?

In IE, go to Tools, then Internet Options. Click on the Security Tab, then click on Internet, then Custom Level... Scroll down to the very bottom, you'll see User Authentication > Logon. Make sure this is set to "Always prompt for user name and password".

Also, what's the error on the "Page cannot be displayed" page? Near the bottom of the text you'll see an error like "Http 404 - page not found" or something like that.

magpie

Finally able to get back onto boards...

Does it prompt you for a username and password?

No

In IE, go to Tools, then Internet Options. Click on the Security Tab, then click on Internet, then Custom Level... Scroll down to the very bottom, you'll see User Authentication > Logon. Make sure this is set to "Always prompt for user name and password".

Done, but it still doesn't ask for username or password

what's the error on the "Page cannot be displayed" page?

Cannot find server or DNS error

seamus

Did you use this laptop to connect to the Internet before? If so, how?

magpie

Did you use this laptop to connect to the Internet before? If so, how?

No

Its a hand-me-down from work, so its possible its been configured funny. What do I need to check?

seamus

Connection Settings. Go into the Internet Options again, hit the connections tab. Under dial-up and VPN, if there are any connections listed, delete them. Then go into LAN settings, and ensure that the only box checked is "Automatically detect settings".

magpie

There were no connections listed and the only box ticked was "automatically detect settings".

When I refreshed the IE page it said "there is no connection to the internet available" or words to that effect.

As the error message is "Cannot find server or DNS error" is this linked to the DNS settings in Local Area Connection properties?

seamus

That's really weird. Try adding in 192.168.1.254 as a DNS server address and reboot the machine.

magpie

Done. Same error message coming up in IE

seamus

*Brow furrowing*

Can you get your hands on another browser, e.g. Firefox?

As a last-ditch effort, try changing your subnet mask to 255.255.0.0 and your IP address to 192.168.1.253

After that I'm all out of ideas.

magpie

OK, thanks for the help. Curse you wireless router!

Chalk

might want to try the simple things first.

open internte options again,
go page to page and reset everything to default level.
clear the cookies and temp inet files.

try again.

if that doesnt work try telnet into the router.
seems as its replying to pings that sauggests it could be an ie peoblem
open a command prompt
type
telnet 192.168.1.254

see if you get a login message [not all routers support this]
if you can get in from there see if you can change any settings that might help the connection.

if telnet and ie wont work,
your best bet may be to try another pc to test the router,
bring it to a mates house or soemthing.

i cant think of anything aelse atm

magpie

I don't know if its significant, but when I reboot and open IE it tries to contact Microsoft for an update...

Telnet came up with "Could not open a connection to host on port 23: Connect Failed"

Chalk

thats a real headwrecker.

is it windows xp?
try to find if the pc has been used on a network before and if so is there any software installed that may be affecting the connection - firewalls or other security software.

again, if it was me, before i spent ages chasing the problem, id try it on another pc,
just to rule out a faulty router.

seamus

magpie wrote:

I don't know if its significant, but when I reboot and open IE it tries to contact Microsoft for an update...

Shouldn't be an issue. Periodically, your homepage can get reset to windowsupdate.microsoft.com by certain software.

Actually, perhaps the HTTP service on the router isn't listening. Try this command from a command prompt:
telnet 192.168.1.254 80

magpie

Actually, perhaps the HTTP service on the router isn't listening. Try this command from a command prompt:
telnet 192.168.1.254 80

Couldn't open a connection on Port 80 either.

is it windows xp?

Windows 2000

try to find if the pc has been used on a network before and if so is there any software installed that may be affecting the connection - firewalls or other security software.

It definitely has. I'll have a root. Would Citrix ICA be buggering it up?


I don't know if it matters but I just connected the laptop to the interweb via a phone modem and there was no problem with IE.

seamus

magpie wrote:

Couldn't open a connection on Port 80 either.

If it's responding to pings, but not to requests on Port 80, that sounds very like a router problem. Is there any kind of master reset button on the router? Have you tried rebooting the router at all?

Chalk

would citirx take control of the lan settings away from windows?
im not familiar with it but thats what the program seems to be for...

as seamus suggested reboot the router with the lan cable still plugged in.
accroding to the site theres a hard reset button on the front.

magpie

Tried rebooting the router. Still nothing.

I can't check it from my desktop as it doesn't have an ethernet card. :mad:

Whenever I try and connect to 192.168.1.254 it says "you need to connect to the internet to view this page"

Chalk

i assume you click connect?

Mac daddy

untick work offline from file in internet explorer - then you can work online,

Can you actualy ping the router?

If yes the problem is not hardware related check the osi layer !

Have you tried to connect a cat5 cable to one of the ports on the router -
If yes try a different one - or different cable

If no - do it reset the router, verify from user manual what the default ip/ and password are -

If that is done

Ping the default ip adress -if it works open a web browser type http://whateverthe ip is - enter default password

If it does not respond to a ping try a different pc - same thing
if that does work problem is your nic -

Remove the nic from device manager uninstall it - reboot reinstall it using driver provided and follow the setup.

Mac daddy

looks like your not the only one with this problem

http://reviews.cnet.com/5208-7589-0.html?forumID=62&threadID=26637&messageID=302772

http://reviews.search.com/search?q=CNet+CNBR-914W&tag=srch&x=21&y=14

i can't even find any decent documentation for this bloody router

magpie

Ping works fine, just can't get at the bloody thing in IE, no matter what combination of pressing 'work online' 'connect' 'work offline' I try.

Mac daddy

if your ping works fine it is not a hardware problem

try the cabling as suggested by me above

magpie

Got it working. Reset the laptop IP back to 198.168.1.1 then connected to 198.168.1.254 after rebooting the router and moving the cable from the WAN input to Port 1. Got into the config programme and sorted it out in about 15 minutes once I got that far.... Jesus H Christ.

Thanks for all your help guys.

Mac daddy