help? trying to get eircom wireless on both home laptops

ctrl-alt-delete

hows it going,

heres what i know -

i have my own laptop, with wireless card and i have no problems connecting to broadband on my eircom netopia wireless modem, as far as i remember i never had to enter any passwords etc when setting up everything was all automatic....

i got a wireless card for my dads laptop, not same make as my one ( which doesnt work in my dads anyway), i went through the set up procedures as i did with mine ( i.e. cd etc) everything seemed to go ok - the laptop is able to connect to the network as it says wireless network connection found - conection strength excellent etc. but there is a DNS server error message when i load IE explorer,

sometimes it asks for a network key - which i dont have,

anybody got any recommendations on how to set it up correctly - apart from phoning eircom?

thanks

Boggles

ctrl-alt-delete wrote:

hows it going,

heres what i know -

i have my own laptop, with wireless card and i have no problems connecting to broadband on my eircom netopia wireless modem, as far as i remember i never had to enter any passwords etc when setting up everything was all automatic....

i got a wireless card for my dads laptop, not same make as my one ( which doesnt work in my dads anyway), i went through the set up procedures as i did with mine ( i.e. cd etc) everything seemed to go ok - the laptop is able to connect to the network as it says wireless network connection found - conection strength excellent etc. but there is a DNS server error message when i load IE explorer,

sometimes it asks for a network key - which i dont have,

anybody got any recommendations on how to set it up correctly - apart from phoning eircom?

thanks

Whats the IP address of the Netopia wireless modem?

deckie27

It sounds like your dads laptop isn't connected to the network

fletch

ctrl-alt-delete wrote:

sometimes it asks for a network key - which i dont have,

Click here and scroll down to Encryption Key....should do the trick

ctrl-alt-delete

the ip address of the modem is the following

http://192.168.1.254/

fletch

ctrl-alt-delete wrote:

the ip address of the modem is the following

http://192.168.1.254/

Did you try what I suggested in the above post?

ctrl-alt-delete

yep fletch just finished trying it,

i was on the laptop and tried editing the network settings through netwrk properties by right clicking on the icon in bottom of screen, when i enter that encryption key into space provided and press ok it asks me to rename connection or something?? i tried this but it still doesnt work, im not educated on this type of thing so dont know what to do next?

fletch

Neither am I really....I ran into a few difficulties setting up the wireless too and a call to eircom support had it sorted

ctrl-alt-delete

was just that i dont get time to ring the support centre - work crazy hours, and the rest of the family know less about it than me and i dont trust them to sort it suppose its the only way to go though

fletch

When I rang them, they did say that there was issues when a device with a non-Netopia network card is trying to connect to the router...but it is possible.
Anyways...good luck

formatman

can you advise of the Operating system , 98 , xp pro xp home service pack 1 or 2 and I'll suggest some things to try

sounds like Explorer is just looking for a dial up connection instead of a network connection , easily fixed if XP and not a Winsock problem

ctrl-alt-delete

operating system is WindowsXP service pack 2, and Internet Explorer 6, sometimes what happens also is IE will stall and not respond, would much appreciate your help as i rang eircom earlier and got some ignorant operator who had no time for his job

MarkR

If you type in the ip address of the router from your dads laptop, does it reach the config page?
Have you set your wireless network connection to optain an ip address automatically? If not right click on your wireless network connection in network connections, choose properties and scroll down to tcp ip in the white box in the centre, and select properties. Make sure that the box is ticked there. Once that's done just open up internet explorer, go to tools, properties, and go to the connections tab. Click setup and choose, connect to the internet, set up connection manually, then connect using a broadband connection that is always on.

You may also want to check the security settings on your router. Did you set up any form of encryption, or filter by mac address or anything?

RazorEdge

You haven't given enough information for anyone to be able to help you outside of "try this" suggestions.

Post the answers to the following questions and you will get the solution quicker.

In the wireless icon on the system tray, what is the status of the network connection. Does it say "Connected", "Acquiring network address" or anything else.

In a command prompt, type the following command "ipconfig /ALL" and report what it says.
In a command prompt, type "ping 192.168.1.254" and report the results.

In a command prompt, type "ping 82.195.136.36" and report the results.

In a command prompt, type "ping boards.ie" and report the results.

Maybe your dad's laptop is from work where it is configured to use a proxy server. In IE->Tools->Options->Connections, report the various settings there. Particularly the LAN settings.

formatman

ok

go to network connections in control panel

double click tcp/ip in there and make sure it is set to obtain an IP address automatically

then got to internet properties in control panel and make sure that under connection ...never dial a connection is ticked , then under LAN settings choose automatically detect settings ( shoudl work without ticking this anyway)

post back if it works or not

formatman

to correct that post , go to netowrk connections , and then wireless network connection and then the tcp/ip settings

ctrl-alt-delete

have tried everything you said formatman - everything is as you said it should be, i rang up eircom and some ignorant (ive no time for my job) person said ive to open up the site www.192.168.1.254 and enter the encryption key that i can get from my other laptop but when i try open it it just gives a this page cannot be displayed message, cannot find server or dns error, in the wireless connection icon it says connected, signal excellent!

ctrl-alt-delete

razoredge:

what comes up is the following:

windows IP config:

host name: benscomp
primary DNS suffix: blank
node type: Hybrid
IP routing enabled: no
WINS proxy enabled: no

Ethernet adapter wireless network connection 3

description: 802.11g wireless lan cardbus #2
physical address: 00-08-a1-8a-ca-df
Dhcp enabled: yes
autoconfiguration enabled: yes
autoconfiguration ip address: 169.254.240.180
subnet mask: 255.255.0.0
default gateway: blank

formatman

leave out the www

just type 192.168.1.254 directly without http: etc etc

your on the right track if the encrption key is set ,

if you get it workign then turn off the broacast and put a password for the router access

ctrl-alt-delete

i tried opening that web address it with eircom broadband shortcut thing - most of the time when i try open a webpage on the laptop it freezes - could it be something to do with internet explorer?? it keeps not responding

paconnors

hi ctrl-alt-delete check your pm box

formatman

whats is the start page in Internet explorer ( page that it trys to open first )

check in internet properties general


but anyway if you delete everything in the address bar and just type 192.168.1.254 ...what happens ?

RazorEdge

ctrl-alt-delete wrote:

razoredge:

what comes up is the following:

windows IP config:

host name: benscomp
primary DNS suffix: blank
node type: Hybrid
IP routing enabled: no
WINS proxy enabled: no

Ethernet adapter wireless network connection 3

description: 802.11g wireless lan cardbus #2
physical address: 00-08-a1-8a-ca-df
Dhcp enabled: yes
autoconfiguration enabled: yes
autoconfiguration ip address: 169.254.240.180
subnet mask: 255.255.0.0
default gateway: blank

The IP address you quote indicates that your PC attempted to get an IP address automatically and it failed. The 169.254.*.* is for self-assigned IP addresses and would not be issued to you from a DHCP server.

There is a DHCP server built into the wireless router that you have. When you select, "Obtain IP address automatically", your PC will negotiate these IP settings from a DHCP server.

In your position, I would do the following.

I'd be wondering if my wireless setup is correct so I would connect an ethernet cable - not a cross-over one though - between the laptop onboard NIC and the router. Type IPCONFIG /ALL again and see if proper IP settings were acquired.

If this is successful, it would indicate that the router can handle the new laptop and is not setup to only allow certain machines with specific MAC addresses on the network.

I might then try assigning the IP settings manually for the wireless adaptor to bypass the DHCP server in case the problem lies there.

If you google "169.254 wireless" you will see that you are not alone!

There is a specific wireless forum on boards.ie. I guess that this thread would be more successful there if this is a wireless problem specifically. If the ethernet cable works then it definitely is.

I might try breaking my own setup in various ways this evening and see if I can reproduce your problems. Is it a Netopia 3347W from Eircom that you are using?

RazorEdge

I didn't have to break anything after all! I had to add another machine to my wireless network this evening anyway and kept an eye out for your problem.

Good news. I encountered it and have a solution for you. Bear in mind that it may not be the same as your problem but it seems identical.

After installing my wireless card - but before connecting to the wireless network - I had the exact same problem as you.

The icon on the system tray says "Connected", my IP address was "169.254.*.*" etc and IE was not working.

Have you actually connected to your wireless network or is it just visible to you? That was my next step after installing the card and everything works as expected now.

You will have a utility available to you to browse the available networks in your area. Run this now.

Locate your network and make a note whether WEP is enabled or not. If it is, then you need to obtain the "Encryption Key".

On my Netopia, the "Encryption Key" is available at http://192.168.1.254/basicWireless. Note you will have to use your working laptop or an ethernet cable to view this information. Note you want the "Encryption Key" and NOT the passphrase. There may be two formats to the "Encryption Key" ASCII characters or Hexadecimal digits. Make sure you select the right one.

If WEP is shown as enabled then you WILL need the "Encryption Key". Otherwise you can skip that step.

Now it should just be a case of selecting your network in the browser, typing in the "Encryption Key" in the appropriate place and hitting "Connect". If it works, these settings will be remembered.

Maybe MikeGannon has said all of this in his PM to you and you are sorted now anyway.

Good luck in any case.

If you still have problems, come back with the answers to these questions

Is WEP enabled on your wireless network?
Have you connected to the network? ("Connected" in the Task Bar is not enough)
Are you using the correct key if WEP is enabled. (Don't post the key here BTW!!)