[jc528]

Hello I hope you can help. I have a Dell Dimension pc and have windows XP. I have been getting on to the internet through a wireless router for 3 years now without a problem. Now |I can't get on in this way. I also have a laptop and couldn't get on with this either. Sometimes on the PC I can see my own network and sometimes I can't. When I can see my own network it says ' aquiring an IP address'. I also get the following message 'windows was unable to find a certificate to log you on to the network (and my network name). I have had 2 computer engineers look at the problem and both could not solve it. They checked everything possible. They both thought it must be interference outside somewhere.

However, my son has just bought a new laptop today which is windows vista and he can get on to the network without any problem.

Your help would be much appreciated.
Thanks
Jan

[JohnWill]

First off, I'd disable encryption on the router and see if you can then connect. If so, then make SURE you use the same encryption key for the router and the workstations. Finally, if you're using WEP encryption, use only the HEX keys, not the ASCII passcode.

[jc528]

Hello John,

Thank you for replying. I'm afraid I don't know anything about encryption, however I can get into the Belkin set up utility page. I looked under security and found the following:

Security mode WPA/WPA2-Personal (PSK)
Authentication WPA-PSK+WPA2-PSK
Encription technique - TKIP+AES

I can't find anything else with the word encryption mentioned, therefore I can't disable it. I presume I'm looking in the wrong place. Please excuse my lack of knowledge on the subject.
Your help is much appreciated.
Jan

[TerryNet]

I think you found it--hiding in plain sight. There should be a drop down box arrow by the Security mode label. Change the setting to 'Disabled.'

[jc528]

John,

Did as you said thanks John but it did not work and made my network insecure. I should have mentioned that I also have a wireless adapter. When I can see my network the signal strength is good.

[jc528]

sorry my previous message was for Terrynet

[TerryNet]

When the new Vista laptop connects do your other computers detect your network fine or do they have trouble at that time? If the former, it sounds like your router is slowly dying.

Either way sometimes if you reset it to factory default settings and reconfigure it, it will behave better.

[TerryNet]

... and made my network insecure.

No kiddin'! Encryption is what makes Wi-Fi (reasonably) secure. It also is an extra variable to worry about when you are having connection problems. That's why John suggests to disable it, get the network functioning again, and then secure the network.

[jc528]

The laptop with vista was on all day yesterday and I still had the intermittent problem of not seeing the network. When I first had this problem with the PC and did not have a wired lead I could sometimes get on to the internet.

When I disabled the security mode and saw the network it said it was unsecure but had changed to automatic instead of 'aquiring a network address' but when I tried to connect is changed back to 'aquiring network address.

[jc528]

I meant to say that 2 computer engineers have tried 4 different new routers, all different makes.

[JohnWill]

Well, then it's obviously not the routers, right?

Let's see this for the machine in question.

Hold the Windows key and press R, then type devmgmt.msc

Please respond to all the following steps.

1. Under Network adapters, please tell me all the devices listed.
2. Are there any devices under Network adapters that have a red x displayed?
3. Also, are there any devices anywhere in the Device Manager display with yellow ? or ! displayed?

Let's see this as well.

Hold the Windows key and press R, then type CMD to open a command prompt:

In the command prompt window that opens, type type the following command:

Note that there is a space before the /ALL, but there is NOT a space after the / in the following command.

IPCONFIG /ALL

Right click in the command window and choose Select All, then hit Enter.
Paste the results in a message here.

If you are on a machine with no network connection, use a floppy, USB disk, or a CD-RW disk to transfer a text file with the information to allow pasting it here.

[jc528]

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.
C:\Documents and Settings\Jan Summers>IPCONFIG /ALL
Windows IP Configuration
Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : D1NJNH1J
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : Belkin
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 2:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Belkin
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom 440x 10/100 Integrated Cont
roller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-11-43-20-D7-02
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.2
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.1
62.31.64.39
62.31.112.39
62.31.144.39
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : 06 July 2008 13:22:57
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 19 January 2038 04:14:07
Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection 23:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Belkin 54g Wireless USB Network Adap
ter #2
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-17-3F-AF-58-D9
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration IP Address. . . : 169.254.97.172
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
C:\Documents and Settings\Jan Summers>




1394 Net Adapter

Belkin 54g Wireless USB Network Adapter#2

Broadcom 440x 10/100 integrated controllers


No red X and no? or !

[JohnWill]

Have you removed encryption from the router to see if you can connect that way? Also, remove all the stored wireless network profiles and search for a "new" network.

[jc528]

By removing the encription do you mean disabling the security mode? if so yes I've tried that.

When you say remove the stored wireless network profiles do you mean to make sure my network is the only one listed under preferred networks? How do I search for a new network other than refreshing the list please?

[TerryNet]

Remove all the stored wireless network profiles, especially yours. Refreshing the list is fine then.