I am using a Cisco WRT54g wireless router with WPA2 encryption enabled. One Vista laptop was configured to connect to the secure router. It always connected and accessed the internet with no problem.
Yesterday, I added a second laptop to the network. It was an older (2004) Gateway running XP. I used a wired connection to link it to the router rather than wireless because the laptop's wireless NIC couldn't detect the router (I assumed because of the router's security settings). I haven't inspected the older laptop's wireless settings in detail because the wired connection was convenient to setup. The router accepted this older laptop via the wired conncetion with no problem. The laptop could instantly access the internet and perform all internet related functions completely. (I am using it to write this message.)
Problem: The Vista laptop could not access the internet when the XP laptop was conncected to the router and powered on. The Vista laptop detected the router, but would not access the internet. (Limewire couldn't connect either.) As long as the older laptop was powered off, I could restart the Vista laptop and it would connect to the internet with no problems. However, as soon as I powered up the older laptop, the router would somehow be affected in such a way that the Vista laptop could no longer access the internet. It wasn't until I disabled all wireless security in both the router and Vista Laptop that I was able to access the internet through both laptops concurrently. Obviously security settings were somehow the problem. I am posting this hoping that readers will understand and explain to me why the problem occurred in greater depth than just "security settings were the problem." I want to increase my wireless networking knowledge. Please help.
Yesterday, I added a second laptop to the network. It was an older (2004) Gateway running XP. I used a wired connection to link it to the router rather than wireless because the laptop's wireless NIC couldn't detect the router (I assumed because of the router's security settings). I haven't inspected the older laptop's wireless settings in detail because the wired connection was convenient to setup. The router accepted this older laptop via the wired conncetion with no problem. The laptop could instantly access the internet and perform all internet related functions completely. (I am using it to write this message.)
Problem: The Vista laptop could not access the internet when the XP laptop was conncected to the router and powered on. The Vista laptop detected the router, but would not access the internet. (Limewire couldn't connect either.) As long as the older laptop was powered off, I could restart the Vista laptop and it would connect to the internet with no problems. However, as soon as I powered up the older laptop, the router would somehow be affected in such a way that the Vista laptop could no longer access the internet. It wasn't until I disabled all wireless security in both the router and Vista Laptop that I was able to access the internet through both laptops concurrently. Obviously security settings were somehow the problem. I am posting this hoping that readers will understand and explain to me why the problem occurred in greater depth than just "security settings were the problem." I want to increase my wireless networking knowledge. Please help.