Solved: Getting Started

[BunsenBruner]

We are giving our daughter a new laptop for Christmas (well, she's saved for most of it, we're just giving the remainder of it) and we bought a wireless router for use at home.

Is there a good thread in here that shows how to get started with a new wireless network and keeping it secure?

 

[TheShooter93]

HERE is an article from Microsoft detailing the basics.

If you would like more one on one help, let us know and someone here can walk you through it.

 

[BunsenBruner]

Awesome - thank you for the link! it will make my life easier for sure.

 

[TheShooter93]

You're welcome. Hope it all works out nicely. If not, post back on here. I'll even be here on Christmas.

 

[BunsenBruner]

We bought a DLINK DIR-615. We live in a two-storey townhouse with the router on the main floor next to my computer. I have the router set up with a password and with DHCP reservations so I hope I'm reasonably secure.

Since installing the router (my PC is hardwired to it), we've been having some performance issues with Mozilla. Most of the time that we start the browser and navigate to a page the programs stops responding temporarily and takes a while re-start and begin the navigation.

Does anyone have any experience with fixing this problem?

 

[TheShooter93]

Is this behavior present only while running Mozilla Firefox? (i.e. Does the same thing happen in Internet Explorer?)

 

[BunsenBruner]

It seems to be only with Mozilla. I tend to use Mozilla as I've heard it's faster and more secure.

I've seen some notices about Intranet settings. Is this something I should be looking at?

Edit - I tried IE but I had the same problem as well.

 

[TheShooter93]

as I've heard it's faster and more secure.

It is, and that's why I use it.

Now that bit about Intranet settings, I don't think that would solve anything, but if you find out something more specific...tell me.

Have you tried uninstalling Firefox and reinstalling? If you're concerned about saving bookmarks, you can save them as an HTML file and import them later. (If you need instructions on how to do this, just ask.)

 

[BunsenBruner]

I've re-installed Mozilla and I'm still having problems.

 

[TheShooter93]

I'll message one of the networking guru's to come over here and check this out.

 

[prunejuice]

Make sure the time and date are set correctly on the router. This may cause problems accessing https sites.

 

[TerryNet]

The firmware with which the DIR-615 ships is problematic at best, so make sure you have the latest firmware; then reset it to factory default settings and reconfigure it.

What results do you get with something like Speedtest.net with a connection directly to the modem and with an ethernet connection to the router?

 

[BunsenBruner]

I've checked the time and date and changed those.

My speed test results are:

Direct Connect:
Download: 28.33 Mb/s
Upload: 0.97 Mb/s
Ping: 56

Connected through Router:
Download: 24.54 Mb/s
Upload: 0.95 Mb/s
Ping: 76

 

[TerryNet]

Shouldn't be that much degradation, but I doubt that you can notice that with "normal" surfing. Is the other computer(s) experiencing the same problem?

 

[BunsenBruner]

The other computer seems to be fine. It's only my hard-wired PC. I stand corrected, both the PC and laptop are having problems.

I've reset the router to factory settings and tried again but I'm having the same problems.



I'm now having problems with my home-group network. The message is "Peer Networking Grouping service [p2psvc] isn't running."

Either to Peer Name Resolution Protocol service (PNRPsvc) or the Peer Networking Identity Manager service (p2pimsvc) is not running.

Now what?

I'm wondering if I bought a crappy router and if I should return it for a better one. My daughter will be using it for basic internet surfing while I use my PC primarily for online gaming.