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Solved: Problem connecting wireless laptop to secured network

993 views 11 replies 5 participants last post by  redpanda 
#1 ·
I presently have 2 desktops. One is connected via wireless Netgear adapter. I have the network secured with WPA2. It works fine. The problem is I'm trying to connect my laptop with a compatible (same family) 108 Mbps wireless pc card. I can connect to my neighbor's unsecured network which is across the street and about 400 feet away with a weak signal yet downloads are quick. The laptop is about 4 feet from my router. I finally got it to briefly connect to my secured network and then it apparently lost the connection. I can't get beyond google's home page. Netgear says it's connected but something it preventing the connection.The firewall in the laptop is disabled.

If I type ipconfig, I get:
IP address 192.168.1.4
Subnet mask 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway 192.168.1.1

If I type ping www.google.com, I get 4 timed outs.

I've downloaded Netgear's latest drivers for the laptop.
Suggestions? Operating system in the laptop is XP Home Ed. with everything updated.
 
#2 ·
Maybe wireless interference; e.g., 2.4Ghz cordless phone or another network on the same or close channel. Try other channel(s). In North America the non interfering channels are 1, 6 and 11.

Your ipconfig show that you are communicating with the router. And you did get to at least one web site, right?
 
#4 ·
TerryNet said:
Maybe wireless interference; e.g., 2.4Ghz cordless phone or another network on the same or close channel. Try other channel(s). In North America the non interfering channels are 1, 6 and 11.

Your ipconfig show that you are communicating with the router. And you did get to at least one web site, right?
Well, I momentarily got to the Firefox Start Page. Interference shouldn't be an issue. I already use channel 6 and I'm the only network in the area on that channel. Two neighbor's are on 11. As I mentioned, I had no trouble connecting to the neighbor's, but obviously don't want to do that. I just booted the laptop and tried again. After about 5 minutes the Firefox start page loaded. Then I tried typing a URL and got the server not found error. I switched to Internet Explorer and was unable to connect.
 
#6 ·
etaf,
I just booted the laptop and within moments I was on the internet! Then I check the netgear wizard and saw I was connected to the neighbor's network. So I tried connecting through my network again and nothing - "server not found". I pinged 64.233.187.99 and get Request timed out. 4 packets sent, none rec'd.

I don't know that there would be any point in removing the security from the router since I know that works because I have another desktop in my home using it wirelessly without any problem. I also know that the wireless pc card works because I can access the neighbor's network.
 
#7 ·
gurutech,
That ping of 4.2.2.2 gets 4 request timed out. 4 packets sent, 0 rec'd, 4 lost. I've noticed in my control panel/network connections, when I try to connect to my network on the laptop, I have something called Internet Gateway in addition to LAN or High-Speed Internet. When I connect to the neighbor's unsecured network on my laptop, I only have the LAN or High-Speed Wireless Connection listed in Network Connections. I don't know if that is anything relevant.
 
#8 ·
Removing the encryption for a test might be useful to isolate the issue. If you're using WEP, you MUST use the hex key option, not the passcode option. Different brands of equipment convert WEP passcodes into non-matching keys. :)

It's easy to reconfigure ALL the encryption on the wireless, just to make sure it's not a key mismatch issue.
 
#9 ·
The encryption I'm using is WPA2-PSK (AES). My Netgear router, adapter in second desktop and wireless PC card are all compatible Netgear Super G so there shouldn't be a conflict with the hardware. The key has been correctly entered on the laptop. If I log into 192.168.1.1 from my desktop, the laptop shows as an attached device after I insert the pc card. I can still briefly (about a minute!) connect to the internet on the laptop. At one point I was able to connect to Firefox start page, then go to Ebay, then the 'sever not found' messages started. I'm stumped.

I was reading on the Netgear site that sometimes Window's wireless zero configuration can cause conflicts, so I disabled that service (Control panel/Admin tools/Services/wireless zero configuration). It doesn't seem to have made a difference!
 
#10 ·
do you have a firewall??

post an ipconfig /all

ping the default gateway

then ping the following
------------------------------------------------
try ping the name and then the IP see below

start
run
cmd

C:\Documents and Settings\wayne>ping {the default gateway ipaddress you got above }

C:\Documents and Settings\wayne>ping google.com
Pinging google.com [64.233.187.99] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 64.233.187.99: bytes=32 time=120ms TTL=243
Reply from 64.233.187.99: bytes=32 time=107ms TTL=243
Reply from 64.233.187.99: bytes=32 time=102ms TTL=243
Reply from 64.233.187.99: bytes=32 time=101ms TTL=243

Ping statistics for 64.233.187.99:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 101ms, Maximum = 120ms, Average = 107ms

C:\Documents and Settings\wayne>ping 64.233.187.991
Ping request could not find host 64.233.187.991. Please check the name and try a
gain.
C:\Documents and Settings\wayne>ping 64.233.187.99
Pinging 64.233.187.99 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 64.233.187.99: bytes=32 time=116ms TTL=243
Reply from 64.233.187.99: bytes=32 time=113ms TTL=243
Reply from 64.233.187.99: bytes=32 time=113ms TTL=243
Reply from 64.233.187.99: bytes=32 time=111ms TTL=243

Ping statistics for 64.233.187.99:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 111ms, Maximum = 116ms, Average = 113ms

C:\Documents and Settings\wayne>
 
#11 ·
What is your Node Type (as shown in ipconfig /all)?

Here is something else to check, especially if you have XP SP1.

1. Click start button
2. Click "My Network Places"
3. Right-click and click on "Properties"
4. Right-click on your wireless connection and click on "Properties"
5. click on the "Authentication" tab
6. Uncheck "Enable network access control using IEEE 802.1X"
7. Click "OK"
 
#12 ·
I had the firewall turned off during all this. I've been pondering this all day and after dinner, it occurred to me to try another Netgear driver. I was using the latest "new and improved" one that supported the WPA2-PSK encryption I was using so downloaded a slightly older one for my adapter which supports that encryption. Worked like a charm.
 
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