Waiting for network problems

Hi guys,

In the house we have two computers, one desktop and one laptop. Both run on Windows XP.

We have a Buffalo WBMR-G54 router. Before I went on holiday two weeks ago the internet worked perfectly on both the desktop and laptop. No problems at all.

Then I came back yesterday and I cannot connect to the wireless network using my laptop. The signal strength is perfect and my laptop automatically attempts to connect using the correct network.

But all that happens is the status shows up as "acquiring network address" and then after a minute or so it fails to connect to the network.

Any suggestions?

 

Do you have encryption enabled on the router? If so, have you removed the saved network configuration from the wireless machine, searched for available networks, and keyed in the correct encryption key?

Also, let's see this.

Start, Run, CMD to open a command prompt:

Type 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.

 

By encryption do you mean a network key? Yes I have one of those. I don't need to input it every time though, it just automatically attempts to connect to the network.

Sorry, I don't fully understand what you mean by that

With the IPCONFIG/ALL command you mean using the desktop right? If so this is it;

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Heather>ipconfig/all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : home-16f6e702cb
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : VIA PCI 10/100Mb Fast Ethernet Adapt
er
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-0D-87-AF-F9-BC

Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : 802.11g/b Wireless LAN Client Adapte
r - USB
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 08-10-74-03-8D-C3
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.11.2
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.11.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.11.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.11.1
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : 14 July 2007 17:16:42
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 14 July 2007 18:16:42

C:\Documents and Settings\Heather>

 

Well, that IPCONFIG shows a connection that seems normal.

Try these simple tests.

Start, Run, CMD to open a command prompt:

PING 216.109.112.135

Tell us the results.

PING yahoo.com

Tell us the results.

 

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Heather>PING 216.109.112.135

Pinging 216.109.112.135 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 216.109.112.135: bytes=32 time=146ms TTL=54
Reply from 216.109.112.135: bytes=32 time=146ms TTL=54
Reply from 216.109.112.135: bytes=32 time=144ms TTL=54
Reply from 216.109.112.135: bytes=32 time=147ms TTL=54

Ping statistics for 216.109.112.135:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 144ms, Maximum = 147ms, Average = 145ms

C:\Documents and Settings\Heather>PING yahoo.com

Pinging yahoo.com [216.109.112.135] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 216.109.112.135: bytes=32 time=145ms TTL=54
Reply from 216.109.112.135: bytes=32 time=145ms TTL=54
Reply from 216.109.112.135: bytes=32 time=145ms TTL=54
Reply from 216.109.112.135: bytes=32 time=146ms TTL=54

Ping statistics for 216.109.112.135:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 145ms, Maximum = 146ms, Average = 145ms

C:\Documents and Settings\Heather>

 

All of the above results are from the desktop which connects to the wireless network perfectly fine. Should I post the results for the laptop (as it's not connected I didn't think it would tell us much).

How do I find out about firewalls and where to switch them off?

 

I'm just firing ideas around now but apparently while I was away the desktop computer broke and had to be repaired. I mean completely died.

Is it possible that some settings have changed?