wireless help

[bmg.777]

HI, need some help here, I bought a new cheap laptop as a spare, its a Fujitsu Siemens L I 2727/1. with Vista basic.
I have already laptop running with a Netgear DG234 router with no probs but I cannot get the new laptop to connect to my wireless network.
I pick up my network but will just not connect, I have put in the wireless name and security key but it stll refuses to connect.
I contacted IDNet for help and they just referred me to the Netgear help line (I am NOT impressed with the IDnet help line)
After hanging on to the Netgear helpline for a while I just gave up on that.
Any not too technical help would be appreciated as I am a not very computer literate.
thanks Brian

[Rik]

Hi Brian and welcome to the forum.

I would have hoped that IDNet would be more supportive, but to be fair to them, I suppose it's not an issue with your connection.

Try turning off security on the router, and see if you can connect then. That will narrow the field down a bit. Unfortunately, I'm not a Vista user, but I'm sure one will be along shortly.

[Simon]

Is there any security (firewalls, etc), on the laptop which might be preventing a connection?

[Steve]

See if this is any use?
http://forum.fujitsu-siemens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=89&t=31866&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

Usually with vista is fairly straightforward:select connect to network via network and sharing center if its a new one it will ask for your security password and then it usually connects.



PS wireless access control is off on the router I presume.

[Dangerjunkie]

How did you put your key into the router? As a passphrase or as a set of hex numbers? Are there any options for what type of key it is when you put in into Vista? (40/128 bit / hex/decimal/phrase?)

If you put it in as a passphrase you could try logging into the router, seeing what the key is in hex then try entering that into Vista. I have at least one machine on another OS that needed that.

Cheers,
Paul.

[net91]

Hi Brian, I have had a similar issue on a Vista laptop before.

Do you get a message when it fails to connect to the wireless network (even just one saying Windows has failed to connect)?

[bmg.777]

Thanks for the replys,

Rik wrote:
"Hi Brian and welcome to the forum."...................................
Thanks Rik......I'm not compleatly new to the forum, use to belong before .....lost all my logon details so re-registered with slightly different name..........I used to play that song game with you and others.

I did try turning the securty off but it didn't help so WEP is selected with both the router and in the properties of the network.
===============================================================================

Simon, the new laptop only has the windows firewall as far as I know.....It has "Norman" (not Norton!) anti virus so I presume thats
O.K.
===============================================================================

Steve Wrote:
"Usually with vista is fairly straightforward:select connect to network via network and sharing center if its a new one it will ask for your security password and then it usually connects."
"PS wireless access control is off on the router I presume"

Steve,
When it finds my network I go to properties and put in the name and key and try to connect........I get the message "wireless connection failed because network denied association request from this computer"
Thanks for the link to the FJ forum although I'm not having a prob activating the wireless access.

My router settings are as below which I think are correct.

Enable Wireless Access Point 
Allow Broadcast of Name (SSID)
===============================================================================
Paul wrote:
How did you put your key into the router? As a passphrase or as a set of hex numbers? Are there any options for what type of key
it is when you put in into Vista? (40/128 bit / hex/decimal/phrase?)
If you put it in as a passphrase you could try logging into the router, seeing what the key is in hex then try entering that into Vista.
I have at least one machine on another OS that needed that.

Paul,
The key (hex numbers?) were put into the router a few years ago but not sure I uderstand about the 40/128 bit thing.
===============================================================================
Dan wrote:
Do you get a message when it fails to connect to the wireless network (even just one saying Windows has
failed to connect)?

Dan,
I just get that message connection failed as my above post.
===================================================================================
Thanks for the replys guys, I went down to the local pub which has free wireless access and it connected so it must be my settings, anyway my brother is taking it away today so its not serious and he knows less about computers than me.
Just another quick question,my brother will use it on dial up but if I look in control panal I cant find a modem. Does this mean he will have to get an external modem? do they actually make laptops without built in modems?....well it was cheap
Regards Brian

[Rik]

Hi Brian

Your current persona is new to the forum. Let me know if you want to re-activate the old account and I'll reset the password and email it to you.

I've not seen a laptop without a modem, but I can see them being dropped in the coming years. Have a look around the cokets, see if there's anything there.

[vitriol]

Sounds to me like Access Control or MAC address filtering is enabled on your router.

Login to your router by typing its IP address in Internet Explorer or Firefox.  The default for the Netgear DG834 routers is 192.168.0.1

You'll be prompted for a username and password, enter those.

Once logged in Click on Wireless Settings, then click on Setup Access List, on the next screen if there is a tick in the box that says "Turn on Access Control" untick it.  Apply all changes and logout of the router.  Try connecting again.

[Dangerjunkie]

Paul,
The key (hex numbers?) were put into the router a few years ago but not sure I uderstand about the 40/128 bit thing.

There may be a setting in the access point and in Windows for this. If there is a setting for it you need to select the same on both (preferably the highest setting)

Vitriol raises a good point. Does your access point have a setting that says something like "MAC address filtering" or "only authorised clients may connect" ? If so and it's turned on you need to add your new machine to the list or turn that feature off.

Which router do you have and what channel is it set to please? Have you set both the PC and router to the same country setting?

The fact that the laptop can connect in the pub tells us that the wireless hardware and driver seem to be working so it's either an encryption or an access-control problem. Am I correct that this laptop has never worked with this access point or is this something that did work and now doesn't?

Cheers,
Paul.

[vitriol]

From the first post I think the router is one of the DG834's. 

[bmg.777]

Sounds to me like Access Control or MAC address filtering is enabled on your router.

Thats it!...Thanks a lot you are the man!
So should I leave the Access Control unticked?
Thanks everybody for the help
Regards Brian

[vitriol]

You can manually add the mac address then turn access control back on, that way it makes it much harder for anyone to connect to your wireless network.

[Steve]

PS wireless access control is off on the router I presume.

Perhaps I should have written it in bold might have saved some time wondering around FSC forums to no avail. Glad you got sorted.

[Sebby]

Glad you got this sorted in the end, Brian.