wireless router problem

rondeco

I'm trying to connect a wireless router to my laptop but its telling me to connect my computer to a LAN port using a twisted pair cable? Can anyone help me here. What is a twisted pair cable and wont that mean i wont be able to take my laptop anwhere in the house to go online if its connected to the router. I dont know much bout these things so would appreciate any help i can get. thanks in advance

roamer

Have you got a wireless LAN card installed in your computer?

tba

Twisted Pair

FYI http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid7_gci213234,00.html
AND http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twisted_pair_cable

It is basically a cable to connect to your router and yes it would restrict your movement, as cables are want to do.

To connect wirelessly to a router you need a wireless transceiver for your notebook, some have it built in if not you will need to buy one.

They look like this



And they go in like this



You may not have slots like this on your notebook, in this case USB 2.0 adaptors are available to funtion in the same way.

This is of course one thing that could be wrong, a few more details such as what you have tried, what type of router and PC you have and in this case what distance you are from the router would help clarify the problem.

irlrobins

The router prob needs to be connected using a network cable at first to set up the router to work with ur broadband connection, set up the wireless etc.

Once this is set up you can work wirelessly. What make and model is the router?

rondeco

The router is a 3com wireless 11g cable/dsl router. I got it from a friend who knows even less than i do bout these things but she can get them v cheap. I have a wireless lan card on the laptop. Its a dell inspiron 510m. Is it therefore just this cable i need to set up the initial connection then? Thanks so much for all the help.

irlrobins

had a quick read of the manual and as i thought u only need to connect to router using a cable to set it up.Once its configured you can go wireless...

tba

let us know how it turns out!

irlrobins

I'm sure they'll be back if there's a prob!

tba

yeah no doubt, but these threads only work if the OP replies to say the advice worked. Future advice seekers heed my words!

rondeco

I'm here guys!! Thanks for the help big time. I just need to go buy the twisted cable now. eccuse my ignorance but is it the same as cable used in dial up? sorry if that is a stupid question

irlrobins

no, its a standard network/ethernet/cat 5 cable. Looks like this.

Actaully this might be a better pic.
Get them in any computer shop.

rondeco

cheers my friends.

rondeco

Ok I've got the router working now with it connected by the twisted cable but when I try to connect wirelessly I'm being told that it cant get a certificate to log me on. Can u give me some help please!!

irlrobins

eh??

Can you give the exact text of the error? Or a screenshot of it?

rondeco

'windows was unable to find a certificate to log you on to the network 3com' is the message. 3com is the name i gave the wireless connection.

TimTim

go to the wireless security options on the 3com and have a look for any funny security options like security certs/radius etc


That should do it

irlrobins

yea looks like you turned on radius setting. Remove that and it should work.

rondeco

Thanks so much fellas. I'm networking wirelessly right now.!! One last question. I disabled the radius setting and its telling me now that the network is not secure. Can U tell me how to protect myself? The connection is firewalled it tells me on connection settings but the router says it is not. Any ideas?

irlrobins

use WEP or WPA to secure ur network. Your manual should have a step by step guide to set this up.

_Kaiser_

Under the Wireless settings there'll be a section for Encryption (WEP/WPA etc).
You'll need to enable one of those on the router (but have a look on your laptop first too to see if it supports WPA as that's the preferred/more secure one).

Next, go here for a tool that'll randomly generate an appropriate key, then you just enter it in both the router's and the laptop's wireless config screens

rondeco

thanks once again irlrobins!

rondeco

Now I still have to keep connecting to the network every couple of minutes. Can u help me with that? thanks.