invalid IP on laptop...

Creamy Goodness

hey, i'm still having problems getting the world of wireless working.

i have a linksys WAG54G and have two laptops and a pc.

the pc is connected to the router by ethernet and both laptops wirelessly.

the acer laptop is connected fine though wireless, but the dell on the other hand is being a pain in the hole.

i search for the wireless network and find it.

i have the wireless encrypted to wep with a 10 digital hex code.

now when i try to connect to the wireless with the dell laptop it says

"acquiring network address" but after about 2 minutes of this acquiring network address i get in the support section of the window,

invalid IP address?
i try to fix the connection but it just comes back as "limited or no connectivity"

anyone have any idea what might fix this?

Karoma

Try setting a static IP address.
What OS is on the Dell?

(In XP home/Pro: Control Panel -> Network Connections -> Properties of the wifi card -> double-click on TCP/IP.. select use the following IP...and put in an IP address,subnet mask,etc. (Use the other laptop as an example..but obviously, do not use the same IP address as another machine)

Creamy Goodness

Karoma wrote:

Try setting a static IP address.
What OS is on the Dell?

(In XP home/Pro: Control Panel -> Network Connections -> Properties of the wifi card -> double-click on TCP/IP.. select use the following IP...and put in an IP address,subnet mask,etc. (Use the other laptop as an example..but obviously, do not use the same IP address as another machine)

it's xp pro,

went into that network connection details of the acer laptop and copied over the default gateway, subnet mask, DNS servers and put them on the dell laptop

i also changed the ip to 192.168.1.75 it connects to the network (so the little icon in the systray says) but nothing loads up google.ie or boards.ie won't load

Karoma

first: can you ping 82.195.136.250 successfully?

If yes (Then it's a DNS issue):
add to the "Use the Following DNS:" (Or whatever it says) and input your gateway IP address (i.e. The router typically)
[If that fails, check with your ISP what DNS server..]

If no:
post back

Creamy Goodness

nope can't ping 82.195.136.250 request times out.

if i change the DNS server to the gateway IP address it still doesn't work.

ISP is BT btw

Karoma

Well, in that case it's not a DNS issue.
In this order:
Can you ping localhost?
Can you ping 127.0.0.1?
Can you ping the router?

If the answer is no:
Disable firewalls (ed: Both Windows and any other that you may have)
Open the Wireless Networks tab.
Remove any entry from Preferred Networks.
Exit..and try connecting again (Be careful with the password)

Creamy Goodness

i can ping localhost and 127.0.0.1 with response time of <1ms

i cannot, however, ping the router.

Gaz25

Im not to sure on this, but if your trying to ping it and it comes back "Request Timed Out" I would think its your firewall.

But im not 100% sure

Creamy Goodness

it has windows firewall on atm, battery just died in the dell, and my brother is out with the charger in his bag :rolleyes:

Gaz25

I'm only knew to all this and work for a ISP (no names), its only for 6months to get experience, but if a customer can't ping a URL/IP and it comes back "request timed out" its always the firewall i find anyway.

I get them to turn it off or remove it and they connect no probs.

Creamy Goodness

yeh i'd imagine if i removed the firewall it would connect but to be honest here i'm using a microsoft product so that wouldn't be the wisest

Karoma

Gaz25 wrote:

I'm only knew to all this and work for a ISP (no names), its only for 6months to get experience, but if a customer can't ping a URL/IP and it comes back "request timed out" its always the firewall i find anyway.

I get them to turn it off or remove it and they connect no probs.

Er...most firewalls (even in default config) will allow outgoing ICMP echo requests. If it fails as a result of a firewall, it'll be the firewall on the destination node..

SouperComputer

Ive had a lot of problems with XP SP2 using DHCP on encrypted networks. WPA being the most likely to cause issues, but WEP has had its fair share of issues from time to time.

I find the DHCP client regularly breaks with windows XP when encryption is enabled for some reason, sometimes using a static IP doesnt even fix it. 2k and 98 seem to be less prone to this issue. Luckily, its not an intermittant issue, once you crack it, it should be fine from then on.

Have you got the latest software\drivers for the network card and the latest firmware on the router? Also, you want to clear all of the "preferred networks" under your wireless settings. This is your starting point. Try to copy and paste the key of course, throw it on a flash drive if needs be. You cant always use CTRL+V to paste into the encryption key box but you can right click and select paste from there.

Try temporarily turning off the encryption and see if it obtains an IP address and works correctly. 95% chance that it will IMO.

Small thing, but be sure also that under "internet options", on the connections tab, network button that the "automatic search for proxy" box is unchecked.

Also, some WiFi cards (all form factors BTW, USB, PCMCIA, PCI & MiniPCI) come with their own client management software, this can be good or bad, best to try both its own software and also Windows' built in wireless facility to see which works best with your setup.

The problem you are having is a basic networking issue, the firewall does not come into it unless you have REALLY messed about with it.

last but not least, id consider upping the encryption code to 20 digits when you are all done.

ok, better go to bed now..... Best of luck!

Ponster

What Karoma said. Firewalls will almost always allow an outgoing ping and timeouts are due to remote firewalls generally.