Eircom BB Netgear 2247 Problem

demps09

Right, Sorry in advance for the long read but I really need some solution here!

After a hell of a lot of carrying my desktop up and down the stairs trying different things I have decided to give up and just ask someone!

I have a Dell XPS 420 with Vista 32 ( If that may have something to do with the problem)

I just signed up for Eircom BB 3mb as thats the max I could get apparently as i am near the end of the exchange. Bought from pc world.

Now it was enabled today and tried setting it up via wireless to my pc but could not get a network. Manual suggested that I may have to connect first with the ethernet cable and then will be able to access wireless afterwards.

So carried the pc downstairs and set it up in the hall, all went well and it connected, was getting decent speeds compared to the o2 i had previously. All in all I was quite happy. I disconnected the ethernet cable to see if the wireless was working. So carried the pc back upstairs, switched on, cannot find network at all, its not showing up anywhere. Tried manually entering the SSID and WPA key and it said that was an existing network, but as I said I cannot find it anywhere. Tried connecting with the eircom installer, no joy.

So back downstairs it still couldnt get it, had to reinstall via ethernet again and it was fine. But even if i move only 8m away to another room downstairs it wont find the network? Whats going on, I only seem to be able to coonnect wirelessly if I have a direct line of sight from my pc to the router.

Some more info - Only one telephone point in the house, have the line splitter connected there with the phone in one side and the dsl cable to the router in the other. All lights that should be on are - Power, Wireless,DSL,and Internet.

The house is timber framed, pc is probably 10m away in a straight line passing through a floor and 2 timber stud walls! Cant imagine wireless being blocked by it, if thats the problem then that is just **** in my opinion

Maybe I am doing something stupid, if so, please feel free to call me a noob, tell me what to do and il be on my way!

demps09

Oh just to add, I haven't tried changing the wireless channel, I doubt thats the problem, plus I would have to drag it all back downstairs again to even be able to change that as clicking the eircom bb shortcut or typing in http://192.168.1.254/ wont display the page, as suggested by their support, so i cant get to the settings

I also downloaded and ran netstumbler and it wont pick up anything from upstairs so i dont think its fighting for airtime with any other wireless networks, especially since i live in the back a beyonds!

bushy...

If the ceiling and walls are foil-lined slabs it might be killing the signal.

If that's the problem a pair of Powerline devices would sort out your problem quickly and neatly

eg:

http://www.adverts.ie/showproduct.php?product=123466

http://www.expansys.ie/other/networking/homeplug+powerline

demps09

Fairly sure the first floor is timber, I think they opted out of the concrete slab in the end. There could be some soundproofing in it though so maybe that is the issue. I really thought even the bog standard eircom bb router would have a better coverage than that though. My brother seems to have no problem using his laptop. Will try getting what you suggested tomorrow, hopefully that will sort it, if not its no harm to boost the signal anyway.

Cheers

dub45

It may be that the wireless card in the dell is not up to much. I have found that the netopia tends to give pretty ok coverage - a few friends of mine have it and it seems to perform pretty ok for them.

If your brother had no problem with his laptop and the netopia then the problem would seem to be the wireless card in the dell. Did you change any settings in the dell itself during your set up?

Just to save you carting the dell around all the time - if you want to adjust the settings via ethernet you could always bring the netopia to the dell - the netopia doesnt have to be connected to the internet if you are just changing settings.

demps09

Yeah thats probably the main problem, bloody dells, I didn't change any settings anyway, and it did pick it up downstairs and connect without hassle. I think with something like bushy suggested it should be fine.

Well i only have a short dsl and ethernet cable so I cant have the router connected at the telephone line and connected into the computer upstairs. Unless you mean I can enter the settings without the dsl line and just the ethernet. I think when I had it setup like that before I only had 2 options which were start and help. It was just searching for WPA connection type, i think, I cant remember really. I will give that a go anyway, if i can get at the settings then it may help.

Cheers Dub45

dub45

demps09 wrote: »

Yeah thats probably the main problem, bloody dells, I didn't change any settings anyway, and it did pick it up downstairs and connect without hassle. I think with something like bushy suggested it should be fine.

Well i only have a short dsl and ethernet cable so I cant have the router connected at the telephone line and connected into the computer upstairs. Unless you mean I can enter the settings without the dsl line and just the ethernet. I think when I had it setup like that before I only had 2 options which were start and help. It was just searching for WPA connection type, i think, I cant remember really. I will give that a go anyway, if i can get at the settings then it may help.

Cheers Dub45

Yes you should be able to connect the router to the pc via ethernet - no need for the dsl lead to be connected. Use the http://192.168.1.254 make your changes save them and then reconnect the dsl downstairs.

demps09

Cool, never tried that, hopefully there is something there that may help. Kind of doubt it though, I imagine its just poxy signal, most likely because of the dell.

Bit of a long shot but you hardly know if PC world stock the devolo av easy homeplug kits bushy suggested or something similar? I doubt those would have problems receiving through walls, and then I can just connect via ethernet to the pc.

Anyway, will check out the settings now.

Cheers

dub45

Has your brother used his laptop in the house without any similar problems? If he has then maybe trying a usb wireless card with the dell (just unintall the current one) might be an option?

demps09

Well he has, but to be fair it was fairly close by with only a single stud wall to pass through so I cant really say he wouldn't have any issues upstairs.

Think I will just pop out to pc world tomorrow, need to get this sorted as soon as possible so thats the easiest option rather than buying off the net. They will surely have something decent out there. Will also check if his laptop is getting signal from my room, then I can definitely rule out the netopia as a possible problem.

Thanks for the help, will probably update tomorrow when I have it sorted, or possibly still having problems! Fingers crossed i wont!

demps09

Right, I opted for the Devolo rather than upgrading the Wireless card in the Dell, Im building a new pc in a few weeks anyway so there was no point. Went out to pc world, bought the Devolo Starter Kit, 80euros, was very surprised as it was the same price as the net, nice one PC World.

Got home, set it up in less than a minute, simple plug and play. Actually getting better result on speedtest than before, granted it is a bit earlier in the day.

Anyway, thanks for the help guys!