Eircom broadband wont install on laptop

crebel81

Hey,

Purchased broadband a few wks ago. Have 2 laptops. one is new and it is an acer. broadband works perfectly.

Other one is a Dell Inspiron, about 6 years old. Laptop is fine except it wont install boradband. Put the eircom cd into the dell laptop and when i near the last installation step it gives an error message.

Anyone know what the problem could be?

Shane O' Malley

Why do you need to install the eircom cd?

It is just a wireless connection.

Do you know how to connect to a wireless network.?

crebel81

yes I got a cd with it which asks for various codes so it can activate the broadband

Shane O' Malley

Yes, i understand that.

But you dont need that to connect to the wireless network.

What operating system are you using?

ted1

no installation needed just open up wire less connections look for your connection hit connect and enter the code.

dub45

As the posters have pointed out above you dont "install" broadband. You get a wireless router/modem which transmits a wireless network which your laptop or pc can connect to. The code being sought is probably the password for the wireless network.

If the laptop is six years old as you say are you sure it has a wireless card?

jor el

Throw away that CD. It only causes problems, and you never needed it in the first place. If the laptop has wireless, then it's as simple as connecting to the router and entering the password. If it doesn't, then you either need to get one, or use a cable.

crebel81

Thanks for the replies.

I was aware that I didnt need to install it, wrong choice of words perhaps.

There is no wireless connections options on the laptop in question so do its a matter of plugging the tellow SHORT cable in or buying a card?

Any one know how much these cards cost??

watty

you need an ethernet cable. (8 pin to 8pin) if you have no WiFi. It can be up to 100m long and performs faster and more secure than wireless (WiFi).

Wireless adaptors come in USB, PCMCIA slot and Express card slot for external.
Some Laptops can take an internal adaptor (Mini PCI or Mini PCIe/Express)

Cost is €15 to €100

Look for 802.11g (n is pointless extra expense)
Find out which kind of slot your laptop has (older PCMCIA or newer Express) and get a WiFi card for that as they are better than USB versions, and if your laptop has only USB 1.1, the USB adaptors could be slow.

Don't bother with Internal card unless you know what you are at.

Do check that your laptop hasn't already got WiFi, that's turned off in BIOS, small switch or button on case or simply driver not installed.

The eircom CD is no use.