My dad has a wireless network for our house and he told me I could hook up to it if I wanted. He doesn’t know much about it. He doesn’t even know if it is secure or not. Right now I’m getting a message that says I have limited or no connectivity. So what is my next step? I am using windows XP.
Frequently that message means that you are connected to the wireless access point, but your PC has not been assigned an IP address on the network, or at least not a good address.
You can try to repair the connection. Right-click on the wireless connection icon in the System tray and choose repair. If there is no icon in the System Tray, right-click on My Network Places, choose Properties, then right-click on the wireless connection and choose repair. Normally however, the system has already tried that on it’s own, so it probably won’t do anything. Can’t hurt to try, though.
More likely your card is set to obtain an IP address automatically and there is no DHCP server active, or vice-versa.
Open your Network connections, select your wireless connection, right-click and choose properties. Find the “Internet Protocol TCP/IP” in the list of items used by the connection and select it and choose properties.
On the General tab, it will probably be set to “Obtain an IP address automatically”. If it is, go to your dad’s computer, open up the same window, and see if his is set for a specific address. If it is, copy all the information down. Set your computer to the exact same values for all the fields except IP address. For IP address, make the first three sections the same as his, but make the last number 1 higher or lower than his. Click OK and OK, and close the network connections. See if your computer now works.
If that doesn’t do it, you’ll probably have to get connected to your wireless access point (frequently part of a firewall/router) and check the settings and set your wireless card appropriately.
Good luck.
How many networks did your pc have to choose from?
On his computer, in control panel, there should be an icon called wireless link, click on that , and it will give you the settings that his router is setup with, it gives you the option of either using a usb flash drive, or printing out the settings.
I emailed mine, to myself , and then just cut and pasted the WEP key into the appropriate spot.
Declan
It showed me three options when I installed the wireless card(one was listed as disabled). I poked around in my dad’s wireless settings on his notebook and chose the same one.
Alrighty, what about RJKUgly’s post?
I haven’t had time to try it yet. Hopefully I’ll be able to play around with it on Monday or Tuesday.
Did dear old Dad save the CD and Manual (on the CD) that came with the router?
You should be able to find all you need to know on the CD.