I have a wireless network router (Linksys DI-704) at home. There are three computers using it, one wired, the other two wireless. I just bought an EEEPC netbook and was trying to set it up. When I click on “View available wireless networks” it shows up to 4 different ones, all secured and all obviously belonging to one of my neighbors, but not mine. I even added the name by hand and set the network authemtication (WPA-PSK) and data encryption type (TKIP) to match the other two wireless connections. I also added the 26 hex character key twice, as required (isn’t that a royal pain?). Once it did actually connect and then stalled getting a net address. So I disconnected to try again. It no longer saw the network.
The router is supposed to be configured by entering its IP address, 192.168.0.1, into my browser. When I do this, the browser times out. On the other hand, when I reboot my other two wireless computers, they find the network instantly. Also the new computer works fine when plugged in through an RJ-45 socket.
Does all this mean my router should be replaced? It is nearly nine years old.
Did I say Linksys? I guess I did, just looked. Yes, it is a Dlink. Now, what does MAC locked mean? The only way I can modify it is if I can raise it on my browser, which as I said, seems to be impossible.
I assume the suggestion to reboot was for the router, not the computer (which has been rebooted several times). Yes, I will try that.
Is this definitely a router problem? That’s my main question. But the older computers always find the network again. And, to repeat, the new one did, once, but then could not get a network address.
Ah, I used to have a computer tech who was just wonderful. He would come to the house and work till he fixed the problem. He was the one who got all the drivers needed when I downgraded from Vista to NT. But he seems to have other fish to fry. He seems to go to China and I think he has some deal there. (He is Vietnamese of Chinese descent and speaks Vietnam plus at least one Chinese language–not to mention French and English). Now I appear to be on my own.
Yes, the default address for Dlink routers is 192.168.0.1. However, that could always change. Your friend may have changed it for security reasons.
Click on Start -> Connect to -> Show all connections, and double click the local area network icon which corresponds to your wireless or wired link (depending on the computer).
What is the “Default Gateway”? That is the IP address you will need to enter into your browser to access the setup page.
“MAC Locked” means the router only lets particular computers through, based on their “MAC Address”, a 12-character string that identifies your particular network card in each computer. A router could be set up to only allow certain MAC addresses, and reject the traffic of those who don’t supply the right address, thus keeping pesky snoopy neighbours out.
I did what you said and discovered that the IP address had indeed been changed. Then I discovered a handwritten sheet of paper stuffed into the Dlink manual that actualy gave the new IP address. Interestingly the default password had not been changed. So my guru (I wouldn’t exact call him friend, although he is quite friendly, but he certainly charges for it) thought that changing the IP address was more important than changing the password.
Be that as it may, I then logged into it. There was a tab called MAC access clone, and it was disabled. The access restriction tab had “disable” checked and under “PCs”, the “allow” box was checked. No policy name was given and the “Edit list of PCs” had only zeroes. Out of curiosity, how do you find the MAC address of a PC, not that that seems relevant.
Under security, firewall was enabled and three of the four boxes were checked (Block anonymous internet requests, filter multicasts, filter ident (port 113)) and one, filter internet NAT redirection was not. I wonder about that filter ident; I haven’t any idea what it means, but I am reluctant to change any of these settings.
I just discovered one setting that looks odd, if only I knew what it meant. Under the “wireless” tab, something called “wireless SSID broadcast” is disabled. Since the SSID appears to be the name of the network, it would seem possible that this is blocking broadcast of the name. Perhaps you could advise me if enabling this is a dangerous thing to do.
I hang my head in shame. I am getting too old for this. It is a Linksys router. Model WRT54G. What I had found when I looked for a manual was the one for an older Dlink router that must have disappeared somewhere along the line. And the default address is indeed 192.168.1.1, the one I found from following the instructions from Casserole. It comes with a quick install guide and a CD of instructions, which I will now examine.
Disabling “Wireless SSID Broadcast” is another low-level security feature. It stops the router from broadcasting the wireless network name, so it won’t appear in the network list, like you’ve described in your original post.
Feel free to re-enable it if you’d like.
Edit: The WRT54G is a good router. I have one of those myself, albeit with custom firmware. I’m guessing your problem may be that you selected the wrong type of encryption when setting up your wireless network connection on the eee PC. Once you re-enable the SSID broadcast, you’ll be able to just double-click the network and Windows will choose the encryption automatically.
Finally, I paid a Linksys help person $30 to fix it. I feel stupid. There is a Yiddish expression: “Mir lebt 'n mir legt 'n mir stirbt a narr” (We live and we live and we die a fool.) Well, there is both an authemtication key, 26 hex digits it is almost impossible to give accurately, let alone twice. Since Windows asked for the authemtication key, I painfully put that in. But what it actually wanted was the password, which is far easier. First I had to enable the “broadcast SSID” button, but I had done that before calling Linksys. So the problem is solved and I am a happier camper.