Wireless help

Factual Questions
1

The computer is a Dell laptop running XP and the wireless card is a Dell 1510 Wireless-N WLAN minicard made by Broadcom.

I am traveling around Nicaragua and all of the hotels and every time I connect I get a limited or no connectivity warning. I can connect to the network, and am assigned a IP address and subnet mask, but there is no DNS server or Default Gateway listed when I run ipconfig. Curiously, when I connect through the ethernet cable I don’t have a DNS server listed either, but I do get a Default Gateway.

I think what is causing the problem is that they use a different type of password. Instead of a password like ‘bananas’ it is a key like ‘e33ee39a340d7dcfa5816e4e0f’, but I don’t know how to fix it.

2

Not sure what the problem might be without being able to sit down in front of the machine and diagnose, but Windows should automatically recognize a 26 character hex string as a WEP-128 key, and “do the right thing”.

Is your connection set for WPA, WPA2, or something other than 128-bit WEP?

3

It is set to WEP and Open.

I connect to the network, so it looks like the password is being accepted. There just seems to be something with the modem not assigning me correct IP parameters.

4

You may be able to ask for a WiFi to Ethernet adapter and connect via that. Many hotels have these for older computers without wireless.

5

Don’t trust the “Limited or No Internet Connection” flag. When you connect to most commercial hotspots, you get an IP address, but the hotspot still filters your packets and prevents them from getting to the internet. This means they block the Microsoft server that is accessed to determine your Internet status.

Try firing up your browser. This is usually automatically redirected to the payment screen that authorises full access to the internet. Once this has happened, you will get unrestricted access.

Si

6

We are talking about $8 a night hostels that use just standard home routers.

There is definitely no connection. When I try to access the internet I get a page not found, and I can’t ping anything.

7

What is the IP address that you are given - IP addresses in the range 169.254.x.x are APIPA (autoassigned) and not DHCP addresses. They probably won’t work. Also, check your firewall - if the IP address is not recognised as a trusted network, the firewall may lock down the network access.

Si

8

Yep, it is a 169.254 address.

I have windows firewall disabled, and don’t believe I have any other installed.

What now?

9

Looks like you are not getting a DHCP address. Check the network settings to ensure that “Obtain an IP Address Automatically” is set.

Open a cmd prompt. Type IPCONFIG /renew and see what happens.

Si

10

So the plot thickens. The hotel had their ISP guys out, and he changed the password of the network from a 26 digit hex key to a normal password. Now it works.

Unfortunately I think I will see the same problem with the next hostel, so I might have to go through this again.

11

Well, the reset may have fixed the DHCP on the router. Otherwise, check the MS website for WEP updates.

Si