Major Help Needed

[AlphaBravo]

My dad has upgraded our Broadband to wanadoo wireless and talk... anyway the problem is that we cant get our new laptop (dell 6000) to connect to the wireless adsl router.. we tried following the intructions provided but it didnt work...though i got my pda to succsessfully connect (although i only had to enter the wep thing went the box poped up)

Can any provide help or provide an idiots guide to setting it up???


Thanks

Craig

[Woodlouse2002]

Does the laptop have a wireless receiver?

[AlphaBravo]

Of course.....im not that stupid...

[Jimbo]

Of course.....im not that stupid...

LOL

Setting up a Router the Avanced way can be quite hard, and not easy to explain. What i would reccomend doing is contacting Wanadoo and explain your situation, they should sort it with you step by step. Thats what i did when i was setting up my router. Hope this helped.

Cheers

James

[congo]

The wireless client should have TCP/IP set to obtain IP automatically thru DHCP, which should be enabled on the router.

The router must have DHCP server set to allocate a sufficient number of devices an IP address, in other words, if it's set to support 2 clients, and you add a third it won't work. Mine adds 32 clients max by default.

Turn off any security you have enabled, mac address filtering, Wep encryption etc, until you have the connection established. Turn on SSID broadcasting, make sure your router and device have the same SSID name.

if all else fails......

Copy the settings for your router as a backup, reset router to default, and re-configure with all devices attached/ turned on, see if the Laptop picks up the connection then you can secure the network.

Basically, if the router is broadcasting an unsecure network, the laptop should pick up the connection and a window should popup showing the connection, allowing you to connect. Not sure if you have to add a driver to your laptop for the wireless card it has though.

Get all your devices configured and running thru DHCP first, then, you can set static IP's if desired and/or encryption and other security measures like mac address filtering.

It's a good idea to change the default IP and Password of the router of course, and get the unit secured ASAP.

[the_autopilot]

Of course.....im not that stupid...

Well, your using wep, so...

lol, j/k

But seriously, change your security encryption to WPA or WPA-PSK. WEP is extremely insecure and can be broken in about ten minutes by automated tools found on the internet (google auditor tools). It should not used at all and shouldn't even be included in newer AP's.

Change to WPA or WPA-PSK. Here's some reasons why:
-So other unauthorized people can't use YOUR internet and steal your bandwidth. It also prevents those same people from performing malicious activities through your internet line.
-So people can't get into your network and retrieve personal information off your personal PCs. This has been done before and is one of the most popular ways of identity thieves.
-It does NOT slow your connection down at all.

If you want a more elaborate and in-depth explanation as to why you need WPA, post and I'll go more into detail on how WEP works and why WPA is better.

As for why you can't connect, here's some advice.
make sure the PC has the SSID right. Its case sensitive. Make sure your WEP/WPA key is correctly typed. It is also case sensitive.

Make sure you either do not have MAC access lists enabled or that the MAC address of your PC is allowed on the router.