A bit of tech help please on a wireless issue.
 

I have a HP DV 9000 laptop that has worked flawlessly for a year now.

I am in my home in mexico and we have a cable highspeed connection. I have Belkin Pre-N wireless router attached to the modem.

This morning I had a bit of trouble connecting to the internet. I reset the modem and router and it allowed everyone else in the house to connect wirelessly to their laptops.... I could not. It seems to be searching for the IP address and not finding it....although the symbol on the computer shows an "excellent' connection.

I can however connect using a hard line to the modem......

any thoughts?

Thanks.

Is there wireless security of any sort on the router? Try removing the wireless association and then re-acquire the SSID and see if it connects then.

Also, is this Vista? It is notorious for not being able to connect to Wifi networks it has had no trouble with in past.

I'm sorry... I don't understand.

wireless association?

He is referring to the security setting - do you have security enabled? If yes, then delete the router from your available connections and then go through the process to re-add it (aka associate it).

Another path to try - is your home router also a Belkin Pre-N or something else? If it is different than what you connect to at home, then would check what wireless hardware the others' laptops have vs. your HP. If you have hardware they do not, then google that hardware, Belkin pre-N, and "cannot connect." I just searched on "Belkin Pre-N cannot connect" and there seems to be many reasons folks have trouble connecting to them. A lot of it has to do with different security settings and encryption.

Also, how many other people are already connected? Is there any type of maximum #/limit of allowed wireless connections set on the router?

Not vista....

XP

And only one other laptop is connected to the wireless.... it is working for them... although we have had as many as 3 connected at any one time so i don't believe it is that.

I have a feeling it has to do with not acquiring the IP address properly...or something like that....it shows my conneciton as being "excellent'...

I was setting up my mum with her new laptop and had something similar to what you describe, one laptop was working fine, (although I was unable to access any of the settings on that) and hers that wasn't. It said the signal strenth was excellent and when I typed in what I thought the key was for the wifi it would sit there telling me it was acquiring the IP address, and then wouldn't connect.

Eventually after an age I was contacted by the guy who had set up the wifi and he gave me the correct key, which he had changed. So it might be worth trying as is mentioned above deleting and then re entering all the connection details. Oh and make sure you use the correct WEP/WPA/WPA2 etc.

Now to take over this thread slightly (I didn't want to start another thread), I am wondering if I can use the Wifi that my folks have to save me having to get my own. They have already agreed that this isn't a problem for them and it will save me having to schlep over there with my laptop when I need to look something up/email etc.

The problem is that as the crow flies they are just over 2,000 ft away and there are large (i.e. tall) houses in the way, so no line of sight. Is it even remotely possible that this would work? and if so can anyone reccomend some cheap wifi equipment for my laptop, to do this with?

As always any help much appreciated

Sometimes the DNS gets messed up.

Open a command prompt. Go to Start, Run, then type CMD and hit Enter.

A new window should appear.

In the window, type the following :

ipconfig /flushdns

Then hit Enter.

The message should say "Successfully flushed the DNS Resolver Cache."

Then try to access the internet, it may now work. That has fixed my problem on several ocassions.

not really practical
 

At that distance, with no line of sight, its not really practical, especially for a laptop. Its technically possible, but would require directional antennas and a wireless router on each end, and even so the buildings in the way could be a problem, depending how many there are.

A much easier solution is to get your own DSL line and wireless router, and given the hardware required to connect to your parents, it might even be cheaper.

Bob

I think he said that he couldn't get an IP address assigned for his laptop, not that he couldn't resolve an IP address.
So I would suggest in the window to type the following:
ipconfig/release
ipconfig/renew

Thanks, I kind of figured it would be a bit messy, and there is no way that my mum is going to have a directional antenna (cantenna) in the house even if I will at mine. I really am trying to avoid getting a line put in at my place, in case work decide that I can do 'some/anything' from home. Using my folks connection would have meant legitimately that I could have said I don't have it.

What is the issue with Vista? It seems like my Vista laptop drops the Linksys router with increasing frequency all the time while my XP PC is fine. Any way to resolve this other than rebooting the router that I have to do when this happens. Do I need to see if newer firmware is available for the router? I have the Linksys on a different channel from all my neighbors and no other devices on 2.4 GHz.

This was a known issue a year or two ago with IBM/Lenovo laptops having Intel wireless chip sets---not related to Vista or the router, but due to the Intel firmware.

What I do with Vista is hit (Fn)+(F2) to turn off the wireless (May be different key combo ob your laptop). Wait one second, and then hit them again. It has always reconnected after that. No need to restart, or to reboot the router.