Internet troubles

Hi James130c

Have you spoken with Tiscali, you need to ensure that is neither a)ISP or b) telephone line.

If you are in the UK, ask BT to check your line and ring Tiscali and see whether there are any issues with your connection.

If both are fine, expand a little what happens when you lose the connection, what does the D-Link Router say as status (lights on the router and HTML interface status)

All the best

Hi, BT line check is fine, tiscali no problems, computer says im connected to the right network i want, excellent signal no websites being displayed. On the other comp now i don't even see the network maybe something wrong within the belkin NIC, does it matter that im using a d-link router with 2 belkin wireless cards.

Hi James130c

Looking at the 604t it seems to be capable of 4ports LAN and there is no reason why 2 concurrent wireless should cause any problem.

You have established that the connection from the modem outside your control (ISP/BT) is fine, now I would suggest you need to look at whether all types of connections fail or only wireless.  

Try plugging the LAN cable into your router, do you get a connection as is. If yes the likelyhood is that the wireless adapter setting on you computer need tweaking. If no the likelyhood is that we need to look at the DHCP in the router.

Lets look at the IP configuration of the 1st PC, I think if we fix the first we can derrive the right settings for the second. So leave the second switched off.

Go to Start|RUN and type CMD at the command prompt type IPCONFIG /ALL

You should see a response for your LAN adapter and your wireless card, possibly other but ignore that for now. Whilst you have this displayed write down the MAC address for your wireless router.

Both adapters should have the same gateway. This is the IP of your router.

Go to IE or whatever browser you use and enter the IP of the gateway into the address line. Can you access your Routers interface (pw dialog box?). If so try with LAN cable removed, you may need to open a new browser window. If you can connect then your IP configuration is fine for both adapters, if not then we need to look at the IP properties of the offending one.

Lets say the test on the first works fine, now switch on the second and test whether the first still has its connection. If it does repeat the steps above and check whether PC2 connects. I suspect it will fail at the latest here, most likely the previous tests will have yielded a fail. But if all connections still work we have a third option, which is a conflicting signal.

So, what to do next. If all your IP works, look at the router config and see whether you have access entries to the routing table (a router menu page) of the IPs that you have noted down from IPCONFIG.
Look at the Access control options (if exist) and see whether your IP/MACss are listed if this is set to on.

If IP does not work, disable the LAN adapters and go to DHCP on the router setting reservations for the wirless cards using the MACs you noted down.

If you have working IP but flaky connection use NetStumbler http://www.netstumbler.com/downloads/ and install on your wireless PC and check for other networks, look at the channel transmitted and see whether there are 2 with same (yours and another) if so pick a free channel from the roouters selection box and reboot all equipment.

let me know how goes, many options definitely a solution out there, as long as BT and Tiscali say the truth.

Btw excuse typos, don't tend to spellcheck long posts

All the best

thanks for your replies, i will try all this, also just to be sure, the settings on both computers should be obtain IP auto and DNS auto? any other things i should make sure that the comp has set right? before i do all this so i dont miss anything.

Hi

Btw, I am assuming you use XP at the moment, so my isntructions on the IP properties reflect the menus there. The IP setting should be :

Standard Properties tab: Obtain automatic
Alternate properties: same as above
Advanced IPsettings: DHCP enabled, no default gateways
Advanced DNS: No DNS, Append parent (ticked), Register...(ticked
Advanced WINS: No need for WINS so empty and Default NetBIOS
Advanced Options: TCP/IP filtering

Same for all adapters.

Cheers

Hi, quick question too, in control panel, network connections, inside here normally there is 3-4  am i right? like wireless, lan internet gateway or something ect... if on the PC there is no wireless one would that prevent the PC connecting wirelessly? like i said this PC worked before suddenly it does not, and im not sure if this was missing before or not and weather it could affect it. If so how can i get the wireless connection back inside network connections.

If it doesn't need it, should the wireless adapters find the router as soon as the PC is started up and should they work fine if the settings above are correct and the router is setup correct.

Thanks.

Also, what is the difference with a wireless card and using adapters? do you know? im using 2 belkin adapters. ?I have used wireless cards before which i have slotted into PCI slots, but as these were USB it was easier for me, can you tell me the difference other then that.

If possible also if i was tempted to buy a new router as im not a fan of d-link anyways, is tiscali adsl? when buying a router they all seem to say for BT customers and ADSL, and i hear some are cable 'DSL' so i would just want to make sure i get the right type.

Sorry went offline early yesterday..

The adapters need to be seen in  network connections, if they are not then you cannot connect.

First check whether USB is working OK, insert a memory stick or any other device. Check if OK. If not rightclick my Computer|Manage and go to Device Manager, check if there are red crosses or question marks on any USB or network devices.

Second check whether wireless conenctivity is enabled in control panel depending on your adapters you will either have an XP wireless option or an adapter specific. Either way check what it says.

Lastly you have either removed the drivers or 'unplugged' the device. In that sense unplugged means that it is still in the port but deactivated.

First remove the adapter and reinsert after a few seconds. Does the XP detect the device, if so does it install the drivers or is it now simply working, if it installs the drivers than you may have removed these accidentally.

The adapter should appear in the network connections. When it does ensure that the settings are as described earlier.

As for the router, if you want to go for a new one LinkSys or Netgear are good makes, depending on the functionality you have a large choice of models, so you best have a lok yourself, a good hardware site is www.overclock.co.uk, where price and service relation is good. You may want to check out the Belkin ones too as you have the adapters of that make already, so if you run into issues you can ring their support and they should be able to talk you through...

If you have ADSL you can use any router that says ADSL in the feature list, don't buy a cable DSL obviously.

The USB adapters are easiest option of connecting desktop PCs nd have the advantage that you can position these at the frontpanel of your PC if you have USB ports there rather than having it behind the PC where the slots are thereby having a worse signal position. There are wireless cards for PCI out there but they usually cost more than the USB and I personally keep my PC cabled up near the router anyway  and use WIFI onl for the laptop.

Hth

Thanks for the posts, i will try alot of this today and post back here a little bit later on tonight with what has happened.

Before i go, a little more info that may help you to think what it could be, before computer #2 stopped working, my daugter tripped over a few leads and the computer crashed and the wireless adapter broke (we replaced it with exactly the same one) but ever since no internet worked. Could winsock have been damaged, after hearing comments about it sounds like what is happening to me. Says im connected to the router, it finds the network fine, excellent signal but website cannot be displayed, or internet explorer error. Also when i try and see winsock in command nothing comes up. Yet on my laptop 'netsh winsock show catalog'  brings up loads of info.

And computer #1 was working fine before i reset the old router to factory defaults  (in order to try and fix computer #2) and since then im not sure if anyone has messed around with settings... so computer #1 could just be setting related but could it be possible computer #2 has problems with winsock/tcp ip?

Hi James

if you netsh winsock reset does this cure the connection. But from what you said in your last post we may have been on a happy marry goround...

The vital part is, if you reset to factory settings your router will reset all networking to the state when it left the factory, including your ISP settings, passwords etc. Hence my very first post to check connection status, assumed this was OK.

You need to first log on the the router and set all your ISP account credentials and verify that this is OK.
Check DHCP whilst you are at it, hold fire on the other suggestions until you can get your router connected.

Look at the bright side, if this is the solution to your problem all should burst back into life and you saved yourself a lot of hassle.

All the best

When i winsock reset it says cmd prompt no known bet on a friends computer that is working on internet and so on winsock can reset and show.. does this mean winsock may have problems on computer #2? it should show winsock catalog shouldn't it if all was ok with winsock?

I will start from scratch later i will redo all the router and make sure connection is ok on there, then i will make sure computer #2 has all the right settings and maybe try a winsock repair? and try get that computer back onto the net. If all goes well computer #1 will be next and i will try make sure all settings on there are ok, hopefully get it to recognize the router and connect to it as well.

Hi James

once you start with the router it wil be clearer what issue there is, don't bother with winsock repairs until you need to.

Hope it goes well

Ok just to save a little time, lets say i have setup the router correctly later everything is how it should be, but still neither computer connects to the internet. (copmuter #2 which is the one that crashed and ain't worked on the interner since) all settings are ok and it says connected to router with excellent signal if it comes to that point but internet explorer still says cannot display website, would it then be time to look at the winsock issue? Im trying to get as much info as i can before later because i really want this sorted by tonight i hope to...

Also how would resetting tcp/ip affect anything? is that something i should look at if it also got to this point.

Thanks for the help!

Hi James

before you get the heavy tools out try the router config, in all honesty I cannot think of any reason why the pulling of a cable would corrupt winsock or TCP/IP stack.

If it says connected to router with excellent signal, it will definitely not be either anyway, as then the broken link is your router to ISP, which the factory reset could be the reason for.

if you cannot connect the USB adapters or they do not appear in the network connections even after reinstall USB and drivers, then it may be worth looking at these.

Think of it in terms of, if you lose your car keys would you change the sparks to get going?

hth

Ok thanks i understand, im taking my laptop home with me later so if i use the laptop with cable to setup router again, and if the laptop seems to be ok on the internet then i can rule out router-ISP problems right? because i would have a connection on a working laptop so the problem would probably be with the 2 desktops somehow... thats if i got a connection while using the laptop.

Thanks !

spot on,
test the connection - OK
test the PCs for all hardware and drivers - OK
test connectivity between all components
identify and eliminate the problem, if any

should be fun, my bet is on the router config, but have been wrong before ;o)

all the best

Hi, ok so i brought a new router and its a belkin, set it up fine using cable lead on my laptop, all information is correct, unplugged cable from laptop now using laptop wirelessly so its fine. But the belkin adapter isn't working, its saying connected to router, very good signal, its given the desktop pc an ip address but surfing the net i see the internet globe at the bottom of IE but website cannot be dispayed.

The IP starts with 192 correct?

Now, does it find the gateway on IP config? In IE tools|options|connections| untick everything in the LAN menu (bottom right button).

Can you ping the router? If so try pinging a webpage...

I suppose the DHCP reregistered the IP for the USB adapter with the proper gateway and that worked.

Hope it stays that way and you have trouble-free browsing.

All the best