Wireles woes

[Emma]

I'm trying to connect my new work laptop to my home wireless network - it's exactly the same model as my previous one which connected fine and I haven't changed any of the wireless settings so this is really irritating me.

basically when i type the 26 digit WEP key and then try to connect it keeps failing to connect, then gives me the option of repairing, which again fails because it says it can't renew my IP addess.

Anyone got any ideas - it's pissing me off because I really need to get this working at home so I can skive off work and work from home next week.

[Emma]

cuntsticks - it's not even finding the wireless network now grrrr!

[Robbie]

You haven't got a setting on your router / modem etc that stops new PC / laptop connections by any chance?

I have my BT home hub set up so that additional PCs / laptops cannot connect to the wireless network unless I configure the router to allow it. It's an extra security measure.

That said, I've had problems in the past where I haven't been able to set up / even find the wireless network and I've had to give up, reset the router, add the laptop and then reconfigure the router to secure the wireless network.

[Floppet]

Emma - there's a bit in my wireless router where I can type in the MAC addresses of the only computers/game systems allowed to connect to the router - have a look for that and try inputting the MAC address of the laptop. There's also another part for putting in the IP addresses allowed range - have you configured the IP address on the new laptop and checked it's within the range? Also, has it got Norton Antivirus on the laptop - that's sometimes a bugger for allowing connections?

[Steve]

Try unplugging your wireless hub/router for a minute and try again.

[Emma]

Emma - there's a bit in my wireless router where I can type in the MAC addresses of the only computers/game systems allowed to connect to the router - have a look for that and try inputting the MAC address of the laptop. There's also another part for putting in the IP addresses allowed range - have you configured the IP address on the new laptop and checked it's within the range? Also, has it got Norton Antivirus on the laptop - that's sometimes a bugger for allowing connections?

ok, I'll try this - however my old one connected fine without doing any of this so that is why it's mystifying me

[PercyPig]

Macintosh?

[Emma]

no, if it was the mac it'd be working! it's my pc laptop

[PercyPig]

Boooo. What I think would work would be to set up Static I.P addresses instead of connecting automatically to the router using DHCP. No idea how to do it in Windows of course.

[Floppet]

I tried the static IP thing once when I tried to add my laptop to the network. It buggered things up royally. What about the firewall in the laptop Emma - have you checked whether it has one? It could also be that.

Where's technicalgod Widge when you need him?