802.11b wireless erratic connection question

Hi!

I have a linksys wireless 802.11b router w/ 4 ports. I have one PC
running XP Home Edition connected to the router with a LAN cable and
two other computers (one laptop and one PC) connected to the router
via wireless cards (laptop - IBM R31 has a built in card and PC has a
DLink wireless card). Both wireless computers are running XP Pro. I
have not created a network. I only use the router to provide internet
access to all three computers.

Problem: All computers work and get a internet connection. However,
every now and then, the computers that are connecting wirelessly stop
working. Basically, when the computer is turned on the wireless
software (IBM Access Connections on the laptop for example) show a
signal and a assigned IP address. However, IE, Windows Messenger and
Outlook do not find a connection and I cannot ping the router. In
order to get the connection going again I either have to perform a
System Restore to an earlier point or I have to turn off my computer
and wait a couple minutes before restarting....

Anyone share this experience or know of a solution - would greatly
appreciate it!

Thanks!

Make sure that you aren't using both Windows and the software that came
with the card to connect - using both results in erratic things!

You can turn of Windows wireless support by getting the properties for
the wireless connection (from Network Connections) and unticking the box
labelled "Use Windows to configure my wireless network settings". Or
you could remove the IBM software and just use Windows for configuring
the card.

Also, the IP address you are seeing might be one generated internally by
windows, and this can happen for a number of reasons - usually because
windows hasn't been able to find a real connection so it tries to make
its own network. Kind of a pain.

Try opening a Command Prompt window
and typing IPCONFIG - you will see what IP addresses your machine is
using. If you see an IP address in the range 169.254.0.1-254 then
windows is assigning the address, which you don't want. Try typing
IPCONFIG /RENEW to try and get a new IP address. The correct IP address
from a Linksys router will start with 192. If you keep getting the
169.. addresses then a connection *isn't* really being made between your
card and the router. Check the following:
SSID is set the same on your router and client machines
DHCP is enabled on the router
Network config on client machines is trying to get IP address
automatically (ie use DHCP).

If none of this works, reset the router and remove all the settings from
the client machines, then work through the instructions that came with
the router again. I have found that often fixes the problems...

Hope this helps,

DunxD



(E-Mail Removed) (E. Cohen) wrote in
news:(E-Mail Removed) om:

> Hi!
>
> I have a linksys wireless 802.11b router w/ 4 ports. I have one PC
> running XP Home Edition connected to the router with a LAN cable and
> two other computers (one laptop and one PC) connected to the router
> via wireless cards (laptop - IBM R31 has a built in card and PC has a
> DLink wireless card). Both wireless computers are running XP Pro. I
> have not created a network. I only use the router to provide internet
> access to all three computers.
>
> Problem: All computers work and get a internet connection. However,
> every now and then, the computers that are connecting wirelessly stop
> working. Basically, when the computer is turned on the wireless
> software (IBM Access Connections on the laptop for example) show a
> signal and a assigned IP address. However, IE, Windows Messenger and
> Outlook do not find a connection and I cannot ping the router. In
> order to get the connection going again I either have to perform a
> System Restore to an earlier point or I have to turn off my computer
> and wait a couple minutes before restarting....
>
> Anyone share this experience or know of a solution - would greatly
> appreciate it!
>
> Thanks!
>

Thank you!! The laptop is not configured to have XP control the
wireless connection. However IBM includes two pieces of software for
the internal wireless card - ActionTec Prism Wireless Lan and also IBM
Access Connections. Maybe that has something to do with it... I will
have to check my friends PC to see if he has XP configured to control
the wireless connection. I will also try out the other things your
mentioned....

Thank you!!

Eli

DunxD <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:<Xns93E2698D1CECBooblyooblyooh@130.133.1.4>.. .
> Make sure that you aren't using both Windows and the software that came
> with the card to connect - using both results in erratic things!
>
> You can turn of Windows wireless support by getting the properties for
> the wireless connection (from Network Connections) and unticking the box
> labelled "Use Windows to configure my wireless network settings". Or
> you could remove the IBM software and just use Windows for configuring
> the card.
>
> Also, the IP address you are seeing might be one generated internally by
> windows, and this can happen for a number of reasons - usually because
> windows hasn't been able to find a real connection so it tries to make
> its own network. Kind of a pain.
>
> Try opening a Command Prompt window
> and typing IPCONFIG - you will see what IP addresses your machine is
> using. If you see an IP address in the range 169.254.0.1-254 then
> windows is assigning the address, which you don't want. Try typing
> IPCONFIG /RENEW to try and get a new IP address. The correct IP address
> from a Linksys router will start with 192. If you keep getting the
> 169.. addresses then a connection *isn't* really being made between your
> card and the router. Check the following:
> SSID is set the same on your router and client machines
> DHCP is enabled on the router
> Network config on client machines is trying to get IP address
> automatically (ie use DHCP).
>
> If none of this works, reset the router and remove all the settings from
> the client machines, then work through the instructions that came with
> the router again. I have found that often fixes the problems...
>
> Hope this helps,
>
> DunxD
>
>
>
> (E-Mail Removed) (E. Cohen) wrote in
> news:(E-Mail Removed) om:
>
> > Hi!
> >
> > I have a linksys wireless 802.11b router w/ 4 ports. I have one PC
> > running XP Home Edition connected to the router with a LAN cable and
> > two other computers (one laptop and one PC) connected to the router
> > via wireless cards (laptop - IBM R31 has a built in card and PC has a
> > DLink wireless card). Both wireless computers are running XP Pro. I
> > have not created a network. I only use the router to provide internet
> > access to all three computers.
> >
> > Problem: All computers work and get a internet connection. However,
> > every now and then, the computers that are connecting wirelessly stop
> > working. Basically, when the computer is turned on the wireless
> > software (IBM Access Connections on the laptop for example) show a
> > signal and a assigned IP address. However, IE, Windows Messenger and
> > Outlook do not find a connection and I cannot ping the router. In
> > order to get the connection going again I either have to perform a
> > System Restore to an earlier point or I have to turn off my computer
> > and wait a couple minutes before restarting....
> >
> > Anyone share this experience or know of a solution - would greatly
> > appreciate it!
> >
> > Thanks!
> >

You might also check to see if XP has properly detected your card. On my
machine it kept seeing my card as Linksys one - it isn't. I reinstalled
the drivers, and suddenly the software that was shipped with the card
started working!

Dunx

How did you "reinstall drivers?" On mine, you simply remove the item in
system manager, then on re-boot XP recognizes it and reloads the drivers
automatically. Are there drivers on the Toshiba support CD that should be
used with this? Maybe I haven't configured mine correctly. My 802.11b
board still doesn't recognize the router no matter how I reconfigure.

Thanks!
BioBabe
"DunxD" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:Xns93EB979EE8F0Cooblyooblyooh@130.133.1.4...
> You might also check to see if XP has properly detected your card. On my
> machine it kept seeing my card as Linksys one - it isn't. I reinstalled
> the drivers, and suddenly the software that was shipped with the card
> started working!
>
> Dunx