Linksys, NO HELP!

I've spent 3 or 4 hours on the phone with Linksys support (two different
techs.) trying to get my wireless network up & running, all to no avail!
Half that time was spent asking them to repeat themselves because of their
heavy accents.

Here's my problem: I'm using a WRT54G router hardwired to my main computer
(Windows XP) and a WPC54G notebook adapter in my laptop (Windows Me)! The
installation of the router went very smoothly, it automatically detected my
settings and I'm able to get on-line without a problem. The notebook
adapter installation went well too, but I can't get the network to work!
When I open the configuration utility on my laptop, it tells me that I'm
connected to the Access Point, but it can't find the Internet, and there's
'zero' signal between my two computers.

I've tried everything I can think of trying, and the little help that I got
from from Linksys just had me going around in circles with things that I've
already tried. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!
Ray

Lunaray wrote:
> I've spent 3 or 4 hours on the phone with Linksys support (two different
> techs.) trying to get my wireless network up & running, all to no avail!
> Half that time was spent asking them to repeat themselves because of their
> heavy accents.
>
> Here's my problem: I'm using a WRT54G router hardwired to my main computer
> (Windows XP) and a WPC54G notebook adapter in my laptop (Windows Me)! The
> installation of the router went very smoothly, it automatically detected my
> settings and I'm able to get on-line without a problem. The notebook
> adapter installation went well too, but I can't get the network to work!
> When I open the configuration utility on my laptop, it tells me that I'm
> connected to the Access Point, but it can't find the Internet, and there's
> 'zero' signal between my two computers.
>
> I've tried everything I can think of trying, and the little help that I got
> from from Linksys just had me going around in circles with things that I've
> already tried. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
>
> Thanks!
> Ray
>
>

Join the club, I got one problem sorted and then created another. I
uninstalled the software on the laptop and now I can't reinstall it
because it says a previous installation is incomplete. I beginning to
regret going the Linksys way. It all sounds good, but when you can't
even get an open unencrypted connection, what's the point of the rest ?

Not had a lot of help here either.

--
Keith (Southend)

'Weather Home & Abroad'
http://www.southendweather.net

> When I open the configuration utility on my laptop, it tells me that I'm
> connected to the Access Point, but it can't find the Internet, and there's
> 'zero' signal between my two computers.

What's the IP address that has been assigned (or not assigned), run
IPCONFIG from the command line and report back.

David.

> uninstalled the software on the laptop and now I can't reinstall it
> because it says a previous installation is incomplete. I beginning to
> regret going the Linksys way. It all sounds good, but when you can't

These are always fun to trace, either a file is still present, or a
registry key either has or hasn't been set that is going to present the
install. Tell you what, here's an offer, zip up the contents of the CD
and mail it to me, I'll try to install (I don't have a Linksys card so
expect the install to fail) but I'll see if I can find the dopey bit of
install that's hanging around.

> Not had a lot of help here either.

Unlike Linksys, people here aren't paid to provide support.

David.

On Sun, 24 Jul 2005 06:23:51 -0700, "Lunaray" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>I've spent 3 or 4 hours on the phone with Linksys support (two different
>techs.) trying to get my wireless network up & running, all to no avail!
>Half that time was spent asking them to repeat themselves because of their
>heavy accents.

I've often thought of hiring a translator.

>Here's my problem: I'm using a WRT54G router hardwired to my main computer
>(Windows XP) and a WPC54G notebook adapter in my laptop (Windows Me)! The
>installation of the router went very smoothly, it automatically detected my
>settings and I'm able to get on-line without a problem.

OK, router section is working.

>The notebook
>adapter installation went well too, but I can't get the network to work!

Fine. You need to determine which Linksys device is the problem.
Drag your laptop and WPC54G to another access point, coffee shop hot
spot, or just scan for the neighbors wireless access points. If the
laptop alone doesn't work, the problem is either the WPC54G or the
WinME installation.

Same test with the access point. Bribe a friend into bringing their
known working laptop and see if they can connect to your WRT54G. In
other words, divide and conquer.

>When I open the configuration utility on my laptop, it tells me that I'm
>connected to the Access Point, but it can't find the Internet, and there's
>'zero' signal between my two computers.

Most wireless drivers will stupidly claim zero signal strength if the
WEP/WPA key exchange fails. Try it without any encryption. Duz it
work with no encryption?

>I've tried everything I can think of trying, and the little help that I got
>from from Linksys just had me going around in circles with things that I've
>already tried. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

"When all else has been eliminated, that which remains, no matter how
improbable, is the culprit". (paraphrased Sherlock Holmes).


--
Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 AE6KS 831-336-2558

Lunaray wrote:

> I've spent 3 or 4 hours on the phone with Linksys support (two different
> techs.) trying to get my wireless network up & running, all to no avail!
> Half that time was spent asking them to repeat themselves because of their
> heavy accents.
>
> Here's my problem: I'm using a WRT54G router hardwired to my main
> computer
> (Windows XP) and a WPC54G notebook adapter in my laptop (Windows Me)! The
> installation of the router went very smoothly, it automatically detected
> my
> settings and I'm able to get on-line without a problem. The notebook
> adapter installation went well too, but I can't get the network to work!
> When I open the configuration utility on my laptop, it tells me that I'm
> connected to the Access Point, but it can't find the Internet, and there's
> 'zero' signal between my two computers.

What IP does the laptop have when you enter IPConfig /all at the DOS Command
Prompt?

If the IP starts with 169, then the O/S is timing out and cannot get an IP
from the router's DHCP server and the machine cannot access the Internet
with that IP, since it's not using an IP from the router. This is due to
some mis-configuration between the router and/or the wireless card. The 169
IP will allow the two machines to network.

Secondly, trying to get the XP and ME O/S to share resources is a PITA. You
should try and match what the NIC protocol and services are on XP and dump
Netbeui off of ME.

I also found ME and wireless is a PITA too and the O/S had constant crashes
due to the wireless. I dumped ME for Win 2K Pro and now XP Pro on the
laptop and it's been stable.

Duane

On Sun, 24 Jul 2005 17:36:04 GMT, Duane Arnold <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>I also found ME and wireless is a PITA too and the O/S had constant crashes
>due to the wireless. I dumped ME for Win 2K Pro and now XP Pro on the
>laptop and it's been stable.
>Duane

I beg to differ somewhat. I have WinME on 2 of my laptops and my
office desktop. I also deal with it on many customers systems. There
are some stability problems with WinME but they can be worked around.
The biggest headache is system restore. That doesn't work on ME, hogs
huge amounts of CPU time, and should be disabled. There are also a
bunch of junk daemons that runs by default that should be disabled. I
can keep my Windoze ME desktop up for about a day or two with one
exception. If I run Adobe Acrobat 6.0.3 in a browser window, ME will
crash within about 10 minutes, unless I first kill the ACRO32(?)
daemon. There are a few other programs with memory leaks that will
kill WinME.

However, I do agree that W2K and XP are more stable than ME. I can
keep these up for many days without any problems (unless I'm doing my
usual learn by destroying exercises).

What *REALLY* pisses me off is that there is no in place upgrade path
from WinME to W2K. I tried that recently and discovered that since
WinME came out after W2K, Microsoft never bothered to write and test
and upgrade script. Grrrrr....



--
Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 AE6KS 831-336-2558

Thanks for the suggestions Jeff! I started out with the encryption
disabled, but I was told by one of the Linksys techs that in order for
things to work, I would at least need to use WEP, but this didn't help!

As for finding a friend with a wireless network, I have no geeky computer
friends, my friends/family can barely spell 'computer'! Plus, I live in a
very isolated small town on the Oregon coast where wireless networks are
probably rare, I'm surprised that they have DSL here! (only been here 3
months)!

By the way, I have a friend (retired school teacher) who lives in Ben
Lomand! I also see that you must have something to do with
radio/cell-phones? I was a radio tech with the US Forest Service until I
retired, and your photos of repeater sites brought back some memories!

Apoligies guys and gals.

I've spent most of the weekend on this and it was getting to me :-)

I have now got both Notebooks wireless connected off the Linksys AP.
Although as yet The encription is fine for the rest of the street <g>.
Bust I have it running and a benchmark that I can build up from.

Basically, it appears to have been a conflict of IP addresses. Any given
Notebook appears to require a different (interface IP address) for both
LAN and Wireless.

I've had a bottle of red wine now and all seems a lot better :-)

Thanks.

And yes I know no one has to offer help or support on here and any is
for free, thankyou and sorry for my firing from the hip.

--
Keith (Southend)

'Weather Home & Abroad'
http://www.southendweather.net

On Sun, 24 Jul 2005 14:23:16 -0700, "Lunaray" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>Thanks for the suggestions Jeff! I started out with the encryption
>disabled, but I was told by one of the Linksys techs that in order for
>things to work, I would at least need to use WEP, but this didn't help!

Wrong. Wireless will function just fine with encryption disabled.
All coffee shop hot spots run this way, with encryption off. See if
it works without encryption.

What support probably meant was that it's not a great idea to run your
home wireless network with encryption off. Too many evil people, like
me, wander around with sniffers looking for open wireless networks to
exploit.

>As for finding a friend with a wireless network, I have no geeky computer
>friends, my friends/family can barely spell 'computer'! Plus, I live in a
>very isolated small town on the Oregon coast where wireless networks are
>probably rare, I'm surprised that they have DSL here! (only been here 3
>months)!

Install Netstumbler 0.4.0 on your XP laptop. Drive around sniffing
for wireless access points. They're everywhere. If Netstumbler finds
some, your laptop is working. If you had disclosed the name of your
town, I could have looked up on one of many wireless hotspot
directories for any open or for pay hot spots. Worst case is find an
excuse to go to the nearest big city, where you're sure to find
wireless hot spots.

Another trick is to find a suitable geek in the big city and bring
them both the router and the laptop. Since you already have the DSL
part of the puzzle working, just memorize or print the first page of
the router setup:
http://192.168.1.1
Then, drag both to the nearest computer store and have them do the
wireless part of the setup. If you can see the web based setup page
at the above URL via wireless, you're done. However, make sure that
you have encryption running before you bring it home.

>By the way, I have a friend (retired school teacher) who lives in Ben
>Lomand!

Small world. It's Ben Lomond. I don't know everyone in town, but
retired skool teacher sounds like about 5 people I know.

>I also see that you must have something to do with
>radio/cell-phones? I was a radio tech with the US Forest Service until I
>retired, and your photos of repeater sites brought back some memories!

Argh. Those old photos are nightmares from a previous company I
worked for and later owned. For entertainment, I cleaned house last
weekend and made a large pile of heavy metal radios (Motrac, Motran,
Micor, Mitrec, GE Exec, GE Mastr, and other oddities. I figure about
150 lbs worth plus cables and heads. Nobody seems to want them so
they go to the scrap metal recyclers (after I yank the reeds and
channel elements). Bummer.

I am somewhat involved in the cell phone industry, but I'd rather not
discuss my involvement as I've signed too many NDA's.

Incidentally, we did some contract work for the USFS in the Big Bear
and Lake Arrowhead area in the 1960's. Nothing like a 15 mile 4x4
drive through the snow for half the day, replace one tube, and drive
back. Most of the site had doors in the roof for when the snow got
too deep. I have a photo of what's left of a Cushman CE-3 after I
dropped it through the roof from about 15ft up. Also a nifty photo of
what was left of the comm building under a big TV tower when the
de-icer didn't kick in on time and ice blocks the size of desks
started falling when someone finally turned it on. Ah, nostalgia.



--
Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 AE6KS 831-336-2558