pc won't connect any more with router

Hi. I have a PC that usually connects to my wireless router just fine,
but for the past few months it goes out for no apparent reason.
Usually restarting it would help, but now it doesn't. My Linksys
software on there, WLAN Monitor, says it can see the signal fine, so I
click on "connect" and it tries, then it stops, says "disconnected". I
went into TCP/IP properties and "find ip address automatically" is
checked. I tried changing it to my IP address but it didn't work.

Linksys' live chat is not working for some reason. When I try to
register for their forums for asking for help, I click on the
"register" link and it takes me back to the login page. I tried
phoning their 24/7 support, but they said I would need to pay $40 to
get their help.

More details:
I have three computers on this network. I did not set this network up,
I hired a guy to do it years ago (maybe as much as 6 years, not
sure). One computer is connected to the modem via ethernet cable
(wired, not wireless). It has windows xp. My laptop and this other pc
are connected wirelessly. The other PC, the one with the problem
connecting, has Windows 98. The laptop also has XP. Both the wired pc
with Xp and the laptop with XP are working fine and can connect to the
internet.

I will also say that they all three used to be able to connect to each
other and I could transfer files, but that hasn't worked for a while,
either. I was able to connect to the windows 98 pc with my laptop and
transfer files, at least, until the windows 98 pc stopped being able
to get online.

I am thinking it is problem some software thing and not the adapter or
router since it says it is seeing the signal just fine, but I really
don't know that much about these things.

And, no, I can't upgrade the computer with windows 98 and I do need it
to keep working.

Thanks for any help...I did email Linksys so we'll see if they will
ever answer...

Suzanne Lanoue
http://tvmegasite.net
(E-Mail Removed)

Suzanne wrote:
> Hi. I have a PC that usually connects to my wireless router just fine,
> but for the past few months it goes out for no apparent reason.
> Usually restarting it would help, but now it doesn't. My Linksys
> software on there, WLAN Monitor, says it can see the signal fine, so I
> click on "connect" and it tries, then it stops, says "disconnected". I
> went into TCP/IP properties and "find ip address automatically" is
> checked. I tried changing it to my IP address but it didn't work.
>
> Linksys' live chat is not working for some reason. When I try to
> register for their forums for asking for help, I click on the
> "register" link and it takes me back to the login page. I tried
> phoning their 24/7 support, but they said I would need to pay $40 to
> get their help.
>
> More details:
> I have three computers on this network. I did not set this network up,
> I hired a guy to do it years ago (maybe as much as 6 years, not
> sure). One computer is connected to the modem via ethernet cable
> (wired, not wireless). It has windows xp. My laptop and this other pc
> are connected wirelessly. The other PC, the one with the problem
> connecting, has Windows 98. The laptop also has XP. Both the wired pc
> with Xp and the laptop with XP are working fine and can connect to the
> internet.
>
> I will also say that they all three used to be able to connect to each
> other and I could transfer files, but that hasn't worked for a while,
> either. I was able to connect to the windows 98 pc with my laptop and
> transfer files, at least, until the windows 98 pc stopped being able
> to get online.
>
> I am thinking it is problem some software thing and not the adapter or
> router since it says it is seeing the signal just fine, but I really
> don't know that much about these things.
>
> And, no, I can't upgrade the computer with windows 98 and I do need it
> to keep working.
>
> Thanks for any help...I did email Linksys so we'll see if they will
> ever answer...
>
> Suzanne Lanoue
> http://tvmegasite.net
> (E-Mail Removed)

This could be a long shot for you, but I did have a mysterious problem
that appeared to have been caused by an update by my AVG Anti-Virus
software. I totally removed the AVG and installed AVAST Anti-Virus and
it works perfectly. For good measure I also removed my old SYGATE
Firewall and installed Zone Alarm.

I my case I could only connect the wireless in an open non-secured mode.
As soon as I enabled the security WPA I could no longer connect. So,
if you happen to use AVG or SYGATE, temporarily disable them and try again.

On Sun, 16 Nov 2008 09:28:00 -0800, Jeff Liebermann <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

[snip]
>With all due respect, methinks you're out of your depth here. If you
>want to do it yourself, it might be easier to spend $60 on a new
>wireless router and start over. You'll still have to update the
>firmware, but at least you won't be fighting old bugs. The Windoze 98
>machine is going to be a problem no matter what you do (due to WEP).
>With the number of computahs involved, it might also be best to hire
>someone to set it up for you. However, this time, pay attention,
>record the settings, make a backup of the router configuration, and
>understand what's happening. I would say you were fairly lucky to
>have things work fairly reliably for 6 years without updates, fixes,
>tweaks, reloads, and all the horrors of modern computing.

I had a friend with a similar situation, where she had a Win98 system
in the mix but wanted to run a flavor of WPA rather than WEP. I gave
her a WRT54GL with dd-wrt set to Client Bridge mode. Problem solved.
The WRT54GL was connected via Ethernet cable to the Win98 PC, and
connected wirelessly to her existing router running WPA2. Of course,
all of the advice about recording settings, saving configs, and
generally understanding what's going on always applies.