Can't connect to friends wireless router

I'm trying to connect to my friend's wireless router (Linksys WRT54G).
I have a SIS 162-based USB 802.11b wireless adapter, connected to my
PC via approx. 3m USB extension cable.

If I use XP's 'Wireless Network Connection', it shows me two
'Unsecured wireless networks'. One is my upstairs neighbours, which
shows 4 out of 5 for signal strength and Automatic and a yellow star
and the other is my friend's which shows the same, except it shows 5
out of 5 for signal strength.

However, when I try to connect to my friend's Router, XP just says
'Please wait while Windows connects to the 'XXX' network. Waiting for
the network...' and eventually gives up. My Wireless adapter settings
are set to obtain an IP address automatically, and the router is set
to DHCP.

The USB adapter comes with it's own software. Under the 'Site Scan'
tab, it identifies 3 wireless networks, the two that XP finds, and a
further one that is using WEP encryption. Although XP showed high
signal strength for the two networks it identified, this utility shows
both my neighbours and my friends signal strength around 28-30%.

Under the 'Statistics' Tab of this utility, it shows that the majority
of Tx was OK, but ALL Rx failed.

When I use this utility to try to connect to my friend's router, it
rotates throught the following messages in a loop: 'Disconnect' 'BSS
open authentication timeout' & 'BSS start timeout'.

If anyone could help me get this working, or explain why it won't
work, I'd be very grateful.



DJ

Have you entered the MAC address that can be found on the SIS wireless
adaptor into the list in the routers setup? It won't talk to it unless you
do that unless you set it to adhoc mode. (not advisable)


"DJ" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> I'm trying to connect to my friend's wireless router (Linksys WRT54G).
> I have a SIS 162-based USB 802.11b wireless adapter, connected to my
> PC via approx. 3m USB extension cable.
>
> If I use XP's 'Wireless Network Connection', it shows me two
> 'Unsecured wireless networks'. One is my upstairs neighbours, which
> shows 4 out of 5 for signal strength and Automatic and a yellow star
> and the other is my friend's which shows the same, except it shows 5
> out of 5 for signal strength.
>
> However, when I try to connect to my friend's Router, XP just says
> 'Please wait while Windows connects to the 'XXX' network. Waiting for
> the network...' and eventually gives up. My Wireless adapter settings
> are set to obtain an IP address automatically, and the router is set
> to DHCP.
>
> The USB adapter comes with it's own software. Under the 'Site Scan'
> tab, it identifies 3 wireless networks, the two that XP finds, and a
> further one that is using WEP encryption. Although XP showed high
> signal strength for the two networks it identified, this utility shows
> both my neighbours and my friends signal strength around 28-30%.
>
> Under the 'Statistics' Tab of this utility, it shows that the majority
> of Tx was OK, but ALL Rx failed.
>
> When I use this utility to try to connect to my friend's router, it
> rotates throught the following messages in a loop: 'Disconnect' 'BSS
> open authentication timeout' & 'BSS start timeout'.
>
> If anyone could help me get this working, or explain why it won't
> work, I'd be very grateful.
>

DJ <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> However, when I try to connect to my friend's Router, XP just says
> 'Please wait while Windows connects to the 'XXX' network. Waiting for
> the network...' and eventually gives up. My Wireless adapter settings
> are set to obtain an IP address automatically, and the router is set
> to DHCP.

Does friend's router have MAC filtering enabled?

DJ <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in news:g5k561hgu0p29219mlcffa4ba4s6685l7l@
4ax.com:

> I'm trying to connect to my friend's wireless router (Linksys WRT54G).
> I have a SIS 162-based USB 802.11b wireless adapter, connected to my
> PC via approx. 3m USB extension cable.
>
> If I use XP's 'Wireless Network Connection', it shows me two
> 'Unsecured wireless networks'. One is my upstairs neighbours, which
> shows 4 out of 5 for signal strength and Automatic and a yellow star
> and the other is my friend's which shows the same, except it shows 5
> out of 5 for signal strength.
>
> However, when I try to connect to my friend's Router, XP just says
> 'Please wait while Windows connects to the 'XXX' network. Waiting for
> the network...' and eventually gives up. My Wireless adapter settings
> are set to obtain an IP address automatically, and the router is set
> to DHCP.
>
> The USB adapter comes with it's own software. Under the 'Site Scan'
> tab, it identifies 3 wireless networks, the two that XP finds, and a
> further one that is using WEP encryption. Although XP showed high
> signal strength for the two networks it identified, this utility shows
> both my neighbours and my friends signal strength around 28-30%.
>
> Under the 'Statistics' Tab of this utility, it shows that the majority
> of Tx was OK, but ALL Rx failed.
>
> When I use this utility to try to connect to my friend's router, it
> rotates throught the following messages in a loop: 'Disconnect' 'BSS
> open authentication timeout' & 'BSS start timeout'.
>
> If anyone could help me get this working, or explain why it won't
> work, I'd be very grateful.
>

First, I would disable the secondary software that is controlling the
wireless card. This almost always causes conflicts with the Windows
Wireless Zero service.

Second, have you installed Service Pack 2 for your XP? If not, I would
do this.

Third, make sure that no filtering or security is enabled on the router.
Also, make sure that the router is set to DHCP mode.

If you still can't connect, try restarting the router and the computer
at this point.

If you still can't connect, right click on My Computer, click Manage. Go
to Services and Applications. Click Services. Scroll down to Wireless
Zero Configuration and ensure that this service is started.

After this, there should be almost no reason left why you can't connect.
Let me know if there is still an issue.

Ryan

On Tue, 19 Apr 2005 12:05:26 GMT, The Chairman <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>First, I would disable the secondary software that is controlling the
>wireless card. This almost always causes conflicts with the Windows
>Wireless Zero service.

Makes sense. I did find the software that came with the USB adapter to
be a bit more helpful than XP, because it actually showed the signal
strength as a percentage, and gave status messages such as 'BSS
timeout'. Then again, when I upgraded it to the latest version, it
said it was running with 'Japanese' settings, and the setting to
change this, which was available with the original drivers, had
disappeared.

>Second, have you installed Service Pack 2 for your XP? If not, I would
>do this.

Yep, SP2 and all subsequent patches applied.

>Third, make sure that no filtering or security is enabled on the router.
>Also, make sure that the router is set to DHCP mode.
>
>If you still can't connect, try restarting the router and the computer
>at this point.
>
>If you still can't connect, right click on My Computer, click Manage. Go
>to Services and Applications. Click Services. Scroll down to Wireless
>Zero Configuration and ensure that this service is started.
>
>After this, there should be almost no reason left why you can't connect.
>Let me know if there is still an issue.

I'll check these out. The router does have a 'Firewall Enabled'
option. Do you know what this actually does, and whether it should be
enabled or not. We're all running firewalls on our PC's anyway.

DJ <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in news:coea61h4b2sb4eo2lp30tintcsorpabhjo@
4ax.com:

>
> I'll check these out. The router does have a 'Firewall Enabled'
> option. Do you know what this actually does, and whether it should be
> enabled or not. We're all running firewalls on our PC's anyway.

Ah, I forgot to mention. Usually the XP Firewall is superfluous when you
are behind a NAT router (which the WRT54G is). Also, the 3rd party ones
(ZoneAlarm, Norton, McAfee) could also be the cause of the problem. Try
disabling all firewalls on the PC having problems connecting as well. Leave
the one on on the router.