Win98 can't find DNS?

I'm new at laptops and wireless networking.

I took my just-acquired laptop with Win98 and WaveBuddy wi-fi card to a
free Internet hot spot.

The program that monitors the card showed adequate signal strength and
signal quality.

But when I asked an e-mail program to access pop3.myrealbox.com, or a
telnet program to access unix5.netaxs.com , they protested they couldn't
find a DNS server.

What can be done?

Thanks a lot.


--
Sheldon Isaac
lose all .control when replying

Shel <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> I took my just-acquired laptop with Win98 and WaveBuddy wi-fi card to a
> free Internet hot spot.
....
> But when I asked an e-mail program to access pop3.myrealbox.com, or a
> telnet program to access unix5.netaxs.com , they protested they couldn't
> find a DNS server.

A lot of hotspots, even the free ones, want you to register first.
This is typically done by rerouting whatever web browser page you try to
open to a page on their server. Open a web browser to your normal home
page, and it will open their registration page. After you register, DNS
works, and you can surf and telnet.

Pop3 probably will work for email retrieval after that, but you might not
be able to send, as some of them reroute SMTP, some block SMTP, some pay no
attention.

--
---
Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8-122.5

On Thu, 16 Sep 2004 13:09:17 GMT, Shel
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>I'm new at laptops and wireless networking.
>
>I took my just-acquired laptop with Win98 and WaveBuddy wi-fi card to a
>free Internet hot spot.
>
>The program that monitors the card showed adequate signal strength and
>signal quality.
>
>But when I asked an e-mail program to access pop3.myrealbox.com, or a
>telnet program to access unix5.netaxs.com , they protested they couldn't
>find a DNS server.

Well, it might be intentional. Some free hot spots want you to
register first to keep the spammers off their system. Another problem
is that some free hotspot owners limit the number of users by
restricting the number of IP's available via DHCP. This isn't a great
way to do that, and causes quite a bit of head scratching.

However, if it's not a registration or creative configuration issue,
you might not be getting an IP address delivered via DHCP from the hot
spot router.
For Windoze 98, open a DOS window with:
Run -> command
and run:
ipconfig
or just run:
winipcfg

You should have an IP address something like 192.168.xxx.xxx on the
wireless card interface. If you get 169.254.xxx.xxx, DHCP is not
working correctly. This sometimes happens if you leave your computer
in "suspend" or "hibernate" mode, which has a previous wireless IP
address saved, and for which Windoze sees no good reason to ask for a
new one. You can kick start a DHCP request with:
ipconfig /release_all
Wait about 10-15 seconds. Then run:
ipconfig /renew_all
It should show 192.168.xxx.xxx for the IP address. If so, you should
be able to surf. Also, try a reboot.

To check if you have a DNS server assigned, run:
ipconfig /all | more

If that doesn't work, then your laptop may be set to require WEP/WPA
encryption, while the free hot spot router wants no encryption.


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

Of course, there are some other address ranges you might expect to get: (RFC
1918)

10.0.0.0 - 10.255.255.255 (10/8 prefix)
172.16.0.0 - 172.31.255.255 (172.16/12 prefix)

192.168.0.0 - 192.168.255.255 (192.168/16 prefix)

I only point this out because not all hotspots would use 192.168.x.x (and I
agree this is a little nitpicky but might save the OP some confusion since
they seem somewhat novice).

HTH





"Jeff Liebermann" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Thu, 16 Sep 2004 13:09:17 GMT, Shel
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
> >I'm new at laptops and wireless networking.
> >
> >I took my just-acquired laptop with Win98 and WaveBuddy wi-fi card to a
> >free Internet hot spot.
> >
> >The program that monitors the card showed adequate signal strength and
> >signal quality.
> >
> >But when I asked an e-mail program to access pop3.myrealbox.com, or a
> >telnet program to access unix5.netaxs.com , they protested they couldn't
> >find a DNS server.
>
> Well, it might be intentional. Some free hot spots want you to
> register first to keep the spammers off their system. Another problem
> is that some free hotspot owners limit the number of users by
> restricting the number of IP's available via DHCP. This isn't a great
> way to do that, and causes quite a bit of head scratching.
>
> However, if it's not a registration or creative configuration issue,
> you might not be getting an IP address delivered via DHCP from the hot
> spot router.
> For Windoze 98, open a DOS window with:
> Run -> command
> and run:
> ipconfig
> or just run:
> winipcfg
>
> You should have an IP address something like 192.168.xxx.xxx on the
> wireless card interface. If you get 169.254.xxx.xxx, DHCP is not
> working correctly. This sometimes happens if you leave your computer
> in "suspend" or "hibernate" mode, which has a previous wireless IP
> address saved, and for which Windoze sees no good reason to ask for a
> new one. You can kick start a DHCP request with:
> ipconfig /release_all
> Wait about 10-15 seconds. Then run:
> ipconfig /renew_all
> It should show 192.168.xxx.xxx for the IP address. If so, you should
> be able to surf. Also, try a reboot.
>
> To check if you have a DNS server assigned, run:
> ipconfig /all | more
>
> If that doesn't work, then your laptop may be set to require WEP/WPA
> encryption, while the free hot spot router wants no encryption.
>
>
> --
> Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
> 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
> Santa Cruz CA 95060 AE6KS 831-336-2558

My reply at bottom.

> "Jeff Liebermann" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>> However, if it's not a registration or creative configuration issue,
>> you might not be getting an IP address delivered via DHCP from the
>> hot spot router.

>> For Windoze 98, open a DOS window with:
>> Run -> command
>> and run:
>> ipconfig
>> or just run:
>> winipcfg

>> You should have an IP address something like 192.168.xxx.xxx on the
>> wireless card interface. If you get 169.254.xxx.xxx, DHCP is not
>> working correctly. This sometimes happens if you leave your computer
>> in "suspend" or "hibernate" mode, which has a previous wireless IP
>> address saved, and for which Windoze sees no good reason to ask for a
>> new one. You can kick start a DHCP request with:
>> ipconfig /release_all
>> Wait about 10-15 seconds. Then run:
>> ipconfig /renew_all
>> It should show 192.168.xxx.xxx for the IP address. If so, you should
>> be able to surf. Also, try a reboot.
>>
>> To check if you have a DNS server assigned, run:
>> ipconfig /all | more
>>
>> If that doesn't work, then your laptop may be set to require WEP/WPA
>> encryption, while the free hot spot router wants no encryption.

"Kerry Liles" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> Of course, there are some other address ranges you might expect to
> get: (RFC 1918)
>
> 10.0.0.0 - 10.255.255.255 (10/8 prefix)
> 172.16.0.0 - 172.31.255.255 (172.16/12 prefix)
>
> 192.168.0.0 - 192.168.255.255 (192.168/16 prefix)
>
> I only point this out because not all hotspots would use 192.168.x.x
> (and I agree this is a little nitpicky but might save the OP some
> confusion since they seem somewhat novice).

Indeed I am a novice.

Thanks to you both for your advice. I will try those as soon as I get back
to that hot spot.

I don't remember what if any IP address the hotspot assigned me - didn't
think to use winipcfg.

The hardware etc seem basically to work - I had previously tried it at
home, and out of the box it seemed to pick up (a neighbor's?) network, and
I could email and browse with no problem.

I guess I should try to find out who it is, and whether he wants me not to
use it, or ???

--
Sheldon Isaac
lose all .control when replying

"Shel" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:Xns95675B29C3659sisaacATnetaxsDOTcom@207.106. 93.5...
>
> Indeed I am a novice.
>
> Thanks to you both for your advice. I will try those as soon as I get back
> to that hot spot.
>
> I don't remember what if any IP address the hotspot assigned me - didn't
> think to use winipcfg.
>
> The hardware etc seem basically to work - I had previously tried it at
> home, and out of the box it seemed to pick up (a neighbor's?) network, and
> I could email and browse with no problem.
>
> I guess I should try to find out who it is, and whether he wants me not to
> use it, or ???
>
> --
> Sheldon Isaac
> lose all .control when replying

Apologies if I used the term "novice" in a nasty way - that was not my
intent...
Win9x does not make it all that easy to troubleshoot or even examine network
issues. Good luck.

On Fri, 17 Sep 2004 09:06:54 -0400, "Kerry Liles" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>Win9x does not make it all that easy to troubleshoot or even examine network
>issues. Good luck.

It's not that horrible if you don't mind DOS command line
incantations. Some of the MS supplied tools for W9x are:
ipconfig
winipcfg
net (lots of options)
netstat (lots of options)
arp
ping
tracert
route
nbtstat
nslookup (W2K and XP only)
netsh (W2K and XP only)

However, most of the above depend upon first obtaining an IP address.
Lower level troubleshooting of wireless adapters depends largely on
vendor supplied utilities. These vary in quality from missing in
action to complex SNMP based management suites.


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