Wireless - Look here! File & Printer Sharing too

angel_delight

Hi there

Been a lurker on this fab site for a good year now but thought it's about time I posted,lol.

Was wondering if any of you techies could offer some advice/opinions please?

Purchased a wireless laptop for my teenage daughter for Christmas to use in her bedroom- mainly for homework but also to use the internet. Means her hogging my desktop pc less which situates downstairs. Promised her a while back i'd try and sort the wireless connection asap but due to money issues/stupid mistakes it's taking longer than I thought.

My desktop is a few yrs old now and doesn't come with wireless capability which I didn't realise straight away. I thought at first i'd just need a new wireless router so after looking on Amazon I picked the one that seemed to be popular/have the best reviews- the Netgear DG834G. Wasn't until I connected it all up I realised the missing element (doh). After hearing not so good things about these dongle things I thought it best to get a wireless card to go in my pc. It never even occured to me there were two different sorts- ones for laptops and ones for desktops until i'd bought the former also highly recommended on Amazon- that is until the o.h looked at it and realised. He'd been busy/always too reluctant to get involved up until then and silly me thought I'll just try to get on with seeing if I can do all this myself.

Afterwards he showed me what sort I needed to get.
Tried to see if there was a compatible netgear one as the wireless router (802.11 + 54mpbs) thinking if I didn't get the same make it might cause "issues" when all connected up. The o.h assured me it wouldn't matter (hope he's right?). However the netgear one and several other more known branded ones appear to be a bit rubbish (again according to the Amazon reviews). The only two that sounded okay were cheapy ones whose makes i'd never heard of before. Most who purchased them seemed pleased anyway.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/KINGNET-KN-W510P-802-11g-802-11b-Wireless/dp/B000EBFLFY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1234941293&sr=8-1

or

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Edimax-EW-7128G-Wireless-802-11b-Ralink/dp/B000KLNRBS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1234941346&sr=1-1

I asked him which one he'd go for and it was the other one as to what I was thinking. He then said oh well don't blame me if it bodges up. This has put me in a bit of a quandry.. i'm worried of making another costly mistake again hence me asking you lot for advice. Which one would you personally go for? Have any of you used these desktop cards/makes?

Thank you!

Rach.

old_codger1

To ask a couple of obvious questions first, has your PC got a network card of any sort, i.e. an RJ/45 ethernet one, (if you tell us what sort of PC you've got we can probably work it out). Also did you connect to the internet before using the desktop PC, If so, how? I assume you used a USB broadband modem but please confirm.

The point being, of course, that if you HAVE got a network card, you can simply connect up your desktop PC to your netgear router using the built-in RJ45 connections on the back of it.

Have a look at...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cat5e-RJ45-Ethernet-Network-Cable/dp/B000Q6I17M/ref=sr_1_20?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1235009399&sr=1-20

That's a 2m one but you can also get longer ones, like...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/15m-Ethernet-RJ45-Network-Cable/dp/B000IT5PNA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1235009399&sr=1-1

which is 15m long.

Obviously, go for the shortest one you can get away with.

In any case, getting the wireless networking is massively easier if you have one of the PC's connected directly via a cable.

It might even be worth getting one of these...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fast-Ethernet-Adaptor-Card-Mbps/dp/B000IX2FUM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1235009754&sr=1-2

together with an RJ45 network cable even if you want to use the desktop PC with wireless connection because they're so cheap and it can save an awful lot of time.

Like I say, it really does make setting up the wireless bit a whole lot easier.

In any case, use the pictures on the product blurbs on the links I sent to see if you've already got a network connection in the PC already. In all honesty, I'd be pretty amazed, (staggered, frankly!), if you haven't.

Regards
codger

PS. One last point. I've found that any extra money spent on computer components has been money wasted. The cheap stuff is often better because they sell more of them and, frankly, it's often made by exactly the same people in Taiwan or Indonesia.

angel_delight wrote: »

Hi there

Been a lurker on this fab site for a good year now but thought it's about time I posted,lol.

Was wondering if any of you techies could offer some advice/opinions please?

Purchased a wireless laptop for my teenage daughter for Christmas to use in her bedroom- mainly for homework but also to use the internet. Means her hogging my desktop pc less which situates downstairs. Promised her a while back i'd try and sort the wireless connection asap but due to money issues/stupid mistakes it's taking longer than I thought.

My desktop is a few yrs old now and doesn't come with wireless capability which I didn't realise straight away. I thought at first i'd just need a new wireless router so after looking on Amazon I picked the one that seemed to be popular/have the best reviews- the Netgear DG834G. Wasn't until I connected it all up I realised the missing element (doh). After hearing not so good things about these dongle things I thought it best to get a wireless card to go in my pc. It never even occured to me there were two different sorts- ones for laptops and ones for desktops until i'd bought the former also highly recommended on Amazon- that is until the o.h looked at it and realised. He'd been busy/always too reluctant to get involved up until then and silly me thought I'll just try to get on with seeing if I can do all this myself.

Afterwards he showed me what sort I needed to get.
Tried to see if there was a compatible netgear one as the wireless router (802.11 + 54mpbs) thinking if I didn't get the same make it might cause "issues" when all connected up. The o.h assured me it wouldn't matter (hope he's right?). However the netgear one and several other more known branded ones appear to be a bit rubbish (again according to the Amazon reviews). The only two that sounded okay were cheapy ones whose makes i'd never heard of before. Most who purchased them seemed pleased anyway.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/KINGNET-KN-W510P-802-11g-802-11b-Wireless/dp/B000EBFLFY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1234941293&sr=8-1

or

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Edimax-EW-7128G-Wireless-802-11b-Ralink/dp/B000KLNRBS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1234941346&sr=1-1

I asked him which one he'd go for and it was the other one as to what I was thinking. He then said oh well don't blame me if it bodges up. This has put me in a bit of a quandry.. i'm worried of making another costly mistake again hence me asking you lot for advice. Which one would you personally go for? Have any of you used these desktop cards/makes?

Thank you!

Rach.

angel_delight

Cheers Codger for your advice/the links & the reassurance about the cheaper cards.


In reply to your questions if I remember rightly when the o.h took the back off the pc ready to insert the card last weekend (that is the wrong laptop card mistakenly purchased) there was another card of some sorts already in one of the slots. I had just presumed it was a graphics card? I really am so dense at all this techy stuff and the o.h is not much better. Sorry.


Previously before getting the card I had checked my network connection settings and there was no wireless network icon showing. It also stated that no network card was showing when I clicked on another taskbar icon.

My pc- Hewlett Packard compaq presario AMD Athlon 64 processor 3200+
System- Windows XP HE, Version 2002, Service pack 3.

It has just been this desktop pc being used for the internet so far for the last several years using a Bt Broadband ADSL router/USB leads from the telephone socket area. Hope that's enough info ?

Thanks again.

Rach.

old_codger1

According to some web links I've found your PC has already got a network card built in so there's no need to buy anything other than a network cable. However, please have a look at these weblinks and confirm they're the same sort of PC you have.

http://www2.dealtime.com/xPF-Compaq-Presario-SR1010Z-Desktop-PC-w-AMD-trade-Athlon-trade-64-3200-Processor

http://www.shopping.com/xPF-Compaq-Presario-SR1010Z-Desktop-PC-w-AMD-trade-Athlon-trade-64-3200-Processor

I assume the SR1010Z is the model number? Please have a look at your PC documentation to confirm.

One other point. It MAY be that your router actually came with a network cable anyway, (some do), so you may already have one.

It should have an end on it like the one in the picture here...

http://www.datalinkcom.net/images/RJ45.gif

and plugs into te port shown as 'RJ45 port for ethernet' in the picture below.

http://www.informit.com/content/images/chap3_078973205X/elementLinks/03fig01.jpg

As you can see, they're so basic they're usually actually on the motherboard itself and not on a seperate card.

Again, you'll need to confirm you have such a port available. If you have a digital camera take a shot of the back of the PC and upload it to photobucket or somewhere, (it's free ), and we can take a look.

BTW, if you haven't already got a cable you may be able to get a cable cheaper where you live than pay the carriage from amazon, (although they're basic prices are pretty good). Is there a Maplins near you?

Regarding the non-appearance of a network icon in the taskbar... maybe the network connection is not enabled in the bios? Dunno.

Again, if you can give us the model number we can take a look or the information may be in your PC documentation.

Again, it's a lot easier to get your built-in network card working than to try and sort out wireless networking.

angel_delight

Hi & thanks again Codger.

By network cable do you mean ethernet? - if so the wireless netgear router http://www.amazon.co.uk/Netgear-DG834G-54Mbps-Wireless-Firewall/dp/B0000TZ8Z8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1235141901&sr=8-1 did come with one but when I first set it up (including putting that lead into the ethernet port at the back of my pc) and followed disc instructions to the tee the end result was all lights were showing on the router barr the internet one.

The trouble shooting said to check leads all secure/in right places (tripple checked), unplug & try again (twice) and something is about my internet adsl isp runnning okay? (which it was before and then okay again when I transfered back to the old router).

Checked my pc for you- Hewlett Packard Compaq Presario SR1619UK EK335AA- ABU
so similar I think to the models in your links but slightly different.

Hope you can gain a bit more info from that? If not i'll do the photo bucket jobby as soon as I can.

As for the task bar icon mentioned previously by the looks of it it's part of the Bt broadband desktop help to showing the status of wireless- hence it saying no card has been detected when I view available connections. It's also got various bits to click on- connect/add connection profiles, connect to a network. Not sure if it's already on the desktop help as standard for those that may have a Bt broadband wireless router. Of which I did ring up for one originally thinking they might just give me a free one considering i've been a broadband customer of theirs for yrs but no such luck.

Rach.

old_codger1

Yes, ethernet is a type of network connection. I'm assuming you also put the other end of the network cable into one of the 4 available slots in the back of the router.

Also, you would need to log onto your router by firing up your web browser, (firefox or internet explorer or whatever), and typing the routers web management adres into the browser, It will be something like http://192.168.0.1

You would then need to enter your ISP login name and password to actually connect to the internet.

BTW, when you say all the lights were on, are you including the LAN one for the cable you plugged in? The other ones that weren't connected shouldn't be on, obviously.

If you had all the lights apart from the internet you don't sound as if you're too far away from sucess

From the info I've found it appears the lights on the router can be eitheramber or green and can blink. Let me know what they're doing when you have the PC connected.

Essentially you should be connecting your PC to the router anf then configuring it using the web-based management software built into it.

Can you let me know what IP address you're getting for your network card. Have a look at page 6 on the setup guide for bulldog internet to find out how. It's here...

http://www.bulldoglounge.com/support/broadband/dg834g_manual_short.pdf

I know you[re not using bulldog but we're just trying to setup the router and I think they use the same one as you.

BTW, you can leave your router plugged in, connected and switched on even while you're using your USB modem thingie. It won't connect to the internet coz it's not connected to the phone line, obviously, but it should give you an IP number, probably something like 192.168.0.2 or similar.

regards
codger

angel_delight wrote: »

Hi & thanks again Codger.

By network cable do you mean ethernet? - if so the wireless netgear router http://www.amazon.co.uk/Netgear-DG834G-54Mbps-Wireless-Firewall/dp/B0000TZ8Z8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1235141901&sr=8-1 did come with one but when I first set it up (including putting that lead into the ethernet port at the back of my pc) and followed disc instructions to the tee the end result was all lights were showing on the router barr the internet one.

The trouble shooting said to check leads all secure/in right places (tripple checked), unplug & try again (twice) and something is about my internet adsl isp runnning okay? (which it was before and then okay again when I transfered back to the old router).

Checked my pc for you- Hewlett Packard Compaq Presario SR1619UK EK335AA- ABU
so similar I think to the models in your links but slightly different.

Hope you can gain a bit more info from that? If not i'll do the photo bucket jobby as soon as I can.

As for the task bar icon mentioned previously by the looks of it it's part of the Bt broadband desktop help to showing the status of wireless- hence it saying no card has been detected when I view available connections. It's also got various bits to click on- connect/add connection profiles, connect to a network. Not sure if it's already on the desktop help as standard for those that may have a Bt broadband wireless router. Of which I did ring up for one originally thinking they might just give me a free one considering i've been a broadband customer of theirs for yrs but no such luck.

Rach.

old_codger1

While I think about it, the way to find your IP address, assuming your using Windows XP which is the only version of Windows I have, (I use Linux normally), is to go to, 'Start - Control Panel - Network Connections and see if you've got something called - 'Anetworkcard Connection'. If you have, right click it and select the 'Status' option then click the 'Support' tab at the top.

It should say something like...

Address type: Assigned by DHCP
IP Address: 192.168.0.2 (or whatever)

regards
codger

angel_delight

old_codger1 wrote: »

While I think about it, the way to find your IP address, assuming your using Windows XP which is the only version of Windows I have, (I use Linux normally), is to go to, 'Start - Control Panel - Network Connections and see if you've got something called - 'Anetworkcard Connection'. If you have, right click it and select the 'Status' option then click the 'Support' tab at the top.

It should say something like...

Address type: Assigned by DHCP
IP Address: 192.168.0.2 (or whatever)

regards
codger

Hi sorry just getting back to you.

I can't see a 'Anetworkcard Connection' anywhere in the network connections. IP address shows up as 192.168.1.3- well the last several entries for it in this rather long list- that is using current bt broadband non wireless router. Sorry couldn't open up the bulldog link...adobe seems to slow my pc down for some weird reason/freeze it so instead I typed in a browser how to find the ip add for network card instead.

If I remember rightly all the lights on the netgear router showed up as a stable green colour, barr the internet one which showed nothing at all. I did try opening up my isp browser at the time but nothing..just would not connect at all.

Am at a loss at what to try next?..all these connection settings seem a bit confusing. Meanwhile eldest daughter has been constantly nagging in my ear for me to hurry up since last wkend and buy one of those wireless network cards in the original links from my first post.

Would you mind if I leave it for now and if once this network card comes (going for the kingnet one as cheapest) & I still have prob's for you to continue to advise?

All your advice is very much appreciated.

Rach

old_codger1

Yeah, no worries.

In my experience setting up a hardwired network connection, (i.e. with a wire), is a lot easier than trying to do, what is essentially exactly the same thing, with a wireless card but maybe yours will be different.

Hope so

Just before you go, though, (and just for my own interest), how many connections are listed in your network connections box? Just the one by the sound of it? The BT broadband modem one? If so, maybe your network card isn't enabled in your computer BIOS. That starts to get complicated as well, tbh.

Anyhoooo... have fun

regards
codger.

angel_delight

Hi Codger & thanks for understanding.

Fingers crossed the wireless card route will go smoothly. In answer to your above question:

I have as in order from top to bottom in the network connections

Broadband
Broadband connection

Connection manager
MSN

Dial up
BTOW (BTopenworld) & one under my sons name for some weird reason

(Was on Dial up a very long time ago now before getting the Broadband)

Lan or High Speed Internet
1394 connection & local area connection

(computer monitor icons are lit blue under this one- thought it would of been the Broadband one considering that's what i'm supposed to be on/paying for which has always kind of puzzled me somewhat.)

Regards

Rach