Wireless - Look here! File & Printer Sharing too

mrsv05

what im frightened of is getting half way through and then being unable to get on line if i forget what im doing or supposed to put in

old_codger1

mrsv05 wrote: »

can i have a really easy idiots guide from you, just briefy with what wires where and what i should do step by step, please !!

Well, bear in mind I can't actually SEE the devices

Essentially, you connect the network cable, (I've already given a picture of that), to the network connection on your laptop. Before you go any further it's worth checking if you've actually GOT the network cable... have you? It should be coloured yellow I think, (although the one in the picture is blue as that's the only picture I could find quickly).

Assuming you have, carry on

For reasons best known to themselves Toshiba have chosen NOT to put a picture of the sides of the laptop on their website but from the tiny picture there it looks like the network connection is on the left hand side as you look at the front of the machine. In any event just look at the network cable and see where you can 'bung' it in

Then connect up the other end to the router into one of the connections of the same sort there. On my Thomson ST580, (almost identical I believe), they are coloured yellow. It doesn't matter which one of the 4.

Switch the router on and reset it as I mentioned by pressing the little reset button on the back with a pin. Leave it a couple of minutes and start your PC.

Start up Internet Explorer or whichever browser you use and put...

http://192.168.1.254

into the URL, (where you have http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/yadayadayada at the moment), and press <Enter> on the keyboard.

old_codger1

mrsv05 wrote: »

what im frightened of is getting half way through and then being unable to get on line if i forget what im doing or supposed to put in

You can have leave the existing connection connected until the last minute when you want to set the router up for internet connection, and then simply move the phone cable, (that's the bit that matters for obvious reasons), at the last minute.

All that will happen is that you'll have a network connection running which can't go further than the phone cable port on the router so can't connect to the internet but it will still give you an IP address and so on. The basics will be done in other words... just not the final step.

mrsv05

hello again, just to throw something else in the mix, my dad has bought me this http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=273526 so i can use it in the garden and bedroom in the summer, is this compatible? he says the range is similar to his one he bought a couple of years back and will be better. is this the case?

old_codger1

mrsv05 wrote: »

hello again, just to throw something else in the mix, my dad has bought me this http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=273526 so i can use it in the garden and bedroom in the summer, is this compatible? he says the range is similar to his one he bought a couple of years back and will be better. is this the case?

Well, it's a wireless router but it assumes you've already a working connection to the internet, i.e, broadband.

With that you could use an existing wireless network and extend the range using wireless distribution system, (WDS).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_Distribution_System

Let's see if we can get the basic wireless, (or wired), connection running first

mrsv05

i dont mean to be thick but ive had tears today and yesterdya trying to do it. i connected the thomson (in desperation) but nothing loads up automatically and then it asks for a passphrase (which no-one knows). i really want the belkin n1 router done but dont know how. does my laptop have a modem built in? i have the yellow cable you mention but that does not fit into the telephone filter or rear of modem being currently used. i plugged the cable from the phone filter into rear of thomson and then yellow cable to pc but ethernet light stays amber and will not connect to internet, light stays off on router for that light. what am i doing wrong???????

espresso

mrsv05 wrote: »

what am i doing wrong???????

You need to

mrsv05

ive done that or i wouldnt be asking on here would i! the connections arent what they say they are, old codger knows so i'll take his advice thanks.

old_codger1

mrsv05 wrote: »

i dont mean to be thick but ive had tears today and yesterdya trying to do it.

It can be frustrating, I know

mrsv05 wrote: »

i connected the thomson (in desperation) but nothing loads up automatically and then it asks for a passphrase (which no-one knows).

OK! To allow me to help you you really need to tell me what you've done and what happened. When you say you've connected the thomson what did you connect to what using what?

Did you connect the cable that looks like this...



into the hole that looks like this...



That last picture is of a Macintosh but that's irrelevant. The port is the same.

You then put the other end into the back of thomson router...




(That's the back of my own thomson ST580 router which I think is quite similar).

... and switch the computer and router on. Press the little 'reset' button on the back of the router and wait a minute or two.

Also, you say nothing loads up automatically, (not sure what you're expecting to happen tbh), and you then say it asks for a passphrase. Well if it, (whatever the 'IT' is???), asks for a passphrase then something clearly has happened automatically.

Do you mean you tried to start the browser and entered the 192.168.1.254 address as I told you? If so, please say so. If not then tell me exactly what happened and when.

mrsv05 wrote: »

i really want the belkin n1 router done but dont know how. does my laptop have a modem built in?

Yes, but it's irrelevant because we're not going to use it. It's an analog device and we're connecting using broadband which is a digital connection.

The thomson is all you need. As per the picture of mine that's all I've got plugged in.

mrsv05 wrote: »

i have the yellow cable you mention but that does not fit into the telephone filter or rear of modem being currently used.

I don't think I ever said to try and connect it up to the telephone filter, did I? It doesn't go into the telephone filter and I imagine it won't go into the modem because you're still trying to connect to your old modem. The thomson IS a modem and router combined. That's all you need.

mrsv05 wrote: »

i plugged the cable from the phone filter into rear of thomson

OK! When you say phone filter I assume you mean you plugged the filter into the BT socket on the wall and then plugged in phone cable from there to the thomson. That's OK! That's what you should be doing. Please confirm you are.

mrsv05 wrote: »

and then yellow cable to pc

The yellow cable goes from the network connection which is probably on the side or back of the computer as in the pictures above, and then to the back of the thomson. You have to have both ends plugged in... one to the computer, one to the thomson router. Please confirm that's what you're doing.

mrsv05 wrote: »

but ethernet light stays amber

WHEN does it stay amber?

http://www.speedtouch.com/documentation/ST585v6/R540/UserGuide/HTML/wwhelp/wwhimpl/js/html/wwhelp.htm?single=false&context=ug&topic=init

Have a look at the guide above, particularly the 'getting to know your speedtouch' and 'Speedtouch LED behaviour'. According to that the 'ethernet' light is either blinking gree, solid green or off altogether.

mrsv05 wrote: »

and will not connect to internet, light stays off on router for that light. what am i doing wrong???????

Which light stays off... there are 5 of them.

Let's simplify this.

1. Plug the ADSL filter into the BT socket.
2. plug the phone cable into the ADSL filter.
3. Plus other end of the phone cable into the thomson router marked ADSL, (at least it is on mine... it'll only go in one hole anyway).
4. plug one end of the yellow cable into the thomson router, (any of the yellow holes), and the other end into network connection on the side/back of your computer.
5. connect up power to router and switch on, pressing the little reset button and wait a min.
6. power up PC and start browser, (IE, Firefox or whatever).
7. go to 192.168.1.254 and enter Administrator as the user and leave the password blank if asked. (This is on the installation and setup guide previously advised).

http://www.thomsonbroadbandpartner.com/dsl-modems-gateways/products/previous-product-detail.php?id=86

8. Enter your ISP login details on the folowing pages or run the 'wizard' which does the same thing'. Essentially once you're connected to the router the configuration is relatively self-explanatory.

PS. Of course, I'm assuming you've loaded the device drivers for your computer, (including the network card), and there's nothing showing as not working, (i.e. a little red or yellow exclamation mark), in the control panel/system/device manager? I think I've already asked that, haven't I.

PPS. As previously advised, you can leave the network cables and thomson router plugged in with these instructions on screen. Don't keep unplugging everything all the time. The only thing you should need to move is the little phone cable from the existing modem to the thomson when you want to connect through the thomson and set it up properly. This should make it a lot simpler to examine websites and stuff without having to fiddle around with cables all the time. You should get an IP address on the network card attached to the router as previously advised regardless of whether the phone cable is attached.

bluboy

Hope this helps...