dongle problem

RedBern

hi, we're on BT home hub and have a laptop running wirelessly - all working ok. We also have a tower pc and a 3com dongle - which doesn't seem to be working. Have google'd and it seems 3com are fairly obscure (another term for rubbish!) - so if I go out tomorrow and buy a dongle, what do I need to check for? The pc is fairly old, running on xp - but it works - and would be nice for it to be wireless as we could put it in a different room.

and how much should I be paying for a dongle??:o

RedBern

What wireless encryption are you using? What SP is your XP? i.e. is it fully up to date? You should be using WPA but it depends on your XP service pack. Can you see your wireless network? More info needed.

as far as I know we have service pack 2 (sounds like I know what I'm talking about!!). Can't see the wireless network from the pc - it just says that the LAN is unplugged. Sorry to be so useless but ask me one about sport.......;)

gaming_guy

RedBern wrote: »

as far as I know we have service pack 2 (sounds like I know what I'm talking about!!). Can't see the wireless network from the pc - it just says that the LAN is unplugged. Sorry to be so useless but ask me one about sport.......;)

sounds like you need to install a driver for the adaptor to me.

google the model number of the adaptor (ie the model number of my wifi adaptor is WG111v2) followed by driver and it should get you the driver you need

Baldur

RedBern wrote: »

......Have google'd and it seems 3com are fairly obscure (another term for rubbish!)

They were one of the major networking companies in the World, although their current fortunes don't look so great, so not really obscure - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3Com.

As gaming_guy said, try installing the correct driver - 3Com drivers can be found HERE.

RedBern

thanks for your help. The 3com dongle has different driver if serial number begins 0100 or 0200 or 0300!! downloaded the right driver and that's got it going. How far away from the hub should it work?

RedBern

this dongle connection has been working fine since May - however in the past week firefox has continually crashed so I uninstalled/reinstalled it the other day. Yesterday we couldn't connect to the internet at all and when I had a search around, it appears we've lost the IP addresses. I've asked computer to find new address, refresh, renew, but keeps saying limited connectivity. Any advice please?

RedBern

can i connect a laptop to the pc to see if I can generate an IP address? Help!! The 3com icon shows 'good connectivity' but the LAN has no or limited connection...