Netgear Rangemax Problem - Help!

mleonard79

Hi there,
I recently purchased a netgear rangemax adsl modem router (DG834PN) in order to set up a wireless network between two desktop PCs we have in the house (mine and my brothers.) I also got a rangemax 2.0 usb adaptor to connect the second PC wirelessly. I got around to installing them today and everything went well installing the modem/router on the main PC and I'm connected no problems. The only thing I was unsure of was what security options to take. However when I came to set up the adaptor on the other PC I encountered problems. I followed all the instructions and seemed to get it connected but it then told me that there was little or no connectivity and I couldn't get any access to the internet at all in IE. I phoned the support line and the assistant took me through setting up WEP security and assigning a key to both computers. He also took me through some Ping commands and on one a macafee virusscan window popped up so he said that was the problem and if I got rid of that it would work. He also said that neither of the computers should have any anti-virus software on them anymore as it would mess up the router, if not immediately then evetually, and we now don't need it as the router has good enough security to take care of everything. I found this a bit strange and am reluctant to have no anti-virus software on the computers. I was on the phone for a long time and got the impression that he wasn't 100% sure what he was doing so I'm also reluctant to phone them again. Anyway we did delete the macafee stuff and it still didn't work (as a sidenote I have AVG free version anti-virus on the main computer and a zonealarm firewall but the connection seems to be working fine with those at the moment.) It now says that the wireless network is connected although the icon is coloured yellow which I think means its a low connection (which it shouldn't be as its rangemax!) but it just keeps saying cannot find server and we can't get the internet to work no matter what we try so I'm at my wits end with it as I've spend most of the night trying to fix it. Am going to give up now but am posting this in the hope that anyone can give me some advice on where to go from here when I start again tomorrow. Any help at all would be appreciated greatly as I'm a bit lost! Thanks a lot.

Michelle

mleonard79

Just to add to that although I just said above that the main computer's working fine I've just had a window saying "no connection is currently available" and asking me to choose either to "work offline" or "try again" pop up several times in a row - first when I was reading a thread on here and clicked to go from page to page and then again when I clicked to post my opening post there. I just clicked "try again" both times and it worked so no big deal but with the probs on the other computer I'm a bit worried about it - any ideas why it would be doing that? Thanks again.

Michelle

sco0ter

Netgears have built in firewalls and I must say that I have never had my own firewalls (Windows Vista Firewall on desktop1, Mcafee on desktop2, Kaspersky on laptop1 and nothing on laptop2) show any intrusions or block anything. I solely use them to block outgoing applications and dial home software. I think what support probably meant was the Firewalls will cause problems not the anti-virus. I must say I have had problems with Zonealarm and my Netgear DG834GT. Also Mcafee might require you to set up a local network access in its firewall settings to allow full access to the net. There should be wizard for this in Mcafee.

What ISP are you with? Some require the MTU to be changed, this seems to be a big deal with netgears for some reason. I have had 3 and have had to adjust the MTU in them all in order to have a steady connection.

What is your signal strength?? try turning off the wireless security on the router in case something went wrong with that.

sevlow

HI,

I have the PN Netgear router, linked to three PC's one running XP, One running Win 2K and one is an apple mac. I have a combination of netgear cards and the mac has a built in airport card. I run Zone alarm firewall and AV on the main PC, and alternate AV and firewall products on the other machines.

As you can see this is a real mixed bag and the wireless connection works fine for both internet and file/printer sharing. I think you have to be carefull(and we are all prone to this) not to start changing to many settings and thefore introducing lots of variables.

Firsly is you "main" computer cabled into the router and is it able to connect to the internet?

albertross_2

mleonard79 wrote:

Hi there,
I was on the phone for a long time and got the impression that he wasn't 100% sure what he was doing

Michelle

You were right.

Re-install mcafee and update it.

Assuming that you are connecting to your router, and not the neighbours netgear (change the SSID to get around this), my guess is that the WEP key you have put into the PC, doesn't match the router. WEP is not very secure, when compared to WPA-PSK with a long key. I suggest that you turn off the encryption first on the router, and the PC, and see if you can attach. If that works, put a key on both by using WPA and copy and paste a key from https://www.grc.com/passwords.. more instructions here:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=1460703&postcount=2

mleonard79

Hi everyone,
Thanks for the replies. Firstly Scooter sorry to be a computer dummy but what is MTU and how do I find out if I need to adjust it?? Also how do I find out the signal strength? I'm assuming as the icon on the wireless computer is yellow and its being saying little or no connectivity that the signal strength there is low but the main computer is running fast.

Hi Sevlow - yeah the main computer is cabled into the router and is working pretty much fine.

Hi Albatross, Ok that's what I thought in regards to the anti-virus and the support guy. The macafee on my brother's computer was out of date anyway so I thought it better just to get rid of it and see if the router would work and then download him the AVG free version that I have as I find it works well. I used to pay for Norton and its def better than that! I have changed the security as you explained in the thread you highlighted. I was just trying to use the network setup wizard on my computer there as I thought maybe that could be the problem (that my computer's not properly set up to run a network) but it keeps coming up with an error at the end. During the set up it gives me two internet connections to choose from (LAN - Realtek Family Fast Ethernet NIC or 1394 Connection - 1394 Net Adaptor). I was wondering if this could be causing a problem as I don't know why there are two. It said if you didn't know which one to choose pull your connection out and the one that went red was the right one so I did that and it came up with the LAN which is what I assumed it was anyway. But if I click that at th end it gives me a message saying "an error ocurred during configuration of the network on this computer. You can configure your network manually or you can run the wizard again with different settings." It doesn't tell me how to configure it manually though! Perhaps I've already done that! I'm definitely confused. Anyway I went back and tried it with the 1394 connection instead just in case and with that it comes up with an immediate error message saying "Windows cannot set up his computer to share its internet connection because the IP address it needs (192.168.0.1) is being used by another computer or device on the network, or by software running on this computer. to continue please disable the other device or software." So any ideas on whether this is a major problem? Thanks again for all your hlep.

Michelle

albertross_2

Have you got a "wireless network connection" listed in control panel networks? If so, you don't need to run the wizard.

The 2 things you mentioned are the wired ethernet card, and firewire, not wireless.

192.168.0.1 is the address used by the router, hence the overlap.

sevlow

OK,

Enter 192.168.0.1 into your browser which will take you into the router settings.

The first section on the LH menu panel deals with your connection settings. Your basic and ADSL settings should be OK as you are establishing a link through the "wired" PC connection into your router so the problem should be with the Wireless settings.

SSID - Change the default "Netgear" to another name.
REGEON - Should be set to europe
CHANNEL - Select any number as your wireless card/usb adaptor should automatically detect this.
MODE - Select G&B

next section .... Under " Wireless Access Point"

Check the first two boxes to enable wireless access point and broadcast the SSID name.The latter will require resetting latter but will be usefull to us set at broadcast for the present.

next section ... Securitty settings

Disable the security settings.

Click "apply" and wait a ltttle for the router to reset.

The router should now be broadcasting its SSID and you should have alight on the router to the left of the number "1" which shows a (((0))) broadcast symbol.

Now go to the "remote" pc or laptop. If you installed the adaptor correctly you should have an icon in the sytem tray(next to the time) which shows the USB adapor.

Double click on the adaptor symbol. Set the SSID to match the same(exacly - this is case sensitive). You may find the adaptor has already detected it in which case accept. Set the cards security settings to disabled. Then click connect - the card/usb adaptor should now try to establish a link with your router by searching the channels for the SSID.

Did it establish a connection?

mleonard79

Hi albatross,
No I don't have a "wireless network connection" listed under network connetions in control panel only LAN and the 1394 Connection. There is one listed on the second computer though which is what got me thinking perhaps I need that on my computer and so I tried the network wizard. I've just tried to set up the new security settings and do a wireless network wizard on the second computer but I'm getting more error messages - this one says "depending on the wireless software running on this computer, the wireless netwrok setup wizard might not work. for details, see article 871122 i nthe microsoft knowedge base on microsoft.com". Was just going to have a look at that when I saw your message. I don't know if this would help but I've done the ipconfig thing you described to get the MAC address on both computers and I'll paste the results below. I'm not too sure what I'm looking for in them but you could perhaps see something glaring I can't! Also I did some pings that I read in another thread may help so I'll paste those for both computers too.

MAIN COMPUTER

windows IP Configuration



Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : (have removed but was there)
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :

Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown

IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No



Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:



Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast Ethernet NIC

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : (removed)

Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes

Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.2

Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0

Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1

DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1

Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : 24 June 2006 12:25:23

Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 27 June 2006 12:25:23

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>ping 127.0.0.1

Pinging 127.0.0.1 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128

Ping statistics for 127.0.0.1:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>ping 192.168.0.1

Pinging 192.168.0.1 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 192.168.0.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64

Ping statistics for 192.168.0.1:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 1ms, Average = 0ms

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>ipconfig/release

Windows IP Configuration


Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>ipconfig/renew

Windows IP Configuration


Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.2
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>https://www.google.com
'www.google.com' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>ping 66.102.9.104

Pinging 66.102.9.104 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 66.102.9.104: bytes=32 time=37ms TTL=245
Reply from 66.102.9.104: bytes=32 time=37ms TTL=245
Reply from 66.102.9.104: bytes=32 time=37ms TTL=245
Reply from 66.102.9.104: bytes=32 time=37ms TTL=245

Ping statistics for 66.102.9.104:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 37ms, Maximum = 37ms, Average = 37ms

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>

SECOND COMPUTER

Windows IP Configuration



Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : (removed but diff from main comp)

Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :

Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown

IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No



Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:



Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8139 Family PCI Fast Ethernet NIC

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : (removed but diff from main comp)



Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:



Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : NETGEAR RangeMax(TM) Wireless USB 2.0 Adapter WPN111

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-14-6C-52-89-D2

Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No

IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.25

Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0

Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1


Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Allan Leonard>ping 127.0.0.1

Pinging 127.0.0.1 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128

Ping statistics for 127.0.0.1:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms

C:\Documents and Settings\Allan Leonard>ping 192.168.0.1

Pinging 192.168.0.1 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 192.168.0.1: bytes=32 time=910ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.1: bytes=32 time=12ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.1: bytes=32 time=34ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.1: bytes=32 time=459ms TTL=64

Ping statistics for 192.168.0.1:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 12ms, Maximum = 910ms, Average = 353ms

C:\Documents and Settings\Allan Leonard>ipconfig/release

Windows IP Configuration

No operation can be performed on Local Area Connection while it has its media di
sconnected.

C:\Documents and Settings\Allan Leonard>ipconfig/renew

Windows IP Configuration

No operation can be performed on Local Area Connection while it has its media di
sconnected.

C:\Documents and Settings\Allan Leonard>ping https://www.google.com
Ping request could not find host https://www.google.com. Please check the name and try a
gain.

C:\Documents and Settings\Allan Leonard>ping 66.102.9.104

Pinging 66.102.9.104 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 66.102.9.104: bytes=32 time=156ms TTL=245
Reply from 66.102.9.104: bytes=32 time=259ms TTL=245
Reply from 66.102.9.104: bytes=32 time=292ms TTL=245
Reply from 66.102.9.104: bytes=32 time=60ms TTL=245

Ping statistics for 66.102.9.104:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 60ms, Maximum = 292ms, Average = 191ms

C:\Documents and Settings\Allan Leonard>

I'm assuming this media-disconnected thing is not good - how can I fix that?
Also I noticed that on the main computer again it only says ethernet adapter Local Area Connection but on the second computer it comes up with Ethernet Adaptor Wireless Network Connection too so the main computer is clearly missing this?? Thanks again.

Michelle

mleonard79

Hi sevlow,
I tried what you suggested. I get a connection both with the security and with it disabled so getting a connection is not a problem (albeit it seems a weak one) but the internet just doesn't work no matter what I do. Its very exasperating - I deliberately bought the higher priced version thinking it would be better and easier! Thanks.

Michelle

albertross_2

Could you just clarify what you have and what you are trying to achieve.

Main computer PC or laptop?
Second computer PC or laptop?

which one(s) are you trying to get to work with a wireless adapter. Is PC one going to be wired, and PC2 wireless?

if you can ping the google ip address wirelessly, can you get to google by putting the ip address in IE? If so, this is a DNS issue.

Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No, should be yes.

can you ping google on PC1 (you missed ping off the command line). Does google work in IE on PC1?


you only need the wireless adapter on PCs with it in, so if PC1 is going to wired, it doesn't matter if it isn't listed in control panel. Or have you got 2 wireless adapters?

there is no point pinging after a /release, it won't work.