Setting up a wireless home network

mdbarber

Psychofly wrote: »

I'm coming to this thread new so correct me if I'm wrong in any way with my image of your setup.

You have a new PC (running Vista) which is connected via Ethernet cable to your Surfboard Cable Modem ?

You have some laptops which were previously connected to the internet wirelessly.

The PC is able to connect to the internet and laptops are unable to connect either to each other or the internet.

Is that right ?

Where does the AP plug into ? Is it plugged directly into an ethernet port on the Surfboard modem or is it into an ethernet port on your PC ?

unfortunately no, his pc is connected to the surfboard via a usb connection, the wap is connected to the surfboard via the single ethernet connection

Psychofly

To configure the wireless setting on the Access Point you'll need to plug the access point directly into the PC using the ethernet cable and then use the URL given earlier on in this thread to configure it.

For your PC to successfully talk to the AP via the ethernet cable your PC has to be on the same network address range as the AP.

The AP is 192.168.0.50 with a Subnet Mask of 255.255.255.0. If you set your PC to 192.168.0.101 with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 then go to Internet Explorer and in the address bar type http://192.168.0.50 you should then successfully connect.

Wireless is relatively straight forward to setup but can still cause problems if you're unsure what you're doing. When configuring the wireless network you will need to assign it an SSID (this is basically just a name you give it so you can identify it later - name it WARREN for simplicity). In essence that is your wireless configured but now you need to secure it so that only people with the access code can get in.

Somewhere on the configuration pages of the AP you should see a Security section with abbreviations like WAP, WEP and various things. Some are more secure but more complex to setup others are less secure but easier to setup. Basically as long as you pick the same type of authentication when configuring your PCs to connect to your wireless connection you should be OK.

Like someone said earlier not ALL wireless adapters in things like laptops and PCs will support the security (encryption) system. Choose one that all your adapters can use. The configuration page on the AP will ask you to choose an access code and how many characters long it needs to be. Make a note of this code and don't lose it. You may also need to change the gateway address on the AP to the IP address of your Surfboard modem (this should be 192.168.100.1), it's probably worth doing this now and then removing it if it doesn't work. The gateway is basically the device which connects to the internet (in this case your Surfboard cable modem). Save all your changes and that should be the configuration done on your AP.You can now plug it back into the ethernet port on your surfboard modem and set your PC to "Obtain An IP Address Automatically" again.

Now you need to configure each laptop. The software on each laptop that controls your wireless adapter should have a scan button to find wireless network or should have a list of already discovered ones. With luck WARREN should be listed here. Select this network and there should be a button to configure or connect somewhere. This should take you to a window that asks you to select the security (encryption) protocol used. This NEEDS to be the same one as you chose on the AP - likewise the access code (probably called an encryption key) needs to be the same.

This should then allow the laptop to authenticate and connect to the wireless network. Check for internet connection. Check to see if you can ping the address of your cable modem and your AP.

Repeat this on each laptop.

I've tried not to make this too overly complex and jargon ridden so apologies for where I've failed. To describe this step by step in minute detail without actually seeing what you're seeing is very difficult so I'm providing this hoping that you'll get part of the way through it maybe and then ask for more detailed instruction specifically for the bits you are stuck at.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

Psychofly

There is no problem in using USB to connect the cable modem to the PC. It's a perfectly valid connection method. Ideally you'd want to use ethernet since it's more of a standard but in this case where the ethernet connection is used up by the AP then USB is a perfectly valid choice to negate the need for buying a router, switch or hub.

Ideally I'd say scrap the whole lot and get a cable modem/router for simplicity but why spend money when you don't have to - particularly since the nature of this site is money saving.

mdbarber

Psychofly wrote: »

There is no problem in using USB to connect the cable modem to the PC. It's a perfectly valid connection method. Ideally you'd want to use ethernet since it's more of a standard but in this case where the ethernet connection is used up by the AP then USB is a perfectly valid choice to negate the need for buying a router, switch or hub.

Ideally I'd say scrap the whole lot and get a cable modem/router for simplicity but why spend money when you don't have to - particularly since the nature of this site is money saving.

Damm i forgot , dlink have an easy app for managing wap's called "kickstart" or "ap manager" depending on model, just download that from their website

Mr_Warren_2

Thank you all, Psychofly, mdbarber, cheepnis for your individual input.

Psychofly: I have plugged AP (hehehe me using Techie words) directly to PC using Ethernet cable and connected PC to Surfboard via a USB cable (although the end that connects to Surfboard is not USB but a long square looking connector). As stated before my AP is 192.168.105.11 and subnet as you say (i found this out when I entered my AP settings after having downloaded both AP Manager and the manual)

Question: Should I change my AP IP address to what you suggest or ok to stay as it is ?
Question: I had already set up an access code when the system worked properly before the new PC and all laptops/PCs etc appear to remember that code. SHOULD I ALSO GIVE THE AP THAT ACCESS CODE TOO ?
Question: How do I get the correct IP for my Surfboard? as stated above, my AP IP was different to what everybody else told me.
Question: I had entered the IP address of my AP as Gateway. HAVE I GONE WRONG HERE ?? as you say that Gateway address should be of the unit connecting to the internet (ie. Surfboard) ??

As I say, thanks so far.

Psychofly

You can leave the IP as it is but to be honest for simplicity I would probably change the AP IP address to the default one. It doesn't really make much difference in this case but the subnets have to match.

The access code that you used before will only work if the AP and the wireless devices (in your case laptops) use the same code. To be safe I would re-enter the code on each device and on the AP so you know 100% what the code (encryption key) is set to on each device.

I'm not 100% sure how to find the IP of the Surfboard I'm afraid if it's been changed. I'd guess that it's never been changed though - they are very rarely altered in any way. I would assume it's the default just now and we'll deal with it if we need to.

Where did you enter the IP address of the AP as the gateway ? Is this on a computer or on another device.

Mr_Warren_2

I entered IP adress of the AP as gateway on new PC. The laptop and other PCs I am trying to connect to new PC were given the new PC IP.

A colleague at work has given me an Intel network card to put inside new PC as he thinks the USB connection between PC and Surfboard could cause trouble. What you think?

Lisadp1970

I would be somewhat suprised if a new PC didn't have an onboard LAN card TBH.

Mr_Warren_2

Sorry ...yes i have one already that is connecting my new PC to my AP. This new card would give me a spare network card connection to connect new PC to Motorola Surfboard (actual connection is via USB and colleague thinks this could be causing problems)

cheepnis

Lisadp1970 wrote: »

I would be somewhat suprised if a new PC didn't have an onboard LAN card TBH.

I agree, there's usually on onboard network chip nowadays.

Mr Warren Can you see an ethernet port (techie term = RJ45):D on the back of the PC.? near the USB ports

OR.. go to Start/Control Panel/Network and Internet/Network and Sharing Centre
under Tasks click on Manage Network Connections
then click View / Details
this will give you the details and status of all active network devices.

My lappy = 1 x ethernet and 1 x wireless
Local Area Connection / Network cable unplugged / Broadcom 440x 10/100 Integrated Controller / -
Wireless Network Connection / Network / Intel Pro Wireless 3945ABG / Access to Local and Internet

The surfboard only has one ethernet connection - so where will you plug in the AP.?
You should continue with the USB connection if that is the most convenient for you.
After all, it's providing the only internet access you have at present.

I'm getting out of my depth now - but I'm sure these guys will get you sorted.