Problem connecting new laptop to existing router.

Smithmeister

Hi all,

As my title suggests got a new laptop to work in conjunction with my Desktop PC. When i switch on my laptop it discovers my wireless network , but when i try to connect it won't saying "there is a problem trying to connect".
What i did then was connect my Ethernet cable to laptop and router and hey presto i'm connected! Disconnected Ethernet cable laptop works away dandy.
I tried again trying to connect via the wireless route and same problem(after switching laptop off) connected the Ethernet cable and it worked again.
Can anyone help me with how i can connect without having to 'jumpstart' via the Ethernet cable?

Regards

Smithmeister

espresso

Is your wireless encrypted? Did you enter the correct key?

tom9980

what make/model is the router? it most likely is the encryption preventing your laptop from connecting.

Smithmeister

Yes it's WEP Personal protected and i did enter the correct password.

I use a USR 9110 router.

Cheers

tom9980

change the settings on your router make the WEP key something else and retry the new password on your laptop. Really you should be using WPA encryption if possible its more secure.

Follow the steps in chapter 2 from the user manual for your router which can be found here

http://www.usr.com/support/9110/9110-files/9110-ug.pdf

benjus

If it were an encryption problem, why would the wireless connection work after the Ethernet cable was disconnected? Have you tried temporarily disabling the encryption to see if the laptop can connect?

I'm wondering if it's a DHCP problem. What operating system are you running?

One thing to try (instructions are a bit vague since I don't know what OS you have): go to network status and note down your current IP address, subnet mask, default gateway & DNS servers. Now go to network settings and disable the "obtain IP address automatically" setting and enter manually the details you copied down. If it connects successfully, it points to a DHCP problem.

Smithmeister

Hi

Sorry for late reply been away all week.
Have changed the password, have changed encryption to WPA-PSK and still no joy. I also tried to manually put in the deatils as suggested by Benjus but it would not accept it.(could be user fault as i THINK i entered all details correctly)
The OS is Vista so i am trying to get to grips with it as the other OS is XP.
What else can i try?

Smithmeister