Getting online with wireless notebook....help!

[sobeadit]

Hi this ought to be an easy one for someone....

I have a notebook pc with a wireless card. So I am housesitting and they use cable internet with a wireless router. Ok so my notebook seems to have no problem DETECTING the wireless network (it's called "intel gateway") and "receiving packets" but I cannot seem to get online...I"m not "sending packets". I have been in coffee shops with wireless internet and from what i remember, the computer detects them and you just BAM are online! What do I have to do? Why is the pc connected to the network but not able to get online?

Thanks for your help

Steph

 

[TheCanuck]

I'd guess that they are either using MAC filtering or WEP to secure the network. Did you ask them about that? If they're using MAC filtering then you need to connect to the router via ethernet cable and enter your laptop's MAC address into the "allowed" section...or if they have WEP you need to get the key from them -- or the router's info may display it. But they've probably changed the router password as well, so you'd need that before you can get to the settings.

Or you could just reset the router and re-setup everything. Just make sure you tell them and enable some sort of security for the wireless network.

 

[sobeadit]

Ok thank you.....if i can find an ethernet cable long enough i will scrap the idea of the wireless deal and just plug in.

First, what is MAC address and where do I find my computers? Also where do I find this "allowed"" section?

Then, can i see the router's wep key from my computer or do i have to go on theirs? I tried to boot up the sons computer and I get some kind of "missing file" error while its still in DOS....doesn't seem promising.

THanks!

steph

 

[TheCanuck]

MAC stands for Media Access Control -- it just identifies each network card on the network. If you have a PCMCIA card then the MAC address will be on the back of it. If it's internal, then you can open up a command prompt, type in ipconfig /all and read off the physical address of the card. Alot of routers automatically pickup the MAC and make it fairly easy to setup, but MAC filtering would first need to be disabled, then the wireless card/laptop needs to connect, and then you can re-enable mac filtering after you've applied the settings for your wireless card.

I think that your best bet is just to use an ethernet cable to hookup your laptop though. You'd need to do some read the manual on how to properly setup the router and it might take up quite a bit of your time. I'd just take the cable from their desktop and hook it up to your laptop.