Housemate having weird wireless problems...

[NFS4]

OK, he's got a rather new Dell laptop 802.11A/B/G built in. He's getting AIM and MSN Messenger connecting just fine. He can't get any internet traffic with IE or any other browser for that matter.

He can ping every other computer on our network (2 wireless PCs, my wireless PDA, and 2 wired PC's), but he can't ping the router (192.168.2.1).

Doing an ipconfig /all shows that the network card is configured properly.

I'm at a loss. I tried hooking up my old D-Link DWL-650 PCMCIA card and disabling his onboard wireless. Still the same problem.


This is his work computer and it was a 2000 --> XP SP1 upgrade. He never had problems with 2000, but this upgrade to XP was a company approved image so beats the hell out of me.

I'm no so sure about going to SP2 b/c I don't want to fvck up his work connections. Ohh, and all the latest drivers are installed

 

[housecat]

Can he access the net from other hot spots, his work for instance?

You didnt provide that info, but that would narrow it down a bit.

Is he connected to a different wireless network, other than yours? That would explain why he cant ping your router possibly.

As far as I know, AIM/MSN work off the same ports as IE/Firefox by default.. or at least I think so. I dont have the best suggestions/questions, but it does sound confusing.

A format could not hurt, but dont want to mess up his work setup. I think SP2 would be a safe choice to try if you want to take a small chance, I *think* you can uninstall SP2.. but I never have done it becasue I prefer it and if it asks me to keep the install files, I erase them everytime without even blinking.


g/l

 

[housecat]

o also, check his browser settings to see if anythign special is set for his work config...

a easy thing to try for this is to download firefox and see if it works.. if it goes out to the net, you dont have to mess with any of his settings otherwise... IE and FF play very nicely so you have 0 worries about conflicts.

just a thought (i'd try that first)
if that fixes it, can use IE for work.. FF for home/elsewhere he travels to hotspots


edit- oops sorry, missed that part that you put first about other browsers not working, doh

 

[NFS4]

He can't connect at work either.

FF doesn't work
IE doesn't work

Internet setting are setup properly in both browsers.

He IS connecting to our router. He's getting 192.168.2.5 from our router and I can see him from the routers config page. But he can't ping the router. He can ping every other computer on our network though.

I gave him my SP2 CD and told him to try it.


Also, he says that it's a fresh company image that he put on his machine. He said the wireless wouldn't even work after the image was freshly loaded.

 

[housecat]

and also... check for virus and spyware.. could very well be the problem

the new MS spyware software beta is actually very good, between that and spybot you'd have a good deep scan. ive had similar issues to what you are describing in the past from viruses/spyware. http://www.microsoft.com/athom...y/spyware/default.mspx


sp2 might do the trick though if something is just kinda kludged up, be interesting to see if MS's baby can fix this

after some thinking, if he cant ping the router, SP2 probably wont do much. maybe tho.


its strange that the router sees him, but he doesnt see the router..

thats food for thought.....

 

[Tiamat]

At my company, the IT department purposely disables the Wireless through software install. Im not sure if your buddie is in this boat.

 

[housecat]

this is probably a dumb suggestion, but is his HOSTS file okay? i know some companies might be dumb enough to block websites that way to prevent the employees from getting out. im not entirely sure if firefox goes off of the hosts files as well or not.
couldnt hurt to take a quick look at his hosts file /shrug

 

[NFS4]

It wouldn't even let him install SP2. Said something about permissions/access denied or something. Oh well

 

[housecat]

besides the host file check, he is not logged in as admin on his own PC? i hope they payed for the entire cost of that laptop. otherwise i'd be saving the info for his network at work and formatting.

try logging in as the windows admin, or take a look at the settings in MMC

 

[gwarbot]

When he run's IE does his computer freeze up and give a vb script error. also there are ways to bypassing the sign on screens and ect. But if the laptop is running novell your screwed can't bypass that been trying for months.Anyways lmk maybe i can help

 

[NFS4]

He's logged in as an admin.

The computer does not freeze in IE...and no error messages. It just says detecting proxy settings, then after about a minute it pops up page can not be displayed.

 

[housecat]

personally i'd be really upset about that problem. and i'd take it into the IT department at work, put it on the bosses table and ask why he cant access the internet at home. they know.

of course, if i wasnt in IT myself.

 

[MadMan2k]

Did you try running the Network Setup wizard? it seems like it would be a gateway/DNS server problem... the wizard auto-configs that and almost always helps, unless you have custom settings.