Setting up a wireless LAN

[flasher]

Help, basically. Bought all the kit,installed it and I still can't see the other PC although the Network card appears to be working as does the sender bit.

Anyone got any idea what I'm doing wrong...?

[Plotloss]

We're going to need a bit more than that mate.

What kit and whats what connected to?

[flasher]

Right,

i have a Belkin Wireless Network card on the laptop which is running XP. Upstairs I have a Belkin Wireless access point connected to a 10/100 lan card. That PC is running Windows Me.

Is that enough info?

[Plotloss]

Yep should be.

Both network cards are showing as running perfectly in the Device Manager I take it?

If so I take it you have assigned IP addresses of

192.168.0.1 to the Me machine and 192.168.0.255 (say) to the XP laptop?

IP Protocol installed on both machines?

[NikB]

Also worth checking the default firewall in XP is disabled - this had me scratching my head for ages.

[squirrelz]

Also, when you say you can't see the other PC, what are you trying to see? Are you trying to ping it, or map a network drive, or are we talking communication at a wireless level?

[flasher]

Plotloss said:

Yep should be. Both network cards are showing as running perfectly in the Device Manager I take it? If so I take it you have assigned IP addresses of 192.168.0.1 to the Me machine and 192.168.0.255 (say) to the XP laptop? IP Protocol installed on both machines?

I have assigned the IP addresses but not protocol. How do I do that? Sorry but I'm a total novice at this..

[pdV6]

Plotloss said:

192.168.0.255

Er, wouldn't that be the local broadcast address?
Try 192.168.0.2

[pdV6]

flasher said:

I have assigned the IP addresses but not protocol. How do I do that? Sorry but I'm a total novice at this..

If you've gotten as far as assigning IP addresses, then the TCP/IP protocol should be installed by now, so you're ok.

[Plotloss]

pdV6 said:

Plotloss said: 192.168.0.255 Er, wouldn't that be the local broadcast address? Try 192.168.0.2

Hole in knowledge for me there, is that a reserved address then?

[squirrelz]

Depends on the subnet mask.

If your subnet mask is 255.255.255.0 (ie a 24 bit mask) then the broadcast address is 192.168.0.255 and if you ping it, then in theory, every device on that subnet should reply.

[flasher]

Going crazy here. I still cant get them to see each other and am having problems assigning an IP address to the laptop as XP seems to have a mind of it's own.

Looks like I've wasted a load of money...

[arcturus]

Have you got the same SSID set on both the WAP and the laptop card? They will refuse to connect unless both have the same SSID. (SSID=Service Set Identifier - the name of the wireless network)

Also, disable WEP until you have the network up and running.

Are both systems set to the same radio channel?

Have you told Windows NOT to configure the wireless network on the laptop? It is usually best to leave that to the wireless card manufacturers software.
To stop Windows trying to take over, go to Network Connections, right click the wireless connection and select properties. Go to the Wireless Networks tab and uncheck 'Use Windows to configure my wireless network settings'.

Whilst in properties, go to the General tab, double click 'Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)' in the box in the middle and check that 'Use the following IP address' is selected and that an appropriate address and subnet mask as mentioned above is entered in the box.

>> Edited by arcturus on Tuesday 6th April 00:04

>> Edited by arcturus on Tuesday 6th April 00:05

[catretriever]

If you are still having problems after everything suggested here then I would seriously consider taking the Belkin kit back and getting a refund.
I too have battled with their wireless kit, and while it is not complete pants...there is certainly kit out there that is much easier for the novice to set up.

Are you just setting up a wireless network for it's own sake, or are doing it to share a broadband internet connection?
If it's the latter then I can recommend the US Robotics 54g kit that I recently bought, but you may want to have a surf for more expert opinions...

[Mr E]

Second that on Belkin gear. I run it at home, with no worries. So I bought identical kit for my mother.

Installed it. Got it running in about 10 minutes. Happy happy.

Turned WEP and MAC filtering on, everything still worked.

Rebooted both machines and the access point. Everything stopped.

Eh?

Never did get to the bottom of it. Took the gear back and bought something else. Everything now works.

[Liszt]

Remember to shutdown zonealarm if you're running it.

Had me looking like a tw@ last time I set up a friends machines.

[fatsteve]

Liszt said:

Remember to shutdown zonealarm if you're running it. Had me looking like a tw@ last time I set up a friends machines.

, there's no need to shut it down, just change the trust level so that LAN traffic is trusted.

[davidd]

flasher

1) make sure you have xp sp1a installed.

www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/servicepacks/sp1/sp1lang.asp

2) then install the wireless roll up

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;826942

Then try again

D

[Zod]

It sounds as if the problem was that one of the devices was a WAP. To set up an ad hoc network, you need two wifi cards, not one wifi card and a wap. A WAP if for connection to a hub, switch or router.

[arcturus]

Zod said:

It sounds as if the problem was that one of the devices was a WAP. To set up an ad hoc network, you need two wifi cards, not one wifi card and a wap. A WAP if for connection to a hub, switch or router.

Makes no practical difference. I have one wireless NIC and a WAP (both Netgear) and they work together just fine. Yes they are in infrastructure mode rather than ad-hoc mode, but the point is it works fine. Got he WAP 'cos I intend to expand the network.