Wireless Router/Card Help (1 Viewer)

[Gui A]

Hey all, I was wondering if I could get some networking help, as I'm stumped.

I have a D-Link DI-624 Wireless G Router, and a DWL-G520 PCI Card.
The router is connected directly to a WinXP machine with a LAN cable, and the wireless card is on a PII Win98SE machine.
The XP machine is working ok. It's able to get an IP address, and everything seems fine.

The Win98SE machine is a bit of an issue. I can't seem to be able to get to connect. All the WEP and other settings seem ok.
The signal strength is at 80-90%, and it says "Associated: BSSID" (and then the MAC address of the router).
The router also says "Wireless PC connected" in its status log.
The workgroup name is the same on both.

If any one can offer some advice on how to get the Win98SE machine online and sharing files, I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Bob Graz]

Gui, I know enough about this stuff to make me dangerous, but I installed a D-Link wireless network a couple weeks ago. I'm wireless to a PIII desktop running 98SE. A couple problems I encountered. One, make sure the hex WEP code on system with problem is correctly entered. Two, when in doubt reset the modem. Unplug for 5 secs and plug back in. Three, if you are using MAC filtering, try turning it off to see if you can get the system to work. That's about the limits of my technical expertise in this area.

 

[WayneO]

I'm in the same boat as Bob with network knowledge. Obviously make sure you have file and print sharing enabled for each network connection. Also make sure you're using the same network ID and gateways and soforth. I am also aware that there are issues that make it more difficult to network 98 machines to 2000/XP machines but not certain what they are since I haven't done it. What I would also try is installing NetBIOS as a networking protocol to try to get them to talk. XP doesn't come natively installed with it anymore so you'll have to add it. Directions are here: http://support.microsoft.com/default...301041&sd=tech After you install NetBEUI on your machine and then install the protocol in the network properties of your wireless connection, you should be able to see each PC.

 

[Ian Alexander]

As everyone else has suggested, make sure the WEP codes match. Also make sure the WEP type is set to Shared. Can you see the access point in the available networks? If so, then it is broadcasting ok. Otherwise it might have the wireless option turned off. Can you get to the internet through the wireless card or can't get to the access point at all? If you can get to the internet, make sure that any software firewalls are also configured to allow the traffic to get through. Typically you need to enter the IP address of the system you want to allow to access file sharing, etc.

 

[Gui A]

Thanks for the help... I still can't get it to work.

I followed the steps found here to share the connection, and it didnt help...
I'm pretty sure the WEP keys are okay.

But just to be safe, I'll be doing a hard reset of the router tonight and starting over. I've only seen one other Access Point aside from mine (neighbour open on ch 6). I dont think encryption is entirely necessary yet. I'd rather get it working first.

I'm pretty sure something is up either with the DHCP server, or the network settings on the 98 machine... here's a sample of the log (Wireless PC is the win98 machine:

Apr/26/2004 06:38:52 DHCP lease IP 192.168.0.100 to XP 00-05-5D-F3-B3-0A
Apr/25/2004 13:15:12 Wireless PC connected 00-0D-88-93-5B-15

 

[GuyMaren]

I had a similar problem with my setup. In my case, I was running Norton Internet Security, which includes a software firewall, and had to configure the firewall software to tag all my machines as trusted.

 

[Ted Lee]

i know this sounds stupid, but have you called linksys tech support? i've had a couple of issues and both times that i called they were *outstanding* in fixing my issue. i mean, who would have thought that tech-support actually works?

anyway, give them a call ... at least it's free.

 

[Gui A]

It finally works!

Apr/28/2004 00:11:31 DHCP lease IP 192.168.0.101 to PII 00-0D-88-93-5B-15

...I removed the WEP settings. I'll keep a close eye on the connection log. I don't really think I need to turn it on in this area.

 

[Ian Alexander]

Considering your original email indicated you were interested in sharing files, without WEP you are opening those shared files to anyone within range of your access point. MAC addresses can be cloned so even if you turn on MAC security, without WEP you are running without any security. While WEP is no guarantee, I would highly recommend you find a way to use it. I am amazed at the information available to me through unsecured access points available from my living room.

 

[Brad E]

WayneO, your a genius. I just got my laptop today and it took me 6 hours just to get internet access through my wireless router.
Now I've been playing around for 3 hours trying to get my desktop(98) and laptop(xp) to see each other.
I followed the link you posted and rebooted both machines and.....it worked!
Thanks a lot, I was getting ready to rip out some hair. Good thing I remembered this thread.

 

[WayneO]

Well glad it helped. I'll being getting wireless soon myself so I don't have to plug and unplug a wire to my HTPC.

 

[nolesrule]

I think I've read somewhere that WEP doesn't work properly on Win OSes prior to XP Service Pack 1.

 

[Brad E]

I don't see how the type of OS would matter. The encryption is set up in the router. So the router will only grant access to those pc's that have the correct password.

 

[nolesrule]

It's how the OS handles the key and sends it the router.

And I know for a fact that I cannot use WEP on an XP computer that hasn't been updated to SP1. I've tried. The WEP key entry screen on XP w/out SP1 isn't even configured properly for entering in a WEP Hex key.

 

[DarrenHo]

it's wpa not wep that is the newer encryption standard. wep works fine on win2k and xp. wpa only works on xp sp1 or with 3rd party software on 2k.