Internet Wireless Connectivity problem

[BTCZ]

My wife's laptop recently crashed due to a problem dealing with a Vista update, as far as my research can tell me. The result was that I had to use my recovery disk and lost just about everything on the drives, including the network settings, etc., naturally.

After spending that last few days recovering data, I am still unable to set up its internet connection.

My laptop is connecting fine but my efforts to set up a connection with my wife's laptop are resulting in "limited connectivity" errors.

I have been looking on this forum and elsewhere for potential answers.

• I have tried various combinations of the password, in case there was an issue with upper or lower case letters.
• I have tried switching off the router for a few minutes
• I have attempted to copy my connection onto a memory stick and transfer that over - clearly I am doing something wrong here.

Can anybody help? I am a mid-level user but am at my wit's end with this one.

I am also worried about doing anything that will interfere with my existing good connection as I will be in serious trouble if I lose that.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Note: the laptop is more than a year old and the recovery disk will have reverted it to whatever version of Vista was valid at the manufacture date.

Model: Toshiba satellite pro L300

 

[niemiro]

Hello,

I don't mean to be rude, but you have forgotten to mention if it is a wireless network connection (I assume it is) and I assume that your working connection is on another computer? Correct?

Richard

 

[BTCZ]

Sorry - I thought I had. It IS a wireless network. Yes, the working connection is on another computer.

 

[niemiro]

Hi,

Yes, the password is case sensitive, so all the capitals must be correct. Also, you must know what security you are using (such as WEP, WPA-Personal etc.)

Please press the Start Orb and click on Network. Click Network and Sharing Center. In the new window, on the left hand pane, click Manage Wireless Networks. Select everything in this list and click Remove one at a time.

Click Add then Add a Network that is in Range of this Computer. Select your network and click Connect. Type your password and click Connect.

See if this fixes the problem or not.

Richard

 

[BTCZ]

Hi,

Yes, the password is case sensitive, so all the capitals must be correct. Also, you must know what security you are using (such as WEP, WPA-Personal etc.)

Please press the Start Orb and click on Network. Click Network and Sharing Center. In the new window, on the left hand pane, click Manage Wireless Networks. Select everything in this list and click Remove one at a time.

Click Add then Add a Network that is in Range of this Computer. Select your network and click Connect. Type your password and click Connect.

See if this fixes the problem or not.

Richard

Hi,

Thanks for the input.

The security key is WEP and I have checked the number against the one printed on my router.

However, when I follow your instructions, I am prompted to input the security key or passphrase, which it then rejects saying "the network security key does not match the network security key for this network..."

 

[niemiro]

The passphrase is the password that you set up, and is not the model number of your router. Unless you have hand written it on your router, then you are using the wrong key. The key you need is the one you decided when you first bought the router. Does this make sense, or are you already using the correct password?

 

[BTCZ]

The passphrase is the password that you set up, and is not the model number of your router. Unless you have hand written it on your router, then you are using the wrong key. The key you need is the one you decided when you first bought the router. Does this make sense, or are you already using the correct password?

What I have been typing in has been the WEP key - which is on a label on the router.

It's a 13-digit number, which seems to fit the format as when I have tried any other possible passwords, it tells me that I need a number with "5 or 13 characters; or 10 or 26 characters using numbers 0-9 and letters A-F". This WEP key is the only thing that hasn't been rejected in this way. Is this not the correct thing to type there?

 

[niemiro]

If you have not changed it, then yes it is the correct response. I will be offline now for about an hour.

 

[BTCZ]

If you have not changed it, then yes it is the correct response. I will be offline now for about an hour.

Okay, thanks for your help.

 

[niemiro]

Hello,

It looks like you might have changed your WEP key from the default, and forgotten that you have changed it because it has always been saved. Your best bet is to reset your current WEP key and put it onto both computers. If you had not changed it, it would have worked.

To do this, you need to enter your Routers settings page. To access it, press the Windows Key + R to open the Run dialogue. Type "cmd" and press enter. You may have to go past a UAC prompt. In Command Prompt, type "ipconfig" and press enter. Scroll to the top of the text that appears and look for Default Gateway. Note down the number to the right of Default Gateway, including the full stops/periods.

Open your web browser, and type in that number including the full stops/periods into your address bar, not Google. Enter your password (not the same as your WEP key), or the default password and go to the security page. Change your WEP key, then update this WEP key on both computers. If you cannot follow these steps on your broken computer, follow them on your working computer, though that should not be required. Else, you could try and work out/remember your key from the working computer.

Richard

 

[BTCZ]

Hello,

It looks like you might have changed your WEP key from the default, and forgotten that you have changed it because it has always been saved. Your best bet is to reset your current WEP key and put it onto both computers. If you had not changed it, it would have worked.

To do this, you need to enter your Routers settings page. To access it, press the Windows Key + R to open the Run dialogue. Type "cmd" and press enter. You may have to go past a UAC prompt. In Command Prompt, type "ipconfig" and press enter. Scroll to the top of the text that appears and look for Default Gateway. Note down the number to the right of Default Gateway, including the full stops/periods.

Open your web browser, and type in that number including the full stops/periods into your address bar, not Google. Enter your password (not the same as your WEP key), or the default password and go to the security page. Change your WEP key, then update this WEP key on both computers. If you cannot follow these steps on your broken computer, follow them on your working computer, though that should not be required. Else, you could try and work out/remember your key from the working computer.

Richard

Hi,

I appreciate all your help with this.

However, after following those steps, I am still asked for a username and password (after typing in the default gateway number) and nothing I try gets me passed that point.

I have entered everything that looks like a username/password combination from my documentation and have found a handwritten note at the bottom of a letter with that same default gateway number, a WIFI ID, the word admin, and the same number as the WEP key.

I am trying to think of any variations on standard passwords I usually use and can't think of any that only contain letters a-f.

However, when I try to look at my connections on my working pc and click the Security tab on the Internet Wireless Network Properties, it has only eight dots beside "Network Security Key". Does this mean that I am looking for an 8-digit password? That seems to conflict with the error messages I get when I try to connect through the other pc.

Sorry to trouble you with all this but I seem to be getting more lost.

 

[niemiro]

Hello,

The eight dots means nothing. So you can read nothing, the length will always show as eight, no matter what the real length is. If you really cannot remember either password, you will have to do some of your own research into finding out your WEP code.

Richard

 

[BTCZ]

Hello,

The eight dots means nothing. So you can read nothing, the length will always show as eight, no matter what the real length is. If you really cannot remember either password, you will have to do some of your own research into finding out your WEP code.

Richard

What do you mean by "either password"? I have entered every password I have been given but as this process is so unfamiliar to me, I can't imagine I have already gone through it to change my WEP code. I feel sure I would have remembered going through all this and I usually make a point of saving a document with passwords as well as emailing one to myself.