Computer Savvy Experts - HELP! - "Limited or no connectivity"

[Corabar Entertainment]

We have just got ourselves a couple of cheap recon netbooks (DELL Latitude) which are generally only going to be used out and about and away from home to access email & the net, and to run a couple of basic things like word and excel.

However, we would like to also be able to connect to the internet at home wirelessly via our home network so that we cat sit in front of the telly and browse/play. (Just to confirm: router in ne room with PC physically connected; laptop connects wirelessly with no issues already)

Both n etbooks found the wireless network no problem and (after entering the network key) they connected and began "Acquiring network address"... and this is where it all goes horribly wrong!

It comes up with a status of "Limited or no connectivity"

I did a bit of research on the net, which suggested that the problem is that the netbook has been unable to get its IP address from the router in the other room and so Windows has allocated an address in the 169.254.x.x range (instead of 192 address it should have).

The suggested 'problem-fixing' was to do the following:-

Open a Command Prompt window ("Start > Run", type CMD and click OK) and at the prompt, type:

IPCONFIG /ALL and press Enter.

This will display all of the adapters in the PC together with their details. You should see the network adapter that connects to the "host" PC by crossover cable. Now type:

IPCONFIG /RELEASE and press Enter.

This should release the IP addresses and set them to 0.0.0.0 Now type:

IPCONFIG /RENEW and press Enter.

This should force the adapters whose addresses have been released to acquire them again and, with luck, you might get a 192.168.0.x address.

...which I have done. However, it hasn't acquired the correct IP address and instead, gives me the message "An error occurred while renewing interface Wireless Connection 4: Unable to contact your DHCP server. Request has timed out"

Again, I have tried doing a bit of research on the net, but so many people are suggesting so many different things, and none of them are explaining it in words of one syllable!

So, in short, I know that the netbook is not acquiring the IP address from the router on the wireless network, but I haven't got a clue how to resolve!

Can anybody suggest (and explain in very detailed terms) what to do to try and sort this out?

[JDB Entertainment]

Have you tried moving your wireless box into the room you are in?

Most of the time with these notebooks is the fact that the wireless capabilitys do not stretch far.

[Corabar Entertainment]

No - that's not an issue - it's got an excellent signal whether it's next to the router or in the other room. It is picking up the connection fine - just not the IP address to allow full conectivity to the internet

[Excalibur]

No - that's not an issue - it's got an excellent signal whether it's next to the router or in the other room. It is picking up the connection fine - just not the IP address to allow full conectivity to the internet

Do you have an install CD for the router? Our Livebox had one which configured the PC/lappy automatically.
Have you decided a course of action re dongles and networks, since you were pondering this previously?

Edit: I've re-read the title. Sorry, I'm not qualified to offer advice, please ignore totally.

[Corabar Entertainment]

Do you have an install CD for the router? Our Livebox had one which configured the PC/lappy automatically.
Have you decided a course of action re dongles and networks, since you were pondering this previously?

Edit: I've re-read the title. Sorry, I'm not qualified to offer advice, please ignore totally.

Nope - router didn't need an 'install' CD to get it up and running in the first place (even if it did, netbooks don't generally have CD/DVD drives )

3 dongle's are are arriving tomorrow

[BeerFunk]

First things first - your router must be set up to issue IP addresses to devices connected on the LAN (ie. DHCP is turned on). Secondly, your laptop must be set up to obtain an IP address automatically. Both are usually set up this way by default, but it's something that should be checked first!

[Corabar Entertainment]

OK - now this is sounding a bit more in the right area!!!!

Right, Callum, how do I go about doing that?

[Excalibur]

Nope - router didn't need an 'install' CD to get it up and running in the first place (even if it did, netbooks don't generally have CD/DVD drives )

3 dongle's are are arriving tomorrow

See, I told you I wasn't qualified. Didn't know netbooks were bereft of such drives. ( but I do know that you could copy it onto an USB stick. ) And the CD was to configure PC's, not the router itself.

Dongles, did you find a network with suitable coverage for your most regular areas? My new phone tells me when I've got 3G coverage. Sadly, my dongle's on a different network.

[BeerFunk]

OK - now this is sounding a bit more in the right area!!!!

Right, Callum, how do I go about doing that?

Well.... it's a bit difficult to explain, but with regards to your router, you'd need to connect to it via it's built in menu - which is nearly always accessible through a standard browser like Internet Explorer. The address tends to be something like 10.0.0.1 or 192.168.0.1, and the default username and password tends to be admin/password. Every menu is different, but you want to look for DHCP, and make sure it's on.

On the laptop, you want to find network connections in the control panel, and edit the properties of your network there. You need to go into the properties for 'Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)', and check that the IP address and DNS servers are set to 'obtain automatically'.

[discomobiledj]

Your on Virgin Media?

You need to go into your router settings. There should be a little sticker on the router saying 192.168.0.1 or very similar with a username and password.

All settings can be checked in there.

Although, thinking about this, my sister in law had the same thing and VM just told them to right click on the router/network connection and click enable. Might be worth a call to them as they do set their routers/connection settings up differently to standard ADSL people.