Linksys Wireless Card Problem

[clemgrad85]

I need some suggestions. I have 4 computers hooked up to a Linksys wireless network (cable internet). 3 are working great. Here is the setup: Host computer runs on XP and has the latest version AP/Router hooked up. 2nd computer runs on XP and has the WMP11 wireless card, and also works fine. The 3rd computer is a laptop with '95 (yes, '95, provided by my work) and works fine with the wireless PCI card. The 4th computer was recently reformatted and Windows 98 was installed on it. I have installed the WMP11 wireless card, returned it, reinstalled it (many, many times), talked to Linsksys tech support (many times), reinstalled again, but still having problems. The problems? Everything appears to be setup correctly, all indications are that the card is working (even the one I returned appeared to be working), but I simply cannot connect to the router. I have tried pinging it, but nuttin. I have reinstalled TCP/IP, tried using NetBEUI as the protocal....seems like I've tried everything!!!! I know there is one little thing not clicked or deleted or added that is stopping everything from working great! Any suggestions???? Please!

[Greenstead]

From all the things you have tried it seems this is not a simple configuration problem and it may be an internal problem with the PC or bios. I don't have a magic answer. But we can check some things if you want.

Some questions:
- Why do you say the card seems to be working ?
- How is the router configured (i.e. DHCP, SSID, WEP, subnet)?
- How have you configured the card ?
- Have you tried manually setting its IP address?
- What protocols are you running on the rest of the network?

We can run a check list just to be sure:
Heres a standard checklist to run thro to enable PCs to share resources:
Note : You only need one protocol (NetBT = Netbios over TCP/IP)
- All PCs have TCP/IP installed.
- All PCs have Netbios over TCP/IP enabled.
- All PCs have the same workgroup.
- All PCs have a unique computer name.
- All wireless devices have the same SSID.
- ALL PCs have network shares defined directly under c:.
- ALL NICS are on the same subnet (typically IP 192.168.1.* subnet 255.255.255.0).
- MS Client and file & printer sharing are checked on each NIC.
- All NICs have their node type = broadcast or Hydrid (check with Ipconfig /all or winipcfg).
- XP's ICF firewall is permanently disabled.
- All 3rd party firewalls are disabled and uninstalled and deleted (until connection is working).

- Try these checks on the 98 PC:
- ping its own IP address
- ping localhost
- ping the router IP
What results ?

[yankee1]

after you do all that, you could try putting one of the other cards in that comp and the card in question in another comp and see what works.

[clemgrad85]

Greenstead.....thanks for the info. Unfortunately, I had checked on all those issues (and checked again) but still ran into brick walls. I ended up goint out this afternoon and purchasing a USB Wireless Adapter from Siemens. I loaded the software, hooked it up, made a few little adjustments (like adjusting the SSID), and "poof".....I had internet! In talking with the tech rep from Linksys earlier, he was the first tech guy to finally suggest there may be some issues involving their new card. So, I think no matter what I tried, there would have been no connection.

I do have one other stumbling block on my Laptop that runs on '95. I get internet connection, but can't seem to read either XP computer under Network Neighborhood. I do see the other '98 computer. Any suggestions on this? Again, all 4 computers are now receiving internet through the Linksys AP/Router. All 4 computers are running the TCP/IP protocal.

Thanks....

[LinkSys101]

hmmm have you tried checking your signal strength? and also the distance. try placing it on 9 feet. my Girlfriend has the same set-up just like yours and same problem also.

try checking the distance. and also have you made sure that they have the same SSID, same channel.

Is your wep encryption enabled?

[Greenstead]

Thats interesting - I never saw other posts about problems with the WMP11 before.

Anyway...moving on.

All PCs get to the internet so that proves NICs, drivers, TCP/IP and addressing and subnets are good.

XP is a tart - it will let anyone look at its network shares. (You're using XP home, or XP Pro with simple file sharing enabled?)

Presumably both the XP PCs can see each others shares ? (this to prove that you have network shares correctly setup).

From my checklist that leaves:

- All PCs have the same workgroup.
- All PCs have a unique computer name.
- ALL PCs have network shares defined directly under c:.
- MS Client and file & printer sharing are checked on each NIC.
- All NICs have their node type = broadcast or Hybrid (check with Ipconfig /all or winipcfg).
- XP's ICF firewall is permanently disabled.
- All 3rd party firewalls are disabled and uninstalled and deleted (until connection is working).

- Can you ping the XP IP addresses from the 9X PCs and vice versa?
- Can you ping the XP computernames from the 9X PCs and vice versa?
- Can you map a drive from 9X to XP using the XP IP address ?

[clemgrad85]

Greenstead....thanks for the suggestions....they'll have to wait till this evening to try out. As for the WMP11....I agree about not hearing about many problems....the WMP11 is on one of my other computers (with XP) and it works great. I would point out that the one that I recently had problems with was their new version 2.7. All I can say is the only difference between the Linksys setup and the Siemens setup was that one was internal (linksys) and the other was external. Maybe that was the problem. Anyway, thanks again for your help!

[clemgrad85]

Greenstead.....under the "WINS" tab on the host XP machine I was able to "enable" the NetBIOS over TCP/IP. I thought that would allow my WIN 95 machine to then see the XP machines (it does see the WIN 98 machine), but it still doesn't. However, I noticed under "Advanced TCP/IP Settings" there was a tab for TCP/IP "Filtering". Should I enable that as well?

As for the other suggestions, all PCs have TCP/IP installed, they should now have NetBIOS over TCP/IP enabled (except for the question above involving "filtering"), all have the same workgroup name and unique computer names, MS Client and File & Printer Sharing are checked, and the XP firewalls are disabled. My WIN 95 machine does have a third party firewall, but it only seems to be activated when I'm using my company's VPN (they would have a cow if I even thought about, or even tried to figurre out, how to disconnect the firewall). The only step I'm unsure of in your list is the one involving "All NiCs have their node type = broadcast or hydrid". What is that and where do I check that?

Ok...thanks for any help. What's funny, the only machine that can "see" all 3 other machines is the WIN 98 PC. The XPs see all but the 95. Ok....I'll stop rambling....thanks!

Jimmy

[Greenstead]

The TCP/IP filtering should be ok if you have not ever changed it (it should show all ports permitted).

Since you say the 98PC can see all the others then the node type should be ok on all PCs.

You didn't confirm all PCs have a network share setup.

Are you still using any other protocols on the PCs (e.g.Netbeui).

When you say the 98PC can see all the others - what do you mean - can it see into the shared folders on all the other PCs?

When you say the XP PCs cannot see the 95PC - do you mean they do not even see the 95PC under workgroup or is it access to the shares that is a problem.

Are there any error messages ?

You could try the following:
- From each PC try to ping the IP addresses of the other PCs. Do you get success or timeouts?
- If you can ping an IP you should be able to map a drive to the PC using the IP address e.g. map to \\192.168.1.3\shared

[clemgrad85]

When I say the '98 PC can "see" all 3 other PCs, I mean I can go to Network Neighborhood, see all 4 (including itself) PCs, and open files on each machine. On the XP PCs, when I go to Network Neighborhood, I only see and have access to the XP machines.....the '95 and '98 do not appear under the Network Neighborhood or Workgroup. The '95 PC, though it does get internet connection, does not list either XP machine as being available under Network Neighborhood. As for the protocal question, I do have NetBEUI active under both the '95 and '98 machines. I had taken it off of the '95 machine, but when I took it off I could no longer see the '98 PC, so I reinstalled it. NetBEUI is not on either XP machine. Your question about "confirming all PCs have a network share setup", I'm not real clear on. Where would I find that? And finally, I get no error messages.

I will try pinging the machines later, but hopefully this answers most of your questions.....thanks again!