Gateway Notebook wireless problem

[mphayes]

Hello,
I have been working on my sister inlaws wireless network for a few weekends now and I've stumped myself and gateways tech support.

The problem is that I can get the wireless to communicate with her router at my house but when I set it up at her house it does not work. When it is at her house I get a NO Netork available " message. Using the utilities for the wireless Network I can see the router and see the signal strength but I can not connect to it.

The computer has both wireless and wired built in. The wireless is 802.11g. OS is XP. Router is Linksys befw11s4 with the latest firmware.

After about an hour on the phone with gateway, the Tech concluded that there is a hardware problem and needs some warranty work. This made sense untill I set her router up at my house turned on the notebook and connected without any changes in settings.

Mike

[Greenstead]

I didn't know centrino were shipping 11g yet. You must be on the cutting edge. Since the befw11s4 is only 11b you must be connecting with that and the centrino is in 11b mode.

I guess you're sure that the test that worked at your house doesn't have any other wireless network in range (could even be a neighbour).

Since you have established that the laptop and centrino are working, it may be at your inlaws house that there is interference preventing the connection, though I find it unlikely you would be unable to get any connection at all. You could try shifting the wireless channel in the router from 1 to 11, the laptop will follow it.

I have a feeling there is more to this than there seems.

[mphayes]

Yes I'm sure that there is no oter network available when I test it at my house. Also should mention that when I am at her house there is a desktop computer that does work wirelessly with the router. It is a Linksys 802.11b card. I have turned that computer off to make sure that it was not interfering but no help.

I will check a few other channels next time I'm there. So far I have stuck with the default that is Channel 6.

I'm wondering if the problem the signal detection for the laptop using 802.11g is more sensitive to interference.

[g4t3k33p0r]

Greenstead,

The laptop would have been purchased too early to be a Centrino laptop due to the fact that it has 802.11g. However, Gateway will VERY soon be shipping the (802.11g) Intel Pro/Wireless 2200bg chip in its 450 Series notebook computers. Keep an eye out for it! I myself use a Gateway 450X Centrino laptop with 802.11b. It's been treating me quite well...and the only problems I encounter are caused by humans and faulty programming (OS, progs, etc) - not inherently hardware-related (Gateway).


MPHayes,

You certainly do have a real stumper there. What gets me is that it works at your place, but not at hers. I presume that you are using default settings for the router in both locations. No MAC filtering, no WEP encryption, default SSID, default username/password, etc. The only other factors would have to be around your sister-in-law's house. As you suggested, interference could have a lot to do with it. That's something I'd heard too about the bandwidth used by 802.11g. Bluetooth, for example, can be poison for the connection. And, yes, it is quite possible that there are nearby neighbors using Bluetooth.

Also, have you checked the router setup on each desktop (at your place and hers) to which the router is connected? Are they set up exactly the same?



g4t3k33p0r

[g4t3k33p0r]

MPHayes,

I have noticed that, sometimes, it just takes a bit of time before the laptop actually completes association and authentication with the wireless LAN, even with default settings on its router. Once, it actually took approximately 5 minutes before I got a connection. The problem may also have something to do with DHCP leasing since there is another wireless client in the network at your sister-in-law's house, but that might be reaching. That's normally an issue with many other clients on the network.

Make sure that the laptop has the router's SSID at the top of the list when it (WinXP) automatically does its scan for the router.



g4t3k33p0r

[mphayes]

Problem Solved

Turned out is was fixed by Greenstead's sugggestio of changing the default channel. Default was 6 I changed it to 11 and it works just like ts supposed to. Cant believe I spent several weekends when all I had to do was point and click.

Thanks for all of the help

[g4t3k33p0r]

Good job, Greenstead!!!


g4t3k33p0r