Wireless connection is LYING.

[ashura]

Hi, hoping somebody is a genius with this stuff. ;) I have a new Gateway laptop with a built-in wireless card, which is new for me. The card is a RealTek RTL8185. The computer is running Windows XP. At home I don't have a wireless router, so I haven't really used it yet...I'm in a hotel at the moment, which has a wireless network. It says it's connected. It says 'signal strength excellent.' Only it doesn't load webpages. I can plug into the ethernet port on the phone, and it works fine, but no luck on the wireless.

I've fiddled with everything I can find--made sure everything says it's enabled, let Windows manage the settings, and so on. I can't repair the connection because it says TCP/IP not enabled on the connection, and I'm not sure if that's a connection thing or a computer thing?

It SAYS if you encounter problems to ring the front desk, but in my experience front desk people are not usually IT people, and I doubt they'll be able to come up with anything I haven't done yet. Oh! Also, it really does seem to be the computer, because my dad, whose sharing the room, can get HIS laptop on the wireless no problem. Help me, geniuses?

[Sooner Al]

Many, but not all, hotel networks only connect you to the internet after you open IE and are redirected to the terms of service agreement page. Once you agree then you get an IP assigned and can access the internet.

Try clearing your IE cache, exit IE, then start IE again and go to some page on the internet. You should be able to get their redirected page with the agreement to say yes to.

Otherwise check to make sure you don't have to pay a fee, etc at the front desk for internet access. I ran into that in one hotel. Unless I came up with the $10 daily fee it was no access for me.

Does the hotel have a tech support hotline you can call? Most do, unless of course its a Mom & Pop type operation.

You also might try at another known public hotspot to make sure the wireless hardware works, ie. a bar (one of my favorites), a restaruant, etc.

Is the wireless hardware turned ON. Many new laptops have an on/off switch for the wireless hardware if its integrated with the machine.