katemonster
09-25-2004, 05:56 AM
OK--I have just been forcibly thrust into the world of wireless networking and it has been an incredibly unpleasant experience thus far. Mostly cause my computer does not work and I cannot figure out why. I will try to provide whatever details I know that might be relevant?
I have a netgear WT311 card (PCI) and I am running windows xp. I don't know what router I have--my landlord set up the whole network, and the router is in the basement where I cannot currently get at it. (I'm on the second floor.) I also have a laptop running windows 98 (it's eight years old...which is why I really need to get my REAL computer working) which seems to have none of the issues that my real computer has. It's sitting about six feet away getting a 60% signal while my desktop gets a 23% signal. It also stays connected while my desktop decides, very frequently, to repeatedly disconnect me. Also, my roommate, whose bedroom is next to mine and whose computer is probably all of ten feet away, has similar issues but not nearly as many. I have the latest drivers (that seemed to help for a little, but not really) and I've disabled wireless zero configuration. I really have no room to move my computer around, and I can't get to the router to move that. The worst thing is, if it disconnects me for more than about two seconds (which it VERY frequently does)--I cannot connect to the internet (even after it says the wireless has reconnected) until I restart my computer. I don't know if this could possibly have anything to do with anything, but it tells me I have an invalid IP address and when I try to release/renew, it inevitably tells me I cannot renew and I end up having to reboot. Really annoying. (I had this problem on a wired network before I moved here--not being able to renew IP address and having to reboot every time I got momentarily disconnected--and it didn't seem to happen until after I installed XP. I had had Windows 2000 before with no such problems. Should I just reinstall 2000 or what?)
This has been insanely frustrating and I really don't know what to do about it at this point. I'm very close to just saying screw this wireless cable crap, and plugging my old DSL modem back into the phone line and running all the wires around...cause that WORKED, $30 a month be damned. Sorry to be such a noob but can anyone offer any advice. Thanks. Also sorry this is so long and probably full of useless information.
I have a netgear WT311 card (PCI) and I am running windows xp. I don't know what router I have--my landlord set up the whole network, and the router is in the basement where I cannot currently get at it. (I'm on the second floor.) I also have a laptop running windows 98 (it's eight years old...which is why I really need to get my REAL computer working) which seems to have none of the issues that my real computer has. It's sitting about six feet away getting a 60% signal while my desktop gets a 23% signal. It also stays connected while my desktop decides, very frequently, to repeatedly disconnect me. Also, my roommate, whose bedroom is next to mine and whose computer is probably all of ten feet away, has similar issues but not nearly as many. I have the latest drivers (that seemed to help for a little, but not really) and I've disabled wireless zero configuration. I really have no room to move my computer around, and I can't get to the router to move that. The worst thing is, if it disconnects me for more than about two seconds (which it VERY frequently does)--I cannot connect to the internet (even after it says the wireless has reconnected) until I restart my computer. I don't know if this could possibly have anything to do with anything, but it tells me I have an invalid IP address and when I try to release/renew, it inevitably tells me I cannot renew and I end up having to reboot. Really annoying. (I had this problem on a wired network before I moved here--not being able to renew IP address and having to reboot every time I got momentarily disconnected--and it didn't seem to happen until after I installed XP. I had had Windows 2000 before with no such problems. Should I just reinstall 2000 or what?)
This has been insanely frustrating and I really don't know what to do about it at this point. I'm very close to just saying screw this wireless cable crap, and plugging my old DSL modem back into the phone line and running all the wires around...cause that WORKED, $30 a month be damned. Sorry to be such a noob but can anyone offer any advice. Thanks. Also sorry this is so long and probably full of useless information.