Bought New Laptop And Wireless Router

[navydoc2]

I bought a new laptop and the guy at Best Buy told me that I needed to buy a wire less router to get it to work i.e. get on ineternet. I followed the directions carefully and I am not able to get it to work. something about a firewall on the laptop prevention connection. Can anyone help me. Thanks. Wife wants to pay geek squad.

[Pete53]

You don't need Geek Squad just a kid who uses computer.

[Eric_M]

go into the control panel and disable the windows firewall.

[john999]

Disable the firewall. The firewall is there to protect your computer. These firewalls often interact with anti-virus programs, and you can't even get your email. If you have a good anti-virus program that should be enough. When I enable my firewall and virus protection I can't get anything from the internet. Windows has a firewall and many virus programs include a firewall. I remember a program called "black ice". It protected my computer from intruderes. It also raised hell with my email and my anti-virus protection. I am not a geek, but you do need a router for the laptop.

[Berta]

I was interested in wireless myself-and wanted to try it at my car dealer place when they changed my oil.They let customers use the PC in their waiting room and had just upgraded to wireless.But The Mouse was broke already-no one knew what to do about that.

I am on satelite access and my PC man definitely said don't go wireless on satelite--and he fixed me up with a brand new PC-regular tower, external hard drive and external 3 1/2-and 22 inch screen-and new printer scanner fax machine-

I stopped using IE too- Foxfire Mozilla seems faster.

My girl friend went through the same thing- his sole mate- she needed the router too for laptop.

and he didnt exactly install Vista at all-something is ready for it in the PC when they get the Vista kinks out.

I don't have Word but instead Office,Org which I like but everything seems different.

[navydoc2]

I did that John and it still won't work, on top of that when I switch to the router my desk top computer won't let me onto the internet. I may have to ask a geek pete don't want to but getting frustrated. Did your friend get it to work Berta?

[Notorious Kelly]

Doc- sounds like you may have more than one device trying to control your internet.

Do you have a cable modem, DSL, what?

The basics are- your internet connection coming from cable box would go to input of router, then you can plug in to router or use wireless connection.

[out_here04]

i'm not a certified geek per se, but i do have some experience with an alltel air card that i just upgraded to work with a router, only because i got my wife a netbook and she wanted to get on the internet at the same time i was on my laptop.

if it is just one laptop to get online, you didn't need a router, just an air card that is like a drone of a phone that dials up the internet like a phone dials up another user. mine cost about $60 a month from alltel and all i did was install the software from the disk and plug the air card into a usb port

when we decided to go with the router, this month, it was loading the router software onto my laptop and going from there. i STILL had to have the air card plugged into the router to get the internet signal. i do this because i'm in the sticks and dsl is not available. so, i'm wondering, just to ask the stupid question of which there is none except the one not asked.... do you have a dsl cable OR an air card going into your router? the router itself, from what i know about it, will not get you on the internet, it is merely a "splitter" that sends the signal to different computers within your LAN, or local access network. once that is achieved you can connect to it wirelessly, if you have the capability, or else have to hard-wire into it using the WAN port(s) of the router.

finally, when i programmed my router, it's a cyfre 3g wi-fi router (so it may be totally different from yours) the installation wizard got to a page where i had to insert my address (my air card's "phone" number @alltel.net. then it had a password which was "alltel", i think. anyway, i had to call my provider, alltel, to figure this out, they referred me to not just regular techs but the specialized geeks, way back in the building, i imagine.

now, this may have all been for naught, and nothing to do with your problem, which may simply be a firewall issue, but in case any of this helps anybody, this is my router experience.

...oh, and i can still use my air card in my usb port if i go mobile with my laptop. just disconnect it from the router and off we go.

of course, anybody without an air card or extra gadget like a router can go to a taco bell or other "hot spots" and just have their computer search for wi-fi signals.

hope this helps someone more than confuses. it is still mind-boggling to me how this works and i have to read and reread instructions and ask the techies to speak very slowly.

[out_here04]

last thing, i switched the router to my desktop pc and now leave the router on (don't know if that's a good idea beyond power waste, but i'm in the sticks so drive-by info-stealers aren't a big concern, maybe they should be...)

when i tried to get my laptop to connect to the relocated router (with air card) it couldn't find it at first, but my laptop has a blue-light button by the power button that is a "wireless assistant". i turned it on and it found the router.

[navydoc2]

Doc- sounds like you may have more than one device trying to control your internet.

Do you have a cable modem, DSL, what?

The basics are- your internet connection coming from cable box would go to input of router, then you can plug in to router or use wireless connection.

I have dsl kelly, I thought it would be that easy but I have any idea what I'm doing wrong.

[navydoc2]

i'm not a certified geek per se, but i do have some experience with an alltel air card that i just upgraded to work with a router, only because i got my wife a netbook and she wanted to get on the internet at the same time i was on my laptop.

if it is just one laptop to get online, you didn't need a router, just an air card that is like a drone of a phone that dials up the internet like a phone dials up another user. mine cost about $60 a month from alltel and all i did was install the software from the disk and plug the air card into a usb port

when we decided to go with the router, this month, it was loading the router software onto my laptop and going from there. i STILL had to have the air card plugged into the router to get the internet signal. i do this because i'm in the sticks and dsl is not available. so, i'm wondering, just to ask the stupid question of which there is none except the one not asked.... do you have a dsl cable OR an air card going into your router? the router itself, from what i know about it, will not get you on the internet, it is merely a "splitter" that sends the signal to different computers within your LAN, or local access network. once that is achieved you can connect to it wirelessly, if you have the capability, or else have to hard-wire into it using the WAN port(s) of the router.

finally, when i programmed my router, it's a cyfre 3g wi-fi router (so it may be totally different from yours) the installation wizard got to a page where i had to insert my address (my air card's "phone" number @alltel.net. then it had a password which was "alltel", i think. anyway, i had to call my provider, alltel, to figure this out, they referred me to not just regular techs but the specialized geeks, way back in the building, i imagine.

now, this may have all been for naught, and nothing to do with your problem, which may simply be a firewall issue, but in case any of this helps anybody, this is my router experience.

...oh, and i can still use my air card in my usb port if i go mobile with my laptop. just disconnect it from the router and off we go.

of course, anybody without an air card or extra gadget like a router can go to a taco bell or other "hot spots" and just have their computer search for wi-fi signals.

hope this helps someone more than confuses. it is still mind-boggling to me how this works and i have to read and reread instructions and ask the techies to speak very slowly.

I started to go with the aircard but decided against it because I don't want a monthly payment, my wife will only be using the laptop at home anyway and if I take it to school then they like you said have wi fi access. I was getting a firewall message but now that i've disabled my firewall its still not working. So people can hack into your router and steal information, did not know that. thanks all who advised.

[out_here04]

you can set security on your router pretty good, like a firewall. others can better advise. right now i don't have security turned on my router, but i don't live very close to anybody. i have heard of people stealing info, credit card info, passwords from one apartment to the other. it's not that hard to turn on the security settings.

also, i just tried to link my wife's nintendo dsi (internet capable) to the router and it found the router but would not connect. from the dsi i tried to find the router, like i had previously with my laptop. my router is now on my desktop pc like a server with the others "slaves" i think they are called. the message says: "unable to obtain an IP address. check your access point settings. so my next step is to try to find the dsi FROM the desktop pc through the router software instead of the other way around.

your problem may be similar in that you need to get your laptop searching for the router's specific ip address (mine came with it's own that started 192. with several other three-digit numbers after separated by dots. it might be a common ip address, not sure. OR you need to get your router (if attached to your desktop pc to call out to the router's specific ip address.

experts chime in any time.

[out_here04]

that last sentence should read:

OR you need to get your router (if attached to your desktop pc to call out to your laptop, with its IP address incoming from the source.

[out_here04]

ORRR... call your DSI Internet Service Provider customer service or technical support and have THEM walk you through connection of your home network. they should be responsive since you are the customer who wants to fully utilize their fine product.

[Eric_M]

If you are using dsl your configuration should look something like this:

DSL modem - plugged into phone jack.

wireless router - plugged into DSL mdoem.

Make sure everything has lights on = power. Usually they will indicate you are online.

Your laptop should look for the wifi signal. It will then walk you through the log-in process.

If you've done all of the above, and disabled the firewall, and still no internet, try unplugging it all, then plugging it all back in.

If all else fails, yeah call your internet provideer.

[navydoc2]

If you are using dsl your configuration should look something like this:

DSL modem - plugged into phone jack.

wireless router - plugged into DSL mdoem.

Make sure everything has lights on = power. Usually they will indicate you are online.

Your laptop should look for the wifi signal. It will then walk you through the log-in process.

If you've done all of the above, and disabled the firewall, and still no internet, try unplugging it all, then plugging it all back in.

If all else fails, yeah call your internet provideer.

Thanks I tried that and I'm left with calling my ISP provider.

[Ricky]

Thanks I tried that and I'm left with calling my ISP provider.

If you have your security settings on the ROUTER on (look for instructions on WEP for your router) then you will have to enter the MAC address for your wireless card into the router.

One other cause could be that when you hook up the DSL or cable to the router which will have a different address than your DSL or cable modem your ISP's system detects/will not reconize it because it has a different address than your DSL or cable modem. 99 percent of the the time this is the problem which causes you to pull you hair out cause no where in the dang instructions for your new router does it tell you that changing from your already in place modem (which is actually a router) will require a call to your ISP to let them know you have hooked up a wireless router. During the phone call once they have verified all of the security stuff on your account they will say, yep we see it and then authorize it - an low and behold you can now connect!

[out_here04]

hopefully you've resolved this issue by now, navydoc.

if you haven't or for anybody trying the same, i offer a similar experience:

i've since my last post went back into my router to turn on the security feature, chose wep, as clownman mentioned. there are stronger selections but some hardware (such as the nintendo i mention below) does only up to wep.

this gets way involved and you learn new stuff like entering a ten-digit hex code (your router's password that prevents just anybody from the street or next door from tapping into your home network --i just wrote down one through ten (to get the right amount of numbers)and above each enter either a number between 0-9 or a letter A-F (this is computer science stuff and has to be that way) in any combination you write down or remember --write it down and keep it safe; by the way this is similar to when you activate a new cell phone with your phone company -- they need the ten digit number (hex code) from the area visible when you remove your battery).

on IP addresses, if this is the issue: i linked my wife's nintendo dsi (internet capable) to the router. the nintendo screen said to contact nintendo online for further assistance when i got stuck. at their web page it told how to insert into the nintendo the correct IP address (which was an increase by 10 of a last part of the IP address number to differentiate the two, sub mask host number (which is different) and a separate server number (which i think was the exact same as the IP address). because i had made my router secure (see above) i had to enter the hex-code number to get past my router's wep security feature.

the reason i mention the nintendo is because you may have to go through a similar process to get your laptop "talking" to your router and to ultimately get on the internet.

this can get quite frustrating if you still insist on doing it yourself, rather than contacting the internet service providers or geek squad, etc, so it helps to take breaks between so this doesn't overwhelm you. at least i had to.

hope this helps somebody out there in vetland

out

[out_here04]

found something that helps explain how to figure out the IP (internet protocol) address when tinkering with your gadgets:

Find the IP Address of a Network Device

http://compnetworking.about.com/od/finding...work_Device.htm

What Is the IP Address of a Router?

http://compnetworking.about.com/od/working...outeripaddr.htm

[out_here04]

to further complicate or decipher, i don't know which, i did plug in the nintendo's MAC address into my router's settings, viewable by going to the correct http://192. web address and selecting MAC edit. i don't know if that had anything at all to do with my wife's nintendo dsi working, but i never entered anything about my laptop's MAC address.

my air card is plugged into the back of the router's usb port so it automatically detected it, too.

found this on understanding MAC addresses. seeing more and more that there is a reason geek squads are needed and worth the cost, if you can pay them.

http://compnetworking.about.com/sitesearch...&TopNode=99