Hey all of you computer savvy people,

I recently setup comcast cable internet at my house. I bought the Linksys WRT54G wireless router. It has been setup and is running great. I have a strong signal, but I'm wired to it. So that part works fine. I then setup the laptop in the house to be on the network; excellent connection works great.

Two down with one to go and I was on a roll; considering I'm new to the whole networking thing.

I wired the last computer, a desktop running XP Home Edition, to the router; as were the instruction to do so. I connected to the internet and everything was going well, I downloaded all the lastest updates for the firewalls and anti-virus software. The last step was to download and run a program off linksys.com to setup the computer to be wireless.

Foolishly before I did the final step I decided to tweak some of the internet options. I noticed on this computer it had a dial-up option setup, MSN, under connections, in Internet options; which was how it previously connected to the internet. I decided that it was not necessary because this was cable internet which was directly plugged into the computer via ethernet and was about to be wireless; so I deleted the dial-up connection option.

Now I cannot connect to the internet at all on the computer. The computer keeps trying to dial-up the connection. I have tried to setup a new network connection, a new dial up connection, and a broadband connection; nothing works. This computer does have a USb wireless adapter attached to it; a 802.11g which is setup on the network.


This is where you computer savvy guys come in, if someone out there has any clues whatsoever please reply and I will try them out.

Thanks as always for the info.

Does the router have an option to turn everything back to it's "Default" settings.
I'd be looking for something like this to start with then start the setup process again without deleting anything.

Just my 2 cents worth :-)

ok....I just re-read your post.

Forget about the router settings.

You should have just set your Internet settings to "Never dial a connection" and then set up using the "Set up a connection" wizard for a Broadband connection and make it the default connection.

When did you do this?

If you know what date it was use Windows System Restore to undo what you did.

click start/programs/accessories/system tools/system restore

Choose a date from before you changed or deleted settings.

Follow on-screen direstions.

I tried doing a system restore for a few days earlier. This worked by giving the original MSN dial-up connection but I still have no connection to the internet. I swear I have tried everything, but must be missing some small detail. Please offer any advise you have.

-Thanks

Use the make a new wireless connection wizard in your control panel to set up a new connection to your router.

stat/settings/control panel/wireless network setup wizard

I feel like I already tried that, but I will try again when I get off of work tonight. Is there anything else that I might try; in case you are not online later tonight?

I went in to setup a new wireless network and it prompted me to add a new computer to my linksys router. I used my thumb drive to copy all the info from the computer already on the network. When I openned the thumb drive it asked if I wanted to add this computer to my network, I clicked okay.
This message poped up:

--The wizard cannot create a wireless network, either because a wireless network adapter is not installed or because software for the wireless adapter is not installed.--

The wireless adapter was used at my previous house on another network. I no longer have the software to install the drivers needed. I will search the web and see if I can get them from the vendor for free. If not is there some other way to install this device on this computer again without the specific software, or do I need to just go and buy a new wireless adapter?

Thanks again for all your help. I hope I can help out someday as well.

is the computer still wired to the router?
if so go to start...control panel...switch to classic view...network connections...local area connection.
click on the support tab is the address type assinged by dhcp? it should be 192.168.x.x.

if this is the case then your tcp/ip is connecting to the router.

next open internet explorer. go to tools internet options...connections tab. set to never dial a connection click on the lan settings button click automatically dectet settings.

try to access a web site.
yes done

no
start...run type "cmd" enter

ping router 192.168.1.0 or 192.168.0.1 cant remember off top of head.
success then ping 66.94.234.13
is success the ping yahoo.com

if you can ping by number not name then dns error

disable fire wall and try again if succesful then check fire wall settings.

you can bypass the trouble shooting and turn off fire wall first but we wont know witch layer is affected.

also try booting in safe mode and trying I have seen norton not disable when it says it has.

So I finally got around to trying this lastest suggestion. The attempt at configuring the local area connection failled. So I tried to ping the router. 192.168.0.1 worked fine but it failed to reach 66.94.234.13 and yahoo.com also failed.

I'm currently removing the old Norton files, because I now own different PC protection software. I will not update this computer with the new software until it is fully connected to the internet.

I will try again, and then again in safe mode.

I thought I would drop a line and see if anyone had any ideas about what is happening with the current updates in information concerning this situation.

-Thanks all for the help, keep up the good work.

I would guess that this is a firewall issue with an installed software firewall. If it's not the case, then there's something in the networking setup that's preventing a network connection outside of your LAN.

For starters, I'd suggest resetting your TCP/IP. Here's a link: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=299357

Could I not be receiving a ping response because my host computer has a firewall that does not accept ICMP requests??

It's possible - but IMO opinion not really likely.

To troubleshoot this sort of connectivity problem, it's advisable to disable all the security stuff (physically disconnect the cable to stay off the web whenever possible and watch your connection when connected to ensure you're not being hacked!). Then attempt to setup the basic network again, ensure that it works, then add the security stuff back in (testing each iteration to ensure that the problem hasn't resurfaced).

Have you checked the device manager to be sure the wireless usb is enabled and functioning properly?

I actually had not yet installed the wireless router drivers. BUT....

I finally got it to work. Wired at least, I can now connect to the internet thru the router just fine. YEAH!!!

Now I have downloaded and installed the wireless adapter drivers, and have setup a network connection for the computer to recognize and run the internet thru a wireless connection via the router.

Now for the new problem, I can't seem to get a strong connection, wirelessly. First it said there was not a good enough connection, or strong enough signal. Now it won't even show my network as an option in network connection.

What is going on...???

The device manager says everything is working properly. Strange though it seems to have two network adapters; the one I just installed and a REALTEK, maybe that is the ethernet connection, I'm not sure yet. I will do some research, but if anyone knows anything please respond

Thanks as always for the help.

When I first got my laptop (Toshiba M45) I was upset that I couldn't connect to anything wirelessly. And the manual was no help at all! I could connect with a cable - but the wireless just wouldn't work!

Then I stumbled up a reference to a switch for the wireless adapter and found that I hadn't turned it on! Boy was my face red!

I would have thought the above issue was due to having no default gateway address set in the wireless TCP/IP properties. This would stop any connections to the outside IP addresses but still allow internal connection.

Was this signal strength issue happened since the begining? Are you a long way from the router or through lots of walls. Wireless is not too good at going long distances through brick.

The REALTEK will be the ethernet port. No need to really worry about what the device manager says about the wireless as this is only going to tell you if the components are working but nothing to do with the signal.

The the other computer is actually 5ft away in the same room. This is really strange, it should be so easy; a perfectly strong signal should be available.

I will search around for an option to turn on the the wireless adapter. Any leads would be nice.

-Thanks guys for the help, hopefully this will all be resolved soon.

It sounds to me like the wireless adaptor is allready turned on or you would have no signal. This to me sounds like a environmental issue.

Does the signal strength increase if you are close to the wireless router?