Wireless connection stuck on "acquiring network address

[OllieN]

This may not be much help ... apologies in advance.

I have had this problem - or very similar - in the past but I can't really remember the details.

I think the problem was largely that windows and the configuration utility provided by the manufacturer kept battling to take control of configuring the connection, with each logon it would be 'flip a coin' to see who thinks they are controlling it today. In the end I have opted to automatically start the Ralink utility on login and that seems to persuade winodows that it should use that to control the profile. It still however does not connect first time every time and I have to disconect and reconnect on occasion.

The other side issue seemed to be that the connection would never connect properly until NIS had finished starting up - make a cup of tea time. That seems to be better now I have dumped norton and got zone alarm instead

Hope some of this helps...

 

[DIYm1]

Wavey! I use channel 8 which is not popular.
Will give another channel a try and see, good thinking...
Thanks

Ollien - Thanks for sharing your experience. Indeed, I do think it is a "compatibility" issue...

 

[WaveyDave]

Wavey! I use channel 8 which is not popular.
Will give another channel a try and see, good thinking...
Thanks

Ollien - Thanks for sharing your experience. Indeed, I do think it is a "compatibility" issue...

There is an element of cross-over with the channels, the only safe ones to use with no crossover are 1, 6 and 11. These don't overlap. Failing that, have you tried updating the network card drivers? I notice further back that you've disabled the software for the wireless card, and are now using the Windows Zero Config setup, in my experience this is very flaky. As Ollie implies above, you might want to try disabling zero config and using the installed software instead. You can disable it by unticking the "use windows to configure my wireless network settings" in the configuration of the network card.

 

[DIYm1]

Hi again

Still no luck. Have tried the following:

Changing channel
Changing the mode of the router
when i ping the router form the laptop, it says it cannot find the host

I wish I could diaable Win zero config and use the laptop network card software - but the latter has been bios amin locked by my work IT dept

I do believe this is the problem ie that windows software is not able to communicate with the router.

btw, do you know what autoconfiguration from ipconfig/all is?
Am asking because, the laptop is saying that it is not enabled... so this may have something to do with the current problem???

 

[Igorian]

If this is a work PC, have they locked it down?

 

[DIYm1]

Igorian - No, they have not as we need to use the wireless in our work g when going abroad....
However, they have BIOS loecked the dell wireless software. I can use the same laptop to pick up the wireless network at work...

 

[Igorian]

Igorian - No, they have not as we need to use the wireless in our work g when going abroad....
However, they have BIOS loecked the dell wireless software. I can use the same laptop to pick up the wireless network at work...

Errm, what does "BIOS locked the Dell wireless software" actually mean?

If you want, I could arrange to remote in to your laptop and check the settings. Email me (address is in my profile).

 

[WaveyDave]

Hi again

Still no luck. Have tried the following:

Changing channel
Changing the mode of the router
when i ping the router form the laptop, it says it cannot find the host

I wish I could diaable Win zero config and use the laptop network card software - but the latter has been bios amin locked by my work IT dept

I do believe this is the problem ie that windows software is not able to communicate with the router.

btw, do you know what autoconfiguration from ipconfig/all is?
Am asking because, the laptop is saying that it is not enabled... so this may have something to do with the current problem???

The autoconfiguration disabled is due to the fact that you're not using a DHCP IP address. What IP address does your laptop have, and what IP address does your wired deskop have? Can you post an IPCONFIG for each of them?

 

[DIYm1]

Igorian - Thanks for your offer to help, but it is a work laptop, so cannot let u access it remotely!

Yes, my gut feeling is that win cannot autoconfigurate the laptop to link up with the router
ip of laptop is 0.0.0.0 hence no link-up
DHCP server is however enabled on the laptop

I will check the configuration of desktop tonight

 

[DIYm1]

WaveyDave - here goes re ipconfig/all:

Dell Latop:

Adapter Description - 1390 WLAN Mini-Card
Physical Address - etc....
DHCP enabled - yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled - no
IP address - 0.0.0.0
Subnet Mask - 0.0.0.0
Default Gateway
DHCP Class ID - wlanip
DHCP Server - 255.255.255.255

Deskstop (linked via ethernet cable):

Adapter Description - Realtek etc...
Physical Address - etc....
DHCP enabled - yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled - yes
IP address - 192.168.0.2
Subnet Mask - 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway - 192.168.0.1
DHCP Server - 192.168.0.1
DNS Servers - 192.168.0.1
Leases etc....

So from above, 3 things stand out which explain the nproblem that I have:

1. Autoconfiguration for laptop is NOT enabled which is weird as the Windows set-up indicates it should be on
2. Difference in DHCP server ip address?
3. I don't know the relevance of DNS servers address...

Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[WaveyDave]

when you go to control panel, network connections, right click on wireless network connection and choose properties, double click TCP/IP, does it say obtain IP address automatically?

Strange that if it is set for DHCP, it's not getting an address. Usually an unallocated IP address would default the network card to 162.....

DNS, subnet mask and Default Gateway will all have an effect, but until we've worked out what's going on with the IP address we don't really want to allocate a static address, especially as you use it on your work wlan.

 

[tim west]

Has the DHCP setting a range from min to max? ie has the allocation reached the max setting already?

 

[DIYm1]

when you go to control panel, network connections, right click on wireless network connection and choose properties, double click TCP/IP, does it say obtain IP address automatically?

Yes
This is a mystery indeed

Tim - How do I check the DHCP range.
If you are referring the ip address allocation that the router handles to assign to attached device, then the range is more than enough ie 192.168.0.2 to .....0.254

what i am going to try next is to download the driver of the network card from dell and see...

 

[WaveyDave]

Had another thought. Have you got MAC address filtering switched on at the router? If you have, have you registered the MAC address of the wireless card registered?

 

[DIYm1]

Hi Wave..

Yes I do have MAC control on router
and yes, I have registered the laptop on there...


I think if and when we crack this mystery, we'll be an expert in wireless connection set-up

I just hope IT from work does not mind me downloading that driver...
- probably my last hope...