help me set up this wireless network?
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Posted on May 03, 2005 05:53 pm
fortymile
Member Since: Jan 18, 2003
two questions i guess.
got a wireless card. belkin. a 'g' one. it matches the router we've got here in our house as far as the b/g thing, but the router itself is a linksys. anyway, i want to add my computer to the network if possible, and enable IT to access the other computers in the network, but allow none of the other computers in the network to access it. is this possible?
my more immediate problem: the router is a linksys and the card is belkin. i take it that if youre using a belkin router with the belkin card, the card finds the existing network and just connects you. when my card searches for available networks, though, nothing is found. the instruction manual tells me to check the router's SSID and make sure my card settings matches that. but how to you find out what the router's SSID is? i checked the only other wireless computer on the network to see what it was calling the SSID, but it says 'SSID not broadcast."
what is going on, and how can i get that info? im under the impression that if i get it, the available network in the house here will show itself to my card and allow me to choose it...
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BeerHunterwww.TheLondonProject.caMember
Since: Feb 07, 2005
May 03, 2005 06:08 pm Hey fortymile,
1) Yes you can prevent other users from accessing your network. You can acheive this a couple ways. You can setup your wireless using your MAC address. This will prevent any others from accessing your WAP (check your linksys documentation for this). Use a firewall to prevent anyone from accessing your PC.
2) By default, Linksys uses a SSID of "linksys" on channel 6 (i believe). Whomever set it up may have changed it though.
Things to check. Make sure that your card is functioning properly. In general, XP will detect all wireless networks in range so if I were to guess, I would say that the problem is with your card, not the access point.
You may need to re-install the drivers.
I know, this is kind of vague info but I only had a couple of minutes to construct a reply.
Oh ya, you can look up the setting of the WAP using a browser that is already connected to the network. You will need to know the IP address (it will be the PC gateway) of the router and the username and password to login however.
May 03, 2005 06:30 pm yeah this is not going to work. i discovered the SSID name at last by looking on the laptop. typed it in to my wireless card configuration utilty, and still the thing does not register any networks in the area.
XP says the card is working fine, so i am at a total loss.
BeerHunterwww.TheLondonProject.caMember
Since: Feb 07, 2005
May 03, 2005 06:34 pm Did you install the card first? I have found that many times I've had to install the software/drivers first, then physically install the card after.
May 03, 2005 06:40 pm did a new test. broughgt my machine out to just a few feet from the router. this time, an available network shows up in the list, but it still wont connect.
so apparently that side of the house is too far away to get a connection AND there's something wrong with what im doing. conclusion: give up on possibility of adding self to wireless network.
May 03, 2005 06:40 pm i installed the card second as the instructions said.
May 03, 2005 06:48 pm It's possible that the router has WEP or WAP encrytion enabled on it. If this is the case you will need to enable the proper encryption to your card, and use the encryption key that is assigned to the router. This can be a serious pain if you don't already know what it is. You can go into the router setup page by punching up 192.168.1.1 in a browser (From a computer on the network that is connecting, OR you can plug your computer in via an ethernet cable and get to it that way.) There should be a page in the security section that will tell you if WAP orWEP is enabled. If it is, then write down the key (Can't remember if it's visible. YOu could change the key, but then you will need to enter the new key on the other systems on the network.
The normal password for the linsys admin page is "admin" there is no user name needed.
If all of this does not work or is out of your comfort zone, hopefuly you have a geek frind like me that can come over and help. (I would but I live in Ca.)
May 03, 2005 07:09 pm ill try to get help over the next few days but let me run this by ya
i got in to the web thing for the router, thanks to your advice.
firewall protection is enabled, it says.
block anonymous internet requests: check
filter multicast: check
filter internet NAT redirection: no check
filter ident (and then a port number): check
what should i do, given this?
further gleaned info:
wireless SSID broadcast is disabled.
under 'internet access policy' there's this: 1() in a dropdown menu. (is this the number of wireless cards allowed to access the router?)
does this change anything?
May 03, 2005 09:07 pm nevermind i got it thanks
May 03, 2005 09:28 pm actually, i got it...as long as the computer is set up in the router room. move it to the other side of the house and no go. the laptop we have here works in distant parts of the house. am i to assume that this card is just weak or something as far as its range?>
May 04, 2005 10:42 am Yup. Laptop wireless cards tend to be a little bit on the weak side to reduce power consumption. You could try getting a wireless repeater for your place. (I think they are called extenders in consumer products) The repeater will slow things a tiny bit, but should extend coverage. Put it half way or so between the router and the area you need access.
May 04, 2005 12:33 pm its a desktop machine we're talking about not a laptop. i mentioned the laptop to point out that while the laptop works in distant parts of the house, the new one for the desktop does not do so well. and it even has an external antennae.
i got a connection up--it was something with the firewall. but the connection is pretty weak back there.
May 04, 2005 12:44 pm can anyone help me with a simple question? i asked this firewall question to an IT guy:
"the other question is how to get the card to talk to the router with the firewall enabled. as it stands, they will not talk to each other unless i lower the firewall on the router settings page. i see where the new wireless card's settings panel has a space for passwords and/or hex codes. perhaps the card needs to know the router's passwords or codes in order to let the router know it's to be granted access? how to find that information?"
and got this back:
"About the firewall, you have to fell the firewall program to trust you LAN or network IP address range. This will allow the traffic to pass
from the router. The IP address range for your house is (xx) - (yy). This should help that problem."
can someone explain what he's getting at here? i was talking about the *router's* firewall. is he? if he is, what am i supposed to do about it? reset the IP for the new computer i'm trying to add to something that falls between the range he gave me? if so, i dont know how to do that. didnt think it was possible.
sorry but i cant be sending this dude countless emails because he did a lot of IT stuff for free around here recently. but you guys here...thats your bloomin' job!
vdalehubbardLost for words with all to say.Contributor
Since: Sep 12, 2003
May 04, 2005 01:14 pm If you can find a section to tell what ip's to allow, do 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.1.x (x=if you have 4 computers, put a 4 there, etc.) Just remember when you add another computer to the network to add to this number.
If you can't find it, do this and I can connect to your router (hopefully without configuring your router to accept outside remoting)
Go to this page for me first:
www.whatismyip.com
Email me [email protected] and tell me what your ip address is (don't put it on the board here). I will be able to connect to your router to take a look if you like.
May 04, 2005 01:34 pm thanks vdale! i think i actually understand what you mean though. i'm going to try it and see if i get any results. i might hit you up a bit later if thats cool.
May 04, 2005 01:42 pm actually, this router has no need for me to do what you suggest. it has a 'starting IP address' field, which is the IP is begins at when issuing IP's. there's a field for telling it how many it can issue, and '10' is in that field now. so what it does, i take it, is start at the starting IP and dish out ten additionals. meaning it's already set to dish em out.
vdalehubbardLost for words with all to say.Contributor
Since: Sep 12, 2003
May 04, 2005 01:52 pm I believe so. It's giving out 10 IP address right now. So, really to stop from anybody else getting on your router to use your internet, but the number in there you need to use!
Linksys are aggravation to setup at times (made by Cisco) but are very dependable. I've been doing this for years and when I set mine up about 6 months ago in my house, I thought I would never get it to work! Especially with DSL!
May 04, 2005 03:44 pm ok, it just started working. with the firewall up.
i guess the connection is just so bad in the back of the house (11 mbps, with frequent outages) that i didnt realize it actually works.
is there like a bigger antennae i can hook up to the little one coming off the card? like maybe i can run a wire up around the top of the room and connect it to the wireless card antennae?! this connection is going to be unusable as it is.
May 04, 2005 03:45 pm also if anyone knows how to set it up where i can access files on this main computer from my remote one, thats another thing i want to be able to do. i ran the network setuip wizard and it didnt want to let me do it. said there was no reliable way to guarantee security, and that it was therefore going to put up an internet firewall or something, which might interfere with file sharing.
and of course, it didnt work and nothing happened anyway.
May 04, 2005 03:48 pm Most wireless gear makers to have signal booster antennas you can put anywhere in your house that has a plugin...
the "Shared Documents" folder should share stuff pretty easily, with only some permissions likely needing to be set regarding who the folder is shared with and such...
May 04, 2005 04:44 pm i will keep trying share documents and stuff. i thought there might be some kind of--i mean, i have a wireless connection now, but thats with the router. i need, im sure, to do something with this wizard in order to network the two computers. the network connection wizard failed because (i think) of a dropout at the moment i was running it. so i will be trying again, and working on the assumption that all you do is run this wizard thing, and voila! instant file sharing between computers.
forgive me, i am totally new at all of this.
do cantennas work as signal boosters? the pr ingles can thing? anyone ever build one?
vdalehubbardLost for words with all to say.Contributor
Since: Sep 12, 2003
May 04, 2005 10:20 pm Yeah, linksys makes boosters. Cost around $100 though, I can price you one if you want.
Try to help you with sharing folders. I hope you don't take offense if I explain where everything is at, just want to make it easier. Oh yeah, my directions is for XP. If you have something else, it will be different. Just let me know.
Make sure all computers are on the same workgroup (Right-click My Computer and go to Properties, it's under the Computer Name tab). In XP, they use the Guest account when you go from your PC to another PC's shared folder. Anyway, make sure you enable the Guest account on the PC with a shared folder (Go to Control Panel and go under User Accounts). Course, you can make any folder shareable. Just right-click the folder and select "Sharing And Security" and check mark the box to share the folder.
Hope this helps, let us know if something doesn't make sense!
May 05, 2005 10:43 am that dedicated share folder on a guest account something i've not heard before. thank you. that is now done.
what is the next step? want to know how retarded i am with this stuff?
i remember something yesterday that didnt make sense. i was on the newly-networked computer (which is now a lot more stable due to a new location) trying to get file sharing to work, and i was in a tab (add a network place i think?) and it was asking me to input a web site, ftp site, or server location (i think?) for sharing. the "examples" for the server location looked like \\server\shared or something like that. i briefly toyed around with using the name of the main pc (the one i want to access remotely via this new machine) in the "server" location in the example there. i then briefly tried to put the file path for target computer's desktop. so i wound up with something that looked like "\\deepgrey\c:...." and then i gave up because i already felt weird with the way that was looking.
so yeah, i did what ya mentioned, vdale. should i go back to that 'add network place' thing on the other machine and do something there now?
it might be important to mention to that when i go to 'my network places' and click on the workgroup icon (attempting to see which computers are connected to the network) it says i 'do not have authority to do that. please contact an admin.' or something like that. some ability is turned off.
vdalehubbardLost for words with all to say.Contributor
Since: Sep 12, 2003
May 05, 2005 10:53 am That Add a Network Place has nothing to do with sharing, so you didn't mess up anything. It's just a place where you can basically create shortcuts in My Network Places to different folders on different computers on your network. So, it was asking for address to these "shortcuts" you wanted to make.
Let me kind of go back to the beginning to see what you are doing. You have like 4 computers in a network and you want to share one folder on your main computer to share with all the rest, correct?
vdalehubbardLost for words with all to say.Contributor
Since: Sep 12, 2003
May 05, 2005 10:56 am Oh yeah, with that "do not have authority" thing, whom you are logged in as isn't administrator of that computer. If you want to be administrator, find who you are logging in as(you can find out by hitting the "Start" button on the lower left and it will say who you are logged in as on the very top), they need to be administrator to have that ability. Make this change at Control Panel>User Accounts and go into properties of that user and add them to the "administrator" group. That should do the trick.
May 05, 2005 11:06 am Let me kind of go back to the beginning to see what you are doing. You have like 4 computers in a network and you want to share one folder on your main computer to share with all the rest, correct?
yes, exactly.
but...i AM administrator on both of these computers. i'mnot quoting the error message exactly. the word 'authority' might not be used, but some other word instead. (i can check later). i get the feeling this error message has something to do with the router's settings, dont ask me why. it's something with the network itself. (remember, an IT dude set up this network--i had nothing to do with it. who knows what restrictions he put on it, thinking people around here wouldnt get too deep into networking.)
May 05, 2005 11:08 am (i think the error message is referring to 'network administrator' if there is such a thing. i am 100% sure i am admin on the computers involved here)
May 05, 2005 02:56 pm that second one looks like what i need. but it's for XP pro, and i have XP home/. ill check the net, and also some books at the store this afternoon.
thanks for those, beerhunter
May 05, 2005 03:19 pm update: if i search for computers using the search feature, XP on the remote backroom computer finds the main computer. that computer's shared folders turn up on the backroom computer's screen. 'my documents.'
but anything i *place* in that folder does not show up on the remote machine.
i want to tear out my hair.
BeerHunterwww.TheLondonProject.caMember
Since: Feb 07, 2005
May 05, 2005 03:25 pm If you were able to place files on the remote PC, that is to say that you can see them transfer, then on your remote PC, browse "My Computer" for the "shared documents" folder. Inside this folder you should see "My Documents" "My Music" etc. (going from memory here so don't quote me). It has to be there somewhere.
Another way would be to use the search function on the remote computer to search for the file(s).
May 05, 2005 03:33 pm no no sorry, i didnt explain that well. i meant that new files added to the share folder *on* the main computer would not show up when *browsing* the main computer from the remote computer.
but i just realized that that's because i searched the network for the remote computer *from* the remote computer. :) i was browsing myself and looking for files added way out on the o...oh nevermind haha.
*slaps forehead*
ill be back after some more monkeying.
May 05, 2005 03:36 pm success. thank you all!
vdalehubbardLost for words with all to say.Contributor
Since: Sep 12, 2003
May 05, 2005 03:41 pm glad to hear it! computers problems are aggravation and some of us here have to do it everyday!
BeerHunterwww.TheLondonProject.caMember
Since: Feb 07, 2005
May 05, 2005 03:51 pm Excellent!
May 05, 2005 04:47 pm oh wait! one more thing!
i just searched for the remote computer from the main computer, and the remote does not appear! this means file sharing will only work one way: main--->remote. i am going for 2-way. does this mean i have to run the network setup wizard on the main computer so it can find the remote? the network existed before i tried adding this new computer, so the wizard has not been run out here.
i want to basically end up here with full sharing ability between these two computers. the other computer on the network is not important.
May 06, 2005 05:23 pm anyone know? i'm mystified.
main computer does not show remote as being on the network, which means i cant move files from remote to main. the main computer shows up on the remote, though, and file sharing works in that direction.
i am wondering if i need to run the wizard on the main computer, but am worried that if i do, it'll mess up the existing network somehow.
