Buggy wireless/ roommate's router / Limited or no connectivity

I just moved and we got the cable switched on today. I was connected to the internet before, and when my roommate set the security on the router I got kicked off. Ever since then I get "limited or no connectivity"

I'm using a Gateway laptop and my wireless has always been a little buggy and hard to get working. In the past I've just called tech support and they send me to a bunch of pages and somehow it gets fixed. But I called linksys and they said that the model router my roommate has (WRT54G v. 2) is too old, and if I want tech support I'll have to pay $29. Help!!!!!

I'm running XP, and all of my updates are current except for the most recent ones, which I'm installing as I'm typing this. I'm also running ZoneAlarm and I have the Windows firewall disabled.

I've tried messing around with ipconfig and the TCP/IP settings and whatnot, messed with the properties of everything, nothing seems to work. What seems to be happening is that it remembers my old network key from when I had my own router at my old apartment, and it is trying to connect to this new router/network using that key. When I go in and change the key to the new one it still won't connect, and when I open up the properties again it has the old key entered.

I don't want to pay for tech support because I'm pretty much dirt poor, and I'm afraid that disconnecting my roommate's router and hooking up mine will end up causing connection problems for him. If anyone has any idea what to do, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

 

Can you hook up directly to the router via a CAT5?
Are you DHCP or static?
Have you released and renewed your IP? You can do that this way:

1. Click the Start menu button on the Windows taskbar.

2. Click Run... on this menu.

3. If the computer is holding a current IP address, type 'cmd' (without the quotes) in the text box that appears. A command prompt window appears on the screen.

4. Type 'ipconfig' (without the quotes) to view the status of the computer's IP address(es).

5. If the computer is holding a current IP address, type 'ipconfig /release' to let go of the address.

6. Type 'ipconfig /renew' to obtain a new IP address (whether or not the computer is holding a current address).

 

Thanks so much for your reply...

Yes, I can connect directly to the router - that's how I posted my first message. I'm honestly not sure what DHCP means.

I tried those steps you listed and I still can't connect to our network. I'm on an insecured connection right now, so it's safe to say I can still connect wirelessly, just not using this router/network.



As I said before, the wireless has always been funny on this computer. Every time I've hooked up to a new network it's done this. The first time was at my family's house, I called Time Warner and they talked me through it. The second was when I bought my router, I called Belkin and they talked me through it. But linksys won't do anything since my roommate's router is too old, and Charter won't do anything since it's a third party router and not one of theirs.

I'm seriously thinking about asking my roommate to use my router instead. It's not as nice as his, but it's new enough that Belkin will help us get it working. But just in case he insists on using his, I figured I'd try to get some advice here.

 

Oh and also..... now it's not letting me connect at all. Before it would connect and then say limited or no connectivity, now it just sits there saying aquiring network address and never does anything.

 

hello i had plenty of trouble with my router,modem.
have you tried resetting youre router re-running software???
we put our three pc s on to modem/router via a 5port switch!!!!working ok!
not really sure if this is your prob but i give everything a try!!!
good luck!!!!
may be all the ip addresses do not match up etc .
hope this might help!!Also try a new cat 5 or cat 6 cable n press home all connections!!!!! GL ;-)

 

Thanks for your reply... my roommate FINALLY found the software for his router. We started over, deleted the network and installed the software on my computer. Now everything seems to be working fine, I'm connected with no problem and he's been able to get online fine too. Hopefully that's the end of my problems. *fingers crossed*

Thanks again to both of you that replied