home wireless networking hell

I recently had the Geek Squad install a home wireless network. The router runs off a wired desktop and the ISP is Charter cable. I have one laptop connected to the netwwork. After installation and again after re-installation, not only does the wirelss network shut down, but my wired internet via cable shuts down as well. I cannot connect through Firefox nor AOL. The only way to restore the wired internet connection is detach the router and go back to where I began. Charter says it's the router and the Geek Squad says it may be Charter and may be the router. Any words of wisdom would be appreciated.
Thanks, rb3bm4

 

BTW.....when you connect directly to the modem:

Power off machine and modem
Connect machine to the modem
Power on modem and wait 35 seconds and then power on the system.

 

I bought an old linksys router (wireless-B) and I genneraly have no problems with it, although from time to time I have to unplug the power adapter from the back.

I also use charter. I'm going to to give you pics of some of my settings.

 

Actually, now that I think about, I have a hard time using both ethernet and wireless at the same time. And my laptop does not switch between the two very well either. I have to restart my computer every time . I currently use my laptop and my pockpc on my wireless network.


At one time, I had my charter user name in "host name" and charter.net as my "domain name". I also had MTU's enabled and set for 1492 size, and speed and duplex set at "100mb full". Recently, I accidently reset the router, and I started over. And it works now without me having to fiddle with those settings.

I don't have my wireless network encrypted. I just hide my SSID and I filter based on Mac Addresses. I could never get it to work. If I were you I would start with having your SSID broadcast openly, and all your security features disabled. Therefore, make it as easy as possible to get on. And if you can get on, then one by one add a security feature, such as hiding yoru SSID, to see if it still works.

I have attached my basic setup page.

 

Thanks for the advice. Both the desktop and the laptop will link to the internet through the modem just fine absent the router. I guess that would suggest a router problem. I've tried the disconnect/reconnect sequence but it doesn't seem to be a long-term solution. It will work fine with Firefox and/or AOL temporarily but it never re-establishes the wireless. All frustrating because I end up worse off then when I started. Not only no wireless but no wired.
rb3bm4

 

I use internet explorer as my browser.

 

It is a Linksys router. At present it's disconnected so I can use the wired connection. When I try 192.168.1.1 in Firefox, I get a "connection refused" message.
rb3bm4

 

That's wierd.

 

On mine, the default password is "admin", and the usnername is blank