In Fits Over Inconsistent Connectivity - "Help me, Obi-Wan!"

I just got great help for an email problem, and I thought all was good with our network, which has been funking and flaking out for several days (we think due to changes at our ISP).

Now, however, I'm having fits with my LINKSYS WRT54G router. We have a mixed network. Our wired PCs are connecting to the ISP okay (after quite a bit of fiddling, including a visit to 192), but my laptop could not even "see" our network.

Okay. I went to 192.168.1.1 and found that the SSID had defaulted to the generic instead of my SSID. When I changed that, I found I could again "see" the network from the laptop, but it was listed as having WPA security (I have 128 WEP). I changed this on the 192, where I found the router had defaulted to WPA.

Okay, so now the network is showing up as simply being secured, but it has changed from "automatic" to "manual" in the upper right-hand corner, and it won't connect. It just tries for a long time with the message "waiting for network" and then times out.

Do I need to start over with our network . . . ? Hope not. The original configuration was very difficult for me to accomplish. And the LINKSYS disk didn't work.

I am home recovering from a depressive episode and my partner is home getting a steroid IV for an MS attack. Yes, really. We sure don't need all this PC trouble!

This was at the end of my post "Warning, Will Robinson!", but I thought it needed a thread of its own.

Please help me if you are able to do so. I urgently need to connect wirelessly with my work laptop.

Many Thanks,

Laurel

 

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : hal
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : hsd1.il.comcast.net.

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : hsd1.il.comcast.net.
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8139 Family PCI Fast Eth
rnet NIC
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-01-6C-A6-6E-F9
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.102
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, July 01, 2010 12:49:28 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Friday, July 02, 2010 12:49:28 PM

 

Yes, with extreme difficulty (no space).

It's done.

I assume I need to switch the wireless key and restart. Do I need to re-reboot the whole system?

 

Turns out, I can't connect to the Internet. But I think that's because I am not configed to do so. I have never used this PC as anything but wireless. And it is not possible for me to change a lot of settings because I'm not a network admin.

 

No, I don't have Admin privileges. Yes, it was set up by a network tech. It came "wireless-enabled" because they assumed that is usually how it would be used (like at meetings at my workplace). It does run on a domain, but that isn't the issue. I have been using this PC wirelessly from home for a couple of years, after the first time when I was asked for and had to enter the WEP key for my own network.

 

It stopped working when I was attempting to get our own wired PCs to connect, presumably after our ISP made some kind of change that they did not inform their users about.

The laptop runs with my employer's servers as its ISP, but that is the only connection difference between it and the wired desktop computers. I think I must have messed up something in the wireless config (probably for the router) when I was trying to get our wired connectivity to work again.

 

I actually did configure our network, but it was hell and 4+ years ago.

 

I tried that. It would not connect. So I guess the tech did set the laptop to default to wireless.

 

It is upthread, almost to the beginning.

 

I will restart and let you know. Not sure how to get it to you, tho, since I can't connect. What specific info do you need?

 

As I figured -- all grayed out. Company is big on corporate privacy.

 

Okay, I will.

I surely appreciate all of your work!

Laurel