Trying to Get New Laptop Online

Earlier this week I splurged and bought myself a new laptop - my first ever! I got the HP dv6-3127dx and to do a wireless network I got a Netgear RangeMax N150 #WPN824N. I also have an HP Pavillion PC. I have been fighting with this combo for the past 4 hours trying to get the networking done to no avail!! I'm about ready to take a hammer to these things and just start smashing away - of course I won't though!

I have no clue what I'm doing wrong. The only thing I can think of (which I just realized believe it or not) is that I already have a wireless network going on between my computer (which is in the basement) and my father's computer (which is upstairs in the game room). I'm using a D-link AirPlus G DWL-G120 Wireless USB Adapter which I believe is feeding my computer to get online (please correct me if I'm wrong!). If this is the case, is this network causing interference with the new network I'm trying to set up? How can I fix it so that my father and I can still get online with our PCs?

 

Greetings, MandyH.

I'm a little confused (which may or may not be normal). How are the basement computer and the game room computer accessing the internet?

 

There's always some piece of info that I leave out! :-o

We have a broadband connection which is plugged into my father's computer upstairs. When it was installed they set up with a wireless connection so I don't have a direct line into my computer. Maybe the router has to go upstairsS? If that's the case it may not reach me downstairs.

 

Here's some additional info. I'm not trying to bump my thread. I couldn't find an edit feature to include this on my last reply. I'm so beyond confused with all of this. Part of the reason I picked this router is because the reviews I read said how easy it was to set up. Well, why am I having such a nightmare with it then!?

As I look at my router right now it's powered on, it has the wireless signal lit up, the intenet signal is also lit up in green, as is the #1 port where my laptop is plugged in. Occassionally the internet light will blink, but it's always green and it never goes go to orange.

I getting pop up notifces from my PC saying that there's little to no connection to the network and then it flops over to network is unplugged.

My laptop at the moment says the LAN is working and it even shows I'm currently connected to my wireless network's name and all the bars are green, BUT it's also showing "no internet access".

I don't know what all of this means. I don't understand how I can be connected to a working network according to my laptop, but not have internet access. I don't understand how I can be connected to a network if my PCs saying it's not connected. I'm just so lost!

One last bit... When I go to enter my IP address using the CD that came with my router it keeps saying the connection failed most likely entering bad info. However, when I go to the router's website it automatically detects the numbers that I typed in manually. I called my ISP last night for help and they wanted $75 to help me set it up. After spending as much as I did on all of the laptop / accessories I wasn't about to drop another $75!

Why is it always so complicated?!

 

Couple of more quick questions: does the HP laptop connect to the original wireless network? And, how is the original network configured - a modem cabled to a wireless router, or a modem/router gateway?

 

So, it looks like I was wrong. I'm not exactly sure how we're getting our internet access. I checked both my PC and my dad's and all we have is our D-link AirPlus G DWL-G120 Wireless USB Adapter plugged in as our source of internet. There are no phone line cords or anything like that. How are we getting our internet?

I ended up calling Netgear and was told that because our D-Link adapters are feeding our internet to our PCs I need to get a router with a USB port so I can plug the D-Link into the router and then use the Ethernet cord to plug the router into the PC. Does that sound right? Will my doing this downstairs interfere with my father's connection upstairs?

 

Sorry, I didn't even answer your questions! I tried plugging the laptop in using the original network, but it didn't work. It can still detect the network, but keeps giving me the "no internet access" message.

I know this will complicate things, but I honestly have no idea how our current set up is configured. My computer and my father's computer only has the DLink http://reviews.cnet.com/adapters-nics/d-link-dwl-g120/4505-3380_7-30583484.html hooked in. We do not have any phone lines plugged into our computer. Our ISP is Fairpoint (used to be Verizon). I'm assuming we must have some kind of a modem in the house somewhere in order to provide a signal, but I'm not sure where it is. My father thought it was above one of the ceiling panels in my room, but we couldn't find it. I'm at a total loss and feeling very defeated right now.

 

Ok, so we just found this in our basement. Does this look like it's a piece of this puzzle? The cord says it's phone service, but I'm not sure if this is considered to be the modem or not.

http://www.whalesightings.com/flickr/modem.jpg

I'm sorry if I'm sounding really dumb right now. I'm just baffled and really upset that I haven't been able to test the internet out on my new laptop. Thanks for your help!

 

And there it is.

Since we know the Verizon equipment is working, I think the best course of action would be to get the HP up and running with your existing network.

1. Uninstall any Netgear software you may have loaded.

2. After a reboot, does the HP recognize the existing wireless network? And, if so, does it require a login and/or password?

Don't worry, and be patient: there are some good networking people here, and we'll get you online. There may be spurts when no one is on board to help, but they'll come.

And we won't charge you $75. :major

 

Hahaha... being patient is definitely NOT one of my strong points! I'll do my best though!

I just went into uninstall programs on my laptop, but don't see any Netgear programs in there. I never fully finished installing the software via CD because I couldn't get past the IP part where I need to plug in the IP Address, IP Subnet Mask, Gateway IP, Preferred DNS, and Alternate DNS. That's where it would give me the error message that I couldn't connect most likely because bad info was entered.

When I went onto the router website it gives me the following info, but even if I type this in doing the software loading I still get the errors:
IP Address: 172.16.0.2
IP Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Gateway IP: 172.16.0.1
Primary DNS: 172.16.0.1
Secondary DNS: 172.16.1

Looking at my PC right now I'm connected to the network as usual and my laptop can also see the network, but when I try to connect it fails. It never asks me for a login or password.

Just some more info in case it's useful, shortly after I boot up I get this pop up notification:

HP Wireless Assistant
WLAN On

Also, in my list of installed programs I'm showing the following if it matters:
Broadcom 802.11 Wireless LAN Adapter installed 9/16/10
HP Wireless Assistant installed 7/20/10
Realtek Ethernet Controllor Driver For Windows 7 installed 9/16/10
Realtek USB 2.0 Card Reader installed 9/16/10

 

So..... the plot thickens!! Guess what I just found in my parents room behind one of their dressers. The D-Link wireless router!! Here are a couple of pics so you can see what I'm looking at. Don't mind the dust bunnies. They'll be cleaned up shortly!

http://www.whalesightings.com/flickr/router.jpg

http://www.whalesightings.com/flickr/router1.jpg

Hopefully, this will give you some more much needed info to point me in the right direction. While I must say this has been a very frustrating experience it's also pretty funny to be snooping around the house trying to locate these gadgets! :-D

 

Hi, Mandy.

Cool! Wish I could find a couple of routers in a closet or something.

That brand new HP should be able to connect to an existing unsecured network. Let's start from scratch:

1. Make sure the Netgear equipment is disabled.

2. Check any laptop physical wireless on/off switches.

3. Make sure you are not using a proxy server - Control Panel > Internet Options > Connections > LAN settings, uncheck anything under Proxy server.

4. Open a Command Prompt, and enter the following:

ipconfig /release <ENTER>
ipconfig /flushdns <ENTER>
ipconfig /renew <ENTER>

Close the prompt, reboot, and see if you get any new network discovery alerts.

***

What operating system and service pack # (if any) are you running? What versions of any antivirus and firewall software?

 

Netgear was disabled, powered off, etc.

Made sure I'm not using proxy server.

Did the command prompt thing.

ipconfig /release <ENTER>
When I did this the prompt screen said: "No operation can be performed on Wireless Network Connection while it has it's media disconnected."

ipconfig /flushdns <ENTER>
When I did this the prompt screen said: "Successfully flushed the DNS Resolver Cache."

ipconfig /renew <ENTER>
When I did this the prompt screen said: "No operation can be performed on Wireless Network Connection while it has it's media disconnected."

Is this normal?

It's a brand new laptop that was supposedly up to date when I picked up by the Geek Squad @ Best Buy.

It's running on Windows 7.

They installed Webroot as the antivirus. I haven't added or removed any antivirus software.

No new networks were discovered.

Just so I'm being clear here. The DLink router I just posted pics of is what our PCs are running on. We both have a DLink Adapter physically plugged into our PCs using the USB ports. No phone/cable lines are going into either PC. Would the internal Adapter on my laptop still be able to connect to that network?

 

The Broadcom 802.11 Wireless LAN Adapter should be seeing that network.

You might try installing one of your USB adapters on the laptop, see if you can pick up the network. That might tell us if there's something going on through the D-link router that we're missing.

 

Tried installing the adapter straight to my laptop, still nothing. I got a message saying that the prism.dll file is missing?

 

Does the D-link adapter have an installation CD, or did you let Windows install it?

 

Yeah, it has a CD and that's how I tried installing it. Nothing happens with windows unless I put the CD in.

 

As you probably can tell, I'm not a networking guru. :-o

Try checking your Services: Start > type services.msc in the Search box > Enter, make sure nothing pertaining to Network or Wireless is disabled.

No physical wireless switch?

 

Oh trust me you know a million times more than what I know about computers so I'll take any help you can give!

I just looked at the services and here's what I saw that may be causing issues. These were all marked as disabled. Should they be activated?

internet connection sharing
microsoft.net framework ngen v2.0.50727_x64
microsoft.net framework ngen v2.0.50727_x86
net.tcp port sharing service
routing and remote access

 

I was just talking to a friend of mine who has a husband that's into computers (don't know why I never thought to call them), but he's thinking I don't need a router and that with what I'm trying to do I really need an access point. Does that make sense?

 

Those services should be disabled.

I'm agreeing with his advice: you should be able to connect with the existing network, without having to add a new router into the mix.

As far as the access point, I really don't know what I'm talking about - I thought you were creating a new "access point" when you entered the IP information, or when we did the ipconfig entries.

I just did a Google for "how to configure access point" - yikes! :confused

Just doesn't make sense to me - family members are always walking into my house with new laptops. I just give them the P/W for my 2Wire80 gateway when their machines recognize the network, and they're up and running.

 

Is it possible I have a bad adapter or something? I just don't know what else to try at this point. It seems weird that it should be able to connect, but it's not. I just don't get it.... :cry

 

Check Control Panel > System > Device Manager - are there any flags?

Also, may as well look at everything on that machine: do you have a USB thumb drive available? If so, download and run Free PC Audit, a stand-alone system information tool (which you can run from the flash drive).

(If you get a Security Warning, don't worry about it - uncheck the 'Always ask before opening this file' box, and click 'Run').

When the scan completes, click File > Save As, name the file 'Report', and save the file to your flash drive.

Then transfer that file over to the computer you're using online, and attach it to your next post.

Hang in there: someone's bound to stumble in here, figure out what we're missing, probably something staring us in the face.

 

No flags.

I ran PC Audit. I don't have a flash drive, I had to go the old fashion route and burn CD's, but at least I got to test the burner on the laptop in the process!

I attached the report as you requested.

 

I'm having a hard time deciding whether this is a laptop problem or a network problem.

You don't have access to another wireless network, do you? If you could take the machine to an internet cafe, Starbucks, Books-A-Million, etc., try to access another network, that might help splitting this thing in half.

Did you buy the machine locally? If so, you might even consider taking it back, let the techs there try to access a network, make sure the laptop is functioning correctly.

 

I did get the laptop at a local laptop. The earliest I coudl get back there is Friday afternoon.

Unfortunately, I don't drive so I'm at my mother's mercy at the moment. I don't see myself getting anywhere with free WiFi anytime soon.

 

Did some more experimenting today. Since I found our router I hit the reset button to see if that would help. Nope! Turned it off / unplugged for a couple of minutes and then plugged it in. Still nothing! I wired the laptop directly to the router. Still not working! While I was wired up I ran the troubleshooter and it said the problem with the LAN was with the IP not being configured correctly (I don't remember the exact wording). I don't know where to take it from here. I don't understand if the IP address is wrong wouldn't it prevent my PCs from connecting?

 

Thought I'd post an update to let you know that I was able to get my laptop online a couple nights ago FINALLY!! Long story short, I ended up physically resetting my router, went online to router's access site and reset the settings, and then I created a whole new network in my house. I don't know if it was one of these things or a combo of them all that finally did the truck, but I've been happily surfing the web on my laptop for a couple days now.

 

Congratulations on your success! I've been reading along, trying to learn a little, and I'm glad you had help from Caliban, and you achieved the desired result. Good work sticking with it!

 

Good job! Glad you got it (finally!), and thanks for the feedback. :major