Linksys Wireless Netwrok PCI Adapter Problems

This does not appear to be an Internet Explorer problem, since Internet Explorer works when connected through ethernet.  There should be no incompatibility problems between your Dell and the Linksys wireless card.  Do you unhook the ethernet cable when you attempt to connect through wireless?  Does the wireless adapter see the wireless network?  Is it getting an IP address in the range 192.168.xxx.xxx from the wireless router?  Are the wireless network adapter's TCP/IP properties set to "Obtain an IP address automatically"?  Are you running through the Windows wireless utility or through the utility that came with the Linksys network adapter?

Steve

Normally when you install a wireless network adapter, you also install software that allows you to control the wireless adapter.  Windows XP also has a built in utility to control wireless network adapters.   Normally you have a choice to either let the manufacturer's utility control the wireless connection or to let Windows do it.  My last question concerns whether or not the manufacuter's utility program is controlling the wireless network adapter or Windows XP is controlling it.  The manufacter's utility shows up in the System tray.  You can open it and see if it gives you a choice.  If it does, try it both ways, i.e. see if letting Windows manage the network adapter works or if disabling Windows management of the wireless adapter and using the manufacturer's utility works any better.

Steve

Where/how do I open the "system tray" to check if I am provided a choice to manage the wireles adapter?

Thanks, Tony

sorry about repeating some of Steve's info in my post.

Tony,

I have a similar setup -- same wrt54gs router and pci card from Linksys, with an 8400. My cable modem is a different brand, but I doubt that matters for this problem.

First, I can tell you the router & card work fine with the 8400. And according to linksys' instructions, you should set up the PCI card & control it through windows XP, not the linksys control panel (which is loaded in older versions of windows).

I assume that even though IE doesn't work, you still get the "wireless network connection" icon in the taskbar which shows your connection strength. If you're connected to the router wirelessly, that takes out any WPA/WEP or other encryption issues as the problem.

You've probably already done this too, but unplug the power to the modem & router for at least 5 minutes. Power up the modem first; once it's gone through its powerup routine, power up the router.

Check the TCP/IP settings under "properties" for the wireless network adaptor. Make sure both settings are set to "obtain settings automatically".

I am a networking novice, but if none of the simple stuff works, I'd recommend trying the program at this link: http://cexx.org/lspfix.htm. It repairs tcp/ip settings that can keep you from connecting to the web beyond your router.

good luck.

I found the icon in the sytems tray.  It does not state whether it is Linksys or Windows.  It is a single computer monitor with three wireless signals.  The information provided in the pop up box includes the wireless network connection name, speed (40 Mbps), signal strength (Excellent), and status (Connected).  Does anyone know if the icons for Linksys and Windows differ, or are they the same?  Do they both provide the same info in the pop up box?  Is there another way to determine which utilty is managing the network adapter?

When I open it, the "Wireless Network Connection Status" pops up.  It provides same info as pop up box but includes "Activity" which states it is sending packets but NOT receiving.  As I browse it again, it stated that it sent 84 and received 9.  Under the "Support" tab, "Connection Status", the following details are provided:

Tony-

Steve is right, based on the settings on my pc. I have the same DHCP/DNS server information on the "support" tab of my wireless connection (which will connect to the internet). And you're definitely using windows' wireless network manager, not the Linksys version. I know this for sure because the icon you describe in the taskbar is identical to mine, and my other computer (laptop running win98) uses a PC card linksys adapter and software that has a different taskbar icon.

I never hooked my 8400 to the internet with a cable, so it never had an option but to use the wireless connection. If you could go back in time and have never hooked up with a physical ethernet cable, I suspect your PC would be hooking up to the internet through the wireless connection. If you've only had your PC for a short time and you don't mind the hassle, uninstall the wireless card, and go back (using system restore) to the first time you turned the thing on. Then, without having the ethernet directly connected, you reinstall the wireless network card and hopefully everything will work -- no guarantee, but at worst you can undo the restore and not have lost anything.

Last suggestion is to try your ISP tech support. I have Cox, and the techs I've talked to seem able to solve problems like this pretty easily. At least you know the router & PCI card are talking to each other -- that's a big pain to troubleshoot just by itself.

If I wake up tomorrow and have a networking epiphany, I'll let you know.

good luck

-dean

It sounds like Windows is controlling the network, and, as Dean said, above, Linksys probably only installs their utiliity in older versions of Windows that do not have the built in wireless support.  From what you posted, everything appears to be correct for your connection.  You are getting a proper IP address from your router and it is finding the DNS servers on your ISP's network.  Did you try running lspfix as suggested by Dean?

Steve

Yes, I ran the program and did not recieve any errors or repairs.

Dean> How did you configure your wireless router thru the internet without hooking it up with an ethernet cable at first?

Message Edited by yac20 on 10-22-2004 08:06 PM

I got the router & a wireless PC card for my laptop before my 8400 shipped. I configured the router with my laptop via a cabled connection. Before installing the wireless card in the laptop, I uninstalled the cabled ethernet adaptor (also a PC card), so the only possible LAN connection for the pc to use was the wireless adaptor.

I disabled the "local area connection" in "network settings" on the control panel of my 8400 before installing the wireless PCI card - and it just worked.

-dean