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dzp111 · Jun 14, 2009, 09:41 PM

I'm trying to temporarily share my d-link signal with my neighbor. She has a Dell Inspiron 1550. And she has my Wep2 password.

Her computer reads my signal as excellent, but she can't do anything until her connection 'acquires the network address'. Someone suggested a number found under the router but that didn't work.

Note: her boyfriend has no prob connecting his laptop to my signal.

Any ideas?

dimmer · Jun 14, 2009, 11:50 PM

It could be that the radio transmitter in her Dell isn't powerful enough: she can see your base station, but it can't see her. Bring her laptop over to your place and try it closer to the base.

Doesn't sound like you have MAC address security turned on, as her BF can connect, but worth a look.

The "Network Address" delay may point to something screwy in the DHCP settings of either the client or the base. Worth a check. Error logs (from the d-link) might help answer this.

Can she connect to public networks OK?

dzp111 · Jun 15, 2009, 12:00 AM

Originally Posted by dimmer

It could be that the radio transmitter in her Dell isn't powerful enough: she can see your base station, but it can't see her. Bring her laptop over to your place and try it closer to the base.

Doesn't sound like you have MAC address security turned on, as her BF can connect, but worth a look.

The "Network Address" delay may point to something screwy in the DHCP settings of either the client or the base. Worth a check. Error logs (from the d-link) might help answer this.

Can she connect to public networks OK?

Yes, she has no problems with public networks.

No problems in Log.

I can't even hardwire her on the d-link nor my new Linksys. I'm checking into Microshit Articles and I have a few leads I think. Thanks though, if any other ideas come up, please share, I appreciate it.

dzp111 · Jun 15, 2009, 12:06 AM

I just realized that 'Acquiring network address' means trying to renew IP address. While I checked the configurations for this -it is set to automatically receive IP- it's still no go, it just hangs trying to renew IP.

I'm now reading about 'Wireless Zero Configuration'. I'll see how that goes.

dzp111 · Jun 15, 2009, 12:56 AM

I figured it out. Her wireless card/chipset isn't compatible with WPA2 encryption. So I switched backed to WPA. All is good.

Thanks dimmer.

dimmer · Jun 15, 2009, 02:34 AM

No problem. I'd have thought that if the chipset didn't support something, it'd be nice of the software to tell you so! Ah well -- you got it fixed -- and that's the point isn't it!

ghporter · Jun 15, 2009, 11:53 AM

Actually it's that her OS isn't compatible with WPA2. There's an XP update that provides this capability. After this update, my son's I1505 (which is older than your friend's 1550, so it isn't the WiFi card) can do WPA2 very well. It's easy, free and quick to get (only 1.2MB).

ibook_steve · Jun 15, 2009, 01:42 PM

Yet another example of why wireless security just makes wireless networking and network troubleshooting more difficult. Whenever you have wireless issues, the first troubleshooting step should be to simply turn wireless security off!

Steve

ghporter · Jun 15, 2009, 02:16 PM

Yeah, but Microsoft could have been a lot better at doing things like, oh, supporting WPA2 right away and with a "priority" update. As it is, they don't even mention that XP's SP3 includes this patch... So it's not at all clear whether or not it's a hardware issue, keeping users guessing. Bad job, Bill!