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Hi all..

I'm having trouble with my laptop's networking and am now at a complete loss as to what to do...

About a month everything was fine and dandy.. I have a wireless router at home, and an ethernet port for when I'm away from home. Both of these worked fine.

Now about a month ago, I had to make a business trip, and had to reconfigure my laptop to hook into to the office network..

I ended up having to go through a proxy server, and setup a static IP. Now that I'm back home, and undid everything that was done to my laptop, I can't get on to my home network, nor get out to the internet.

I've checked and I get a proper IP, my laptop detects the wireless network and gets on that properly, but I can't see any other machine, nor can I get out on to the net.

I've got Win2K Pro on my laptop... any other info you guys may need to try and help?

I'm getting very frustrated... any help would be appreciated...

-Cent

drop down to a cmd.exe (dos command) prompt and type:

ipconfig /all

and paste your output here... then we can see what to do...

Ok.. I'll do that when I get home tonight..

-Cent

Are you sure that everything has been put back exactly the way it was? Workgroup name? IP address? Default gateway? DNS servers? TCP/IP filtering?

Yes.. I had made sure to note everything down before I changed it..

The main things I had changed was going from a DHCP (auto-assigned IP) to a static IP.. No DNS server was specified, and I didn't touch any of the gateway or filtering options. I had also changed the computer name and workgroup.

I did change the IP assignment back to DHCP, and the workgroup and computer name back to the originals.

My router assigns me the IP address it is supposed to, and I can ping the router.. I can't ping any other machine on my network... I can ping the gateway specified by ipconfig, but I don't know any other IP's to try and ping..

Hi, you should use clear topic headings. The moderators frown upon the: Help

Anyway I can't really help you there cause I only network with 10/100 mbp/s PCI cards.

Are you behind a firewall?

Hmm... OK.

For the other machines on your LAN, are you pinging by name or IP address? If you're pinging by name, are you getting an "unknown host" error, or does ping find the target machine OK (but gets no response)?

Verify that Client for Microsoft Networks and TCP/IP protocol are both installed and enabled for the wireless interface.

Do you have any other machines going through the same wireless access point, to verify that the access point is still working?

Has the WEP encryption configuration for the wireless adapter been changed?

Also, here are a couple of pingable IPs on the Internet you can try:

techreport.com: 205.177.13.112
justbrewit.net: 64.81.143.30

(But if you can't even see the machines on your LAN, I'm doubtful that you'll be able to ping anything on the Internet either.)

You mention that this is a wireless connection, did you happen to download one of the latest Windows Updates that had a wireless specific patch? I don't recall the specific one, but on my work laptop I installed it and then could no longer access the network. Uninstalling the particular update let me connect right back up again.

Ok.. topic name changed to something more appropriate..

The only firewall I had set up is Zone Alarm, and I've tried disabling that also but no luck there...

When I ping, I use the IP addresses, and I get a timed out response for all 4 packets...

Here are the IP config files

This is using just the wireless connection:


Windows 2000 IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Wedge
Primary DNS Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Mixed

IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : clspco.adelphia.net

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 2:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : clspco.adelphia.net
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : LANEscape/XI-726 Wireless Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-60-B3-69-9F-9A
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.101
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 24.53.86.14
24.53.86.13
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Friday, July 25, 2003 7:03:54 AM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Saturday, July 26, 2003 7:03:54 AM


Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Cable Disconnected
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8139/810X Family PCI Fast Ethernet NIC
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-E0-00-97-A2-84

Here is the connection using just the ethernet port:

Windows 2000 IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Wedge
Primary DNS Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Mixed
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : clspco.adelphia.net

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 2:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Cable Disconnected
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : LANEscape/XI-726 Wireless Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-60-B3-69-9F-9A

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : clspco.adelphia.net
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8139/810X Family PCI Fast Ethernet NIC
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-E0-00-97-A2-84
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 . . . . . . . . . . . : 24.53.86.14
24.53.86.13
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Friday, July 25, 2003 7:16:09 AM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Saturday, July 26, 2003 7:16:09 AM


Both behave the same way.. It is getting very frustrating...

Try temporarily removing (not just disabling) ZoneAlarm.

Also, did you verify that Client for Microsoft Networks is installed and enabled for the wireless interface?

druidcent wrote:

Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Mixed

thats the only fishy thing i see... in all my computers, i have:

Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcast

so i wonder if that has anything to do with it?!

TCP/IP and Client for Microsoft Networks are installed.. I'll try removing ZA tonight...

I don't have any other machines going through the wireless interface, but it's a Linksys WRT540G (?) router, and my desktop LAN connections are not having any problems going through it.. As I showed above I ran a cable to my laptop in case the Wireless was the problem, but no effect..

WEP settings were not changed, since I didn't have wireless connectivity when I went on my trip.. I left that alone.

How would I change the node type?

-Cent

if you can ping the gateway, and assuming it was only stuff on the laptop that could have changed and you got it all back to original, you should be able to ping anywhere. you didn't say specifically if you could ping those outside addresses by IP. can you? can you ping your listed DNS server? are DNS names resolving to IP addresses?

one other thing to try, do a tracert to your DNS server: tracert 24.53.86.14
it'll tell you where (or if) your packets are getting choked.

I'll mention a couple of things that probably aren't your problem, but could be, and are definitely things to watch out for with wireless in particular (and made me scratch my head when I first hit them)

First, are you sure you're connecting to your WAP, and not another one that's in range? Don't laugh, this has happened to me. Hadn't used my laptop at home in a while, turned it on, and it happily connected. I was actually able to get out on the internet (because this other WAP was wide open), but couldn't see my other machines (of course, because they were on another LAN) or use mail (because I wasn't connecting through my ISP and they ban relays). Finally realized I was using someone else's WAP. I had to go into my client software and force it to prefer the MAC address of my WAP. In your case you could be connecting to a WAP that has everything shut off, or is blocking you because it doesn't recognize your laptop.

Second, while it's clear that you're getting to a WAP (your or somebody else's) it's not clear whether the WAP is connecting to anything else. You should log into your WAP and (after verifying it is seeing your laptop as a DHCP client) make sure you don't have anything wonky going on there. You don't say in your mail whether your WAP is also acting as a switch for your wired machines. If it is strictly acting as a WAP, you need to verify that it is still connecting to your wired network (it could have been reset while you were away).

He indicated that it isn't working with a wired connection either... so unless he's got multiple issues (which is of course possible), it doesn't sound like a WAP problem.

I'll bet it is some bit of ZoneAlarm functionality that isn't getting disabled properly. Other people have reported similar issues -- even when it is disabled, it can still get in the way. To conclusively rule it out as a possible cause, you've got to uninstall it.

I don't think it's just a WAP issue.. I'm picking up the SSID that my WAP is sending.. I thought I had mentioned that I am using a Linksys WRT540G wireless router, which has 4 wired ports, which I'm connecting my other machines through.. my other machines have no trouble seeing the net and stuff..

I was able to ping my DNS servers and my gateway.. I don't know if the DNS names are resolving correctly.. how do I check that? If I go through a browser, I keep getting the host not found error message when it tries to resolve the host.

I'll try pinging some outside addresses also when I get home...

-Cent

Ok, now I am seriously confused with what's going on...

I can ping outside IP's like tech report or justbrewit.net...

And now here's the really screwy thing.. If I use a browser, I can't type in http://www.tech-report.com for example, but if I put the IP address in, it works fine..

This means my DNS server connection is screwy right? If I manually enter my DNS server that ipconfig returns will that work, or will I be stuck at home for using the server? I have my TCP/IP settings set do grab the DNS server automatically...

Thanks for the help so far... it's almost there...

-Cent

yep, that's it: DNS. it's not likely, but it could be that your provider's DNS server is not providing proper name resolution. but why the heck would they (presumably through DHCP) tell you to use that as a server if it wasn't working? I'm thinking maybe brewy's right, and somehow ZA is blocking responses from that server, or possibly outbound requests from the laptop. I don't know anything about ZA, so I can't help you there. anyhoo, just manually put in another DNS server (one that IS responding correctly to DNS requests and your problem should go away. to check if it's the DNS server or something on that laptop, do the wired machines (that presumably aren't having DNS trouble) use the same DNS server?

and am I understanding correctly that you cannot ping (by number) the wired hosts?

Well, I think since the other computers that are going through the SAME router and using the SAME DNS are working correctly, then it's an issue that lies with just the laptop. And this points straight at ZoneAlarm as being the prime suspect.

Yep.. it was ZoneAlarm... I have still have no idea why it worked before I left and doesn't work now... Anyway, should I reinstall Zone Alarm, or is there a better suggestion for a firewall that I can use... or what would you suggest for a single firewall to protect the entire network?

-Cent

I would suggest a single standalone firewall to protect the network. But with an active WAP, it may be a good idea to have something on the individual PCs as well, to protect against intrusions via the WAP.

Hi,

Ok, what would you suggest for a single standalone firewall for the whole system?

As for my WAP, here is how I have it set up:

1) WEP 128bit encryption
2) No SSID broadcast
3) Only allow wireless connections to MAC's I've specifiec.
4) Change the default password of course
5) Change the default channel

(Yes, I went through the ARS Technica blackpaper on setting up wireless security )

If I get a firewall for the LAN, how concerned should I be about intrusions through the wireless?

-Cent

Any of the widely available name-brand standalone firewall/router boxes should be adequate. I've had a Netgear FR114P for about a year now, and it seems to work reasonably well.

Sounds like you've taken reasonable steps to secure your wireless AP. As long as you change the WEP encryption key occasionally, you should be OK. Might be a good idea to lock down all of your network shares too... require everyone to log in to Windows with a password, and limit access to network shares to only the users that need them.

Heh.. ok.. got to remember to cycle the WEP...

Since the network is a home network, I only have shared folders for items that commonly get moved around... but I'm really the only one who logs into any of the machines..

Since I have a wireless router, how would that get setup behind the firewall box.. I assume that the firewall box would plug into the modem, then the wireless router would be the only thing attached to the firewall router, and then the machines would go to the wireless router?

-Cent