Wireless connect good, Why no Internet ?

[jonnyquest]

I (finally) have successful wireless connection between my laptop and router.

Devices are Dynex WGPNBC PcCard and Linksys WRT54GS Router.

Also have a desktop computer with wire connection to the Linksys.

The desktop connects to internet OK; has been working OK for months.

My brother installed the Linksys in order to use his notebook wirelessly when he visits me. We verified everything including wireless internet on his notebook. No configuration changes have been made to the Linksys since the initial installation.

My notebook is IBM380XD with Win98SE. Newly-installed Dynex WLAN card functions OK; Win98SE Device Manager recognizes Dynex PcCard by name says "This device is working properly". The Dynex configuration application shows that wireless connection has been established between Linksys and Dynex. The "Power" and "Link" LED's are both illuminated on the Dynex PCcard. Signal strength 83%. Network name (my brother created the name) is correct. WirelessG w/WPA. Entered password. Everything looks good.

But Internet Explorer says "page unavailable" when I try to connect to internet.

I am a networking newbie, but here are some info that may be relevant or not. My installed Network Components are TCP/IP, and 'Client for MS networks'. The Dynex userguide says install IPX/SPX and NETBEUI protocol, but I didn't install, because my limited research says these protocols are for communication among computers on the network, and not involved with internet connection. Could this prevent internet connection? Also, browsing through Network Components I find 'IEEE 802.1X' (provider is MDC) protocol on the menu. Do I need to install it for internet connection?

I try to keep unnecessary things to a minimum on this very basic computer.

http://dynexproducts.com/skins/skin_1/topi..._UserManual.pdf is userguide for the Dynex card, with details about how to change configurations.

OK maybe too much information or not enough information. Any help is greatly appreciated. I don't know what to do next, or even where should I be tweaking things, or is this beyond Win98SE capability?

Thanks !!

Edited February 29, 2008 by jonnyquest

[cluberti]

OK, so you've got a connection. Can you post/check what ipconfig /all tells you in a command prompt?

[jonnyquest]

Thanks cluberti for superfast reply! Result of ipconfig /all :

Windows 98 IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . : E0K1Z6

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . :

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

NetBIOS Scope ID. . . . . . :

IP Routing Enabled. . . . . : No

WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . : No

NetBIOS Resolution Uses DNS : No

0 Ethernet adapter :

Description . . . . . . . . : Dynex Wireless Enhanced G NB Card - DX-WGPNBC

Physical Address. . . . . . : 00-14-A5-CB-5A-17

DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes

IP Address. . . . . . . . . : 169.254.147.158

Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0

Default Gateway . . . . . . :

DHCP Server . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.255

Primary WINS Server . . . . :

Secondary WINS Server . . . :

Lease Obtained. . . . . . . : 02 29 08 11:15:23 AM

Lease Expires . . . . . . . :

[cluberti]

IP Address. . . . . . . . . : 169.254.147.158

And there's your problem - you're getting an autoconfig IP address. Is the DHCP server on your router enabled? Seems like the answer is no...

[jonnyquest]

Using my desktop PC, I went to 192.168.1.1 and see configuration page of Linksys router.

The "DHCP Server" section shows "Enable" button selected.

[cluberti]

Using my desktop PC, I went to 192.168.1.1 and see configuration page of Linksys router.

The "DHCP Server" section shows "Enable" button selected.

Hm - well, your wireless isn't picking up an IP address then. Perhaps you can give it a static IP address by modifying the TCP/IP properties of the network connection to get it online. Otherwise, you'd have to get a network trace via netmon or wireshark of the interface as you start it up (to see if it sends a DHCP Inform packet, and whether or not it gets a response) before I could help with that further. I'd suggest, if you are not averse to it, that the quickest fix is to check the IP information (ipconfig /all) on the desktop that works, and then replicate that (changing just the IP address to another IP in the same range) as that will make the laptop not reliant on DHCP. However, if you travel to other networks with this wireless, that will obviously not allow you to use DHCP elsewhere, so that's the drawback of that.

[jonnyquest]

Thanks for your help thus far.

I've been reading and researching but no breakthrough yet; nontheless I'm gaining more understanding of how everything should work, when all components function correctly.

I changed the laptop settings and asssigned it a static IP address, taking care to avoid overlapping the router's DHCP range of addresses.

Still no success on internet connection.

Response is "Cannot find server or DNS Error"

The laptop cannot ping the router.

The laptop can ping itself, which supposedly means TCP/IP is functioning properly; I read that somewhere.

So, as I see it, the suspects are:

1-bad wireless transmission

2-bad Dynex driver/configuration software

3-wireless card is defective

4-Win98SE software troubles

The Dynex configuration utility says wireless transmission is good.

Can I believe it? Is there another way to confirm it?

The laptop "Device Manager" tells me the Dynex card is

working properly. Can I believe it? Is there another way to confirm it?

The ping comand tells me TCP/IP is functining properly.

Can I believe it? Is there another way to confirm it?

I continue to work on the problem.

Any ideas/suggestions are still welcome.

[cluberti]

Thanks for your help thus far.

I've been reading and researching but no breakthrough yet; nontheless I'm gaining more understanding of how everything should work, when all components function correctly.

I changed the laptop settings and asssigned it a static IP address, taking care to avoid overlapping the router's DHCP range of addresses.

Still no success on internet connection.

Response is "Cannot find server or DNS Error"

The laptop cannot ping the router.

The laptop can ping itself, which supposedly means TCP/IP is functioning properly; I read that somewhere.

What is the router's DHCP range, what are the DNS servers, what is the IP address of the router, and can you post another listing of ipconfig /all from the laptop?

[jonnyquest]

Router IP Address:

192.168.1.1

DHCP Range:

192.168.1.100-->192.168.1.149

DNS servers:

205.166.61.160

205.166.61.140

Can't ipconfig laptop right now; wireless card is uninstalled.

But I checked before, and all entries match the above,

except laptop IP address was set to 192.168.1.150

Will post ipconfig later.