cant connect to wifi on windows 95 / cant release or renew ip address

[cov3rt]

im having this new problem on windows 95 where i can't get the cisco 350 wifi card to connect to the internet. before on previous experimental builds for windows 95, i was able to connect to the internet with the same wifi card automatically without even needing a password or needing to put in any manual changes in the os, yes, i know its not secure but i was glad enough to get wireless internet to work on windows 95, although i think some builds asked for the guest password because i had a guess network and this was more secure but for some reason, different experimental builds didnt bring up that page. anyways, i can perfectly connect to the wired ethernet connection without needing to do any manual adjusted settings in the operating system and always was able to do so but now the wifi won't. there can be two reasons though for this problem that i suspect, one would be that for this build, i installed more updates and it could be that some of the updates / hotfixes were not needed or were not compatible for the os and caused issues but i don't think this would be the problem, or it could have something to do with the new router i got since i swapped to u verse internet and changed the modem / router? this, i think is probably the problem because of the newer / different technology making it harder to work with windows 95? before i had cox internet.

 

lastly, i noticed that one wierd problem is that i can't release or renew ip addresses when using winipcfg. it gives a fatal error of dhcp server unavailable: renewing adapter. i looked up this problem on google and did save 4 pages explaining possible solutions, although i didn't really mess with the network settings just yet as i dont want to make things complicated and wanted to see if i can possibly get a better answers or solutions to my specific problem here, all the other computers in my house connect perfectly fine, but then again, they all have windows 7 and newer. there is one last solution that i can think of at the moment is to install the software utility for the wifi but in the past, i came to a point where i couldnt get it to install and the program would prevent the operating system from loading in which i needed to uninstall the program from safe mode and the wifi worked fine without it, so it was never a requirement anyways.

[sdfox7]

As I own a vintage Gateway Solo with Windows 95, there are a few things that you need to connect to Windows 95 on a wireless connection. As Windows 95 is vintage, you have to keep several things in mind and make considerations when installing it for use on the Internet.

1) Windows 95 B version or later, the original & 4.00.950 "A" version is too old

2) updated COMCTL32.DLL and MFC42.DLL module (you can get this and many updated components by installing Internet Explorer 5.5: http://sdfox7.com/ie/win32/MSIE55.EXE

3) a Windows 95 compatible adapter (which it appears you have (Cisco 350)

4) Install TCP/IP through Control Panel > Networking

5) Your router must support the legacy WEP protocol; Windows 95 cannot see WPA, WPA2, etc.

Since I have an AOL email address which I have had for years, the easiest way for me to install these components including IE is to install AOL 7.0 which is the final version that runs on Windows 95. You do not need to actually log into the software or have an account. Simply installing the software updates several Windows 95 components. If you want AOL 7.0 you can get it here: http://sdfox7.com/win95/SETUP9X.EXE

Internet Explorer will choke or crash on many sites today, so I recommend going into the security settings and disabling Active Scripting. This will make it run much smoother.

I also recommend Firefox 1.5.0.12: ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/1.5.0.12/win32/en-US/Firefox Setup 1.5.0.12.exe

Good luck!

Keep in mind Windows 95 has not been patched in nearly 15 years. I do not recommend using it for secure financial transactions, etc, and I cannot be held responsible if you are not careful and get hacked!

Edited July 2, 2015 by sdfox7

[submix8c]

Correction - AOL6.0

[sdfox7]

SubMix8c

The published requirements for AOL 7.0 are Windows 95, Pentium class processor, 32MB RAM, 130MB HDD space (230MB if IE 5.5 is not already installed).

I'm running 7.0 on my Win95 laptop right now, see here:

http://sdfox7.com/win95/files/aol70_95.jpg

EDIT: SubMix8c

I believe you were referring to the fact that my SETUP9X.EXE file links to AOL 6.0, not 7.0. That was a goof on my part some time ago.

I have since renamed that file to AOL60.EXE and made the AOL 7.0 file SETUP9X.EXE. I want to keep the SETUP9X.EXE naming to avoid breaking that link if I've given it out online.

The intention is that SETUP9X.EXE should simply link to the latest version of the software available for Windows 95. So http://sdfox7.com/win95/SETUP9X.EXE will now link to AOL 7.0.

Edited July 3, 2015 by sdfox7

[cov3rt]

As I own a vintage Gateway Solo with Windows 95, there are a few things that you need to connect to Windows 95 on a wireless connection. As Windows 95 is vintage, you have to keep several things in mind and make considerations when installing it for use on the Internet.

1) Windows 95 B version or later, the original & 4.00.950 "A" version is too old

2) updated COMCTL32.DLL and MFC42.DLL module (you can get this and many updated components by installing Internet Explorer 5.5: http://sdfox7.com/ie/win32/MSIE55.EXE

3) a Windows 95 compatible adapter (which it appears you have (Cisco 350)

4) Install TCP/IP through Control Panel > Networking

5) Your router must support the legacy WEP protocol; Windows 95 cannot see WPA, WPA2, etc.

Since I have an AOL email address which I have had for years, the easiest way for me to install these components including IE is to install AOL 7.0 which is the final version that runs on Windows 95. You do not need to actually log into the software or have an account. Simply installing the software updates several Windows 95 components. If you want AOL 7.0 you can get it here: http://sdfox7.com/win95/SETUP9X.EXE

Internet Explorer will choke or crash on many sites today, so I recommend going into the security settings and disabling Active Scripting. This will make it run much smoother.

I also recommend Firefox 1.5.0.12: ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/1.5.0.12/win32/en-US/Firefox Setup 1.5.0.12.exe

Good luck!

Keep in mind Windows 95 has not been patched in nearly 15 years. I do not recommend using it for secure financial transactions, etc, and I cannot be held responsible if you are not careful and get hacked!

thanks for the info, i use firefox 2.0.0.20 ( modified of course ) as the main browser, hardly ie 5.5 with sp2 unless there is something that doesnt work in firefox but even then, i would actually use opera 10.10 which seems to be the last ( non modified ) version to work on windows 95. for some reason, firefox doesn't display some web pages correctly, but opera 10.10 does. i did not know about the active scripting issue in ie 5.5, i will definitely disable it if using ie 5.5. also, would you happen to know if there is any specific files aol 7.0 would update? 

[sdfox7]

AOL 7.0 was released on October 17, 2001.

AOL 7.0 was released during AOL's peak (~30 million subscribers) and updates many system components/files related to Internet Explorer.

Dial-Up Networking 1.3

Internet Explorer 5.5 (upgrades all previous versions to IE 5.5 (5.5.4134.0600) which was released July 2000)

Here is more information specific to the changes to the AOL software:

http://www.mozillaquest.com/News01/AOL-701_Release_Story-01.html

You can get more information on AOL simply by doing a web search. For original articles from its 2001 release, you may want to do a search for "aol 7.0 2001".

Hope you find this information interesting or helpful.

[cov3rt]

AOL 7.0 was released on October 17, 2001.

AOL 7.0 was released during AOL's peak (~30 million subscribers) and updates many system components/files related to Internet Explorer.

Dial-Up Networking 1.3

Internet Explorer 5.5 (upgrades all previous versions to IE 5.5 (5.5.4134.0600) which was released July 2000)

Here is more information specific to the changes to the AOL software:

http://www.mozillaquest.com/News01/AOL-701_Release_Story-01.html

You can get more information on AOL simply by doing a web search. For original articles from its 2001 release, you may want to do a search for "aol 7.0 2001".

Hope you find this information interesting or helpful.

it does not seem that i will need to install aol 7.0 because i already have up to dial up networking 1.4 and internet explorer 5.5 with service pack 2. however, i may check out netscape 7.2 if there is any crucial files that come with it or for any benefit of using the web browser itself. according to someone else's post in another forum, netscape 7.2 should work on windows 95 if deselecting all options in the second component pane during installation, except for classic skin and it should work fine. 

[sdfox7]

This is an excellent place to get old versions of Netscape:

http://sillydog.org/narchive/

Netscape 6 and 7 are here:

http://sillydog.org/narchive/full67.php

[helpdesk98]

I miss AOL takes me back to the beginning of my computer career. Waiting for hours hoping the download would be successful so I could move on to the next project, however, I don't think I could handle going that slow these days.