Wireless connection problems

[Bowman]

Let's see if I can make sense out of all this.

 

Awhile back, we moved into my mom's new house. There, I set up all the computers and the wireless internet. The router, which is a Linksys, is upstairs. The router is connected to the computer and is also connected to our modem. The modem then plugs into the wall. The computer downstairs runs off of one of those wireless chips. The chip is also a Linksys.

 

Everything has been working fine until two days ago. We went to get on the internet and it says that we aren't connected to the internet. We look upstairs and the little light that is suppose to be on is off. The light is labled "Link" if that is important. Anyway, my dad called up Comcast to see if they could do anything. They said the problem could take from 24-72 hours to fix. We went out for a little bit so I could buy a new laptop. When we came back to a working internet connection.

 

Now, I got excited thinking that I could finally connect to the internet with my new laptop! Too bad I really messed up. I couldn't connect to the internet with my laptop. It has a built in Wi-Fi chip or something... I went upstairs to see if I was too far away. When I got up, it still wouldn't connect. The other computers worked, so why wouldn't this one. I decided to reset the router by pushing the button on the far left hand side, i'm not sure what it is called.

 

Since I have done that, now none of the computers don't work.

 

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tl;dr version: I have 3 computers. Each one connects to our router. The router connects to the modem, but the modem cannot get to the internet. I have no idea what is going on and I need your help.

[maynardvdm]

Hi

 

What is the model of the Linksys router?

[Bowman]

The model of the router is "WRT54G".

[snow]

Hi Bowman,

 

 

Are all of the lights on the modem active, including the link light?

 

Does the internet work if you plug straight into the router using an Ethernet cable?

 

Your router will have a web interface from which you can configure it. Open a web browser on a computer connected to it, and enter into the address bar:

192.168.1.1

 

Then hit enter. It will ask for a user name and password; if you have re-set it then you should leave the username filed blank, and enter 'admin' as the password.

 

From there you should be able to check the wireless settings. You may have been using a custom SSID for the network, which has now been re-set to defaults. This would mean that computers looking for the wireless network won't find it, as the name has changed.

 

If you know what the old name was, then change it back and try again. Do you know if you used WEP or WPA authentication before?

[Bowman]

Are all of the lights on the modem active' date=' including the link light?[/quote']

 

All the lights on my modem are lit up EXECPT the link light. That one is unlit.

 

Does the internet work if you plug straight into the router using an Ethernet cable?

 

I have not tried this. What would I have to do?

 

if you have re-set it...

 

I guess I shouldn't have said "re-set". All I did was hit the little button on the far left hand side. I had to do this when I was hooking up my 360 and my mom's Wii. I figured I had to do the same when it came to hooking up my laptop.

 

You may have been using a custom SSID

 

What exactly is an SSID?

 

Do you know if you used WEP or WPA authentication before?

 

I did use a WEP code and I have it written down in one of my computer notebooks.

[snow]

If you have an Ethernet (cat 5) cable around then you could connect one of the four LAN ports on the router to one of your computers and try to connect again.

 

An SSID is a Service Set ID, basically the name of your wireless network. You will be able to change it from the web interface. This is the name that will show up when you browse available wireless networks from one of your computers.

 

The button on the left of the router is the re-set button. It sets all of the routers settings back to factory defaults. In this case though it shouldn't matter, as the factory defaults should still be able to get you online if you use a separate modem.

 

Try browsing for available wireless networks and see if you can find the Linksys. It will probobly be the one with the strongest signal. It should have defaulted to no authentication, so don't worry about your WEP key for now. Choose the network type 'open' or 'no authentication' for it.

 

You said this happened before, and comcast fixed it on their end? If your link light is off then there is no signal on your telephone line for internet access. You might have to phone them again to check that the problem hasn't re-surfaced.

[Bowman]

I'm at work right now, but I can pretty much tell you what everything said. On my laptop it said:

 

 

Bowman's Laptop ----------------- Router (LINKSYS) --------X-------- Internet

 

So, I'm guessing that means that my computer is connecting to the router, but the router can't connect to the internet, or something to that extent.

 

If I were to re-set the router, then should it have deleted my WEP code? Cause when I tried looking for a connection (after I had re-set it), it still asked me for a WEP code.

[snow]

Ok, that definitely helps. It sounds like it hasn't been fully re-set, and still has your old settings. Unless you held down the re-set button for at least 30 seconds then it won't have re-set itself.

 

The problem is at the modem. You could try using a different telephone cable to plug it into the wall, but I think whatever problem Comcast fixed for you on their end has come back.

 

Give them a call, and tell them the symptoms (link light off) and that this has happened before. It sounds to me like the rest of your equipment is fine.

[Bowman]

Okay then!

 

Thank you very much snow! Hopefully they can fix it fast.