Trout

iTrader: (1)

I know that watching my network traumas over the past months has been a bit like watching a series of car crashes on the other carriageway as you drive down the motorway...

...however I have upgraded my status from total klutz to having got my new network up and running - printers installed, disks shared (mostly!) and internet connections steaming along...

...except for one laptop.

In the house we have HP Vista desktop, Vaio with XP SP3, Macbook Pro, IBM T60 with XP SP3 and a Toshiba with XP SP3.

They all work well, except for the Toshiba.

When I originally set up the wireless it was security free just to get things going as simply as possible. The Toshiba worked fine.

Now I have turned on WPA2 it will not connect to the Internet, it will connect to the Network no problem. I can ping the HomeHub which is the gateway, it sees the Airports fine. When I connect to the AEBS via Ethernet it works fine and connects to the Internet. In both cases it has a valid, non-conflicting LAN IP address.

All the other computers work fine with no hitches at all! Any thoughts as to what else I can try?

When I run diagnostics it recommends checking cable connections or restarting the modem and router. As the other four computers have no problem then this is not a reasonable diagnostic.

So the wireless works without WPA2, but not with it. It does not require the WPA2 patch as it is SP3. I tried that anyway, just in case, but it would not install.

Stumped.

LostUser

Is the Toshiba getting a default gateway assigned by DHCP when it connects to the network?

You say you can ping the homehub, can you ping Google

Shaun

If you Tosh is SP3 it does not need the patch.

Trout

iTrader: (1)

No - it will ping devices on the LAN but not through the Gateway - I tried the obvious ones like Google or Microsoft. I also ran the MS diagnostic and checked the log - it tried all these things as well. It concluded non DNS or Gateway available. As the the other four work OK, and the Tosh works fine connected via Ethernet or wireless when security free then it would seem to point to something else.

swaussie

If its an older laptop you may need to update the network card drivers for it. WPA2 wasnt originally supported by many network cards even a couple of years ago.

Trout

iTrader: (1)

So would that stop it from getting to the network completely - or would it cause this sort of unpredictable problem? Good thought though.

swaussie

It will see a network being broadcast but will be unable to connect using WPA2. If you use an older encryption or no encryption it will connect. Try it, but make sure you set up a restore point before hand in case something goes badly wrong

Trout

iTrader: (1)

That's not it then. It is connecting to the network and can ping devices in the network and gets a valid IP address. The only thing it can't do is see through the gateway.

I will upgrade the drivers anyway.

scoobymad555

iTrader: (1)

can you open a dos box and type : ipconfig /all
then post the results please trout?

also, have you tried giving the machine a static ip address setup?


edited to add : gut feeling is it's not picking up a dns entry

HHxx

Are you saying that wireless connects fine in WPA2 mode, gets an ip and can ping other local devices? But it gets no gateway? Or get a gateway but can't route through it?

But everything works perfectly fine when wired in?

How strange...

I'll throw in: Corrupt TCPIP stack? Corrupt routing table?

But usually either of those would affect the wired lan connection as well?

Or it could be down to the age old problem with different chipsets?

Absolutely no help at all I know!

Trout

iTrader: (1)

Ok - done this and I think this has revealed the cause.

The DHCP server/gateway/DNS server is 192.168.1.254 (Homehub as modem and DHCP server).

The Toshiba is showing DHCP and gateway as 192.168.1.254; and the DNS server as 192.168.0.1 which is not in the range of the HomeHub so will be an invalid address.

Will see if I can fix it and see what happens. Thanks

hodgy0_2

if it can't ping an internet address it won't be DNS

I would do all my testing using ping -- and the address 4.2.2.2

forget DNS and name resolution and web access for the time being -- these are all subsets of "internet access"

you can use the utility tracert 4.2.2.2 -- it will tell you where the packets are being dropped

have you got a local firewall on the laptop - ZoneAlarm for instance -- blocking outbound traffic

Trout

iTrader: (1)

Wirelessly it gets the gateway but can't route through it. See my post above about the DNS server address being incorrect. Although why it would be different for Wireless is beyond me. The Tosh is running some software for 'easy config' which I don't trust at all. It is sitting on top of the network management!

Trout

iTrader: (1)

Local firewall is Mcaffee

hodgy0_2

forget DNS -- all this does is map an IP address to a user friendly name

computers use numbers ---- put the following in a browser http://212.58.251.195

and see what you get

DNS has NO bearing on internet access

hodgy0_2

you may have a name resolution problem -- but that is different from an internet access problem

swaussie

open a dos prompt and type in "nslookup www.Google.com" and see if it comes back with an IP address.

If it cant resolve the URL to an IP it cant ping it?

try pinging 209.85.129.103 (one of googles IP addresses)

swaussie

True, but unless he has been entering in addresses in the above format, it wont be able to resolve his friendly URL's to an IP and will appear to have no internet access.

Trout

iTrader: (1)

Right in order.

I did tracert and it is giving me results from the WAN.
The first hop is the Homehub and the second is BT in Sheffield - 217.47.73.144

I put in the IP address and it just sits and it has resolved the BBC Homepage - albeit very, very slowly!

When I did nslookup the response was

DNS request timed out
Can't find server name for address 192.168.0.1
Default servers not available

(which would seem correct as 192.168.0.1 does not exist within this network)

Trout

iTrader: (1)

So can I conclude this is a DNS problem not an internet access problem?

swaussie

set your DNS entry in the IP config settings to be that of your router 192.168.1.254 and see what happens

hodgy0_2

thats why I would always work backwards from confirming internet access with ping (ICMP protocol)

then I would telnet a website on port 80 - telnet 212.58.251.195 80

this confirms internet access in general and access on the standard web port

then I would start to look at name resolution -- but unless the above tests are successful you are wasting your time with DNS

you have to be clear what the problem is -- internet access or name resolution, or a n other problem -- otherwise you are working in the dark

hodgy0_2

yes - and post 21 should sort it

swaussie

Yep, it would appear so. You can get out via IP address but not using URL's. The NSLookup indicates it cant find a DNS server to resolve the URL's and hence why it only works using IP's. Enter in a correct DNS server and it should be job done...

Trout

iTrader: (1)

Done and it is sorted. Thanks for your help - brilliant

When I checked the TCP/IP settings for some reason on the wireless connection the DNS was hardcoded as opposed to automatic.

It was OK on the Ethernet connection.

Some great learning for me here.

swaussie

What has DNS got to do with the original post about working without WPA2?

Anyone?

"....When I checked the TCP/IP settings for some reason on the wireless connection the DNS was hardcoded as opposed to automatic.

It was OK on the Ethernet connection..."

Ah, that part makes sense now.

Trout

iTrader: (1)

Actually you have got a point - but on checking with the Nanny (it her laptop ) it may be that she was actually using her other laptop since I set up the Airport network. So the WPA2 issue was a red herring after all that!

swaussie

Its always good to have a curve ball thrown in. It keeps us on our toes

Glad its sorted.

hodgy0_2

glad it's all working -re the slow loading --this will be because as the page loads via the IP address, embedded in the page will be URL's to other web addresses, your browser will try and resolve those (but your DNS was not working)-- so will fail everytime hence timeing out and slowness


if we had tested with a very basic web page the slowness would have been less apparent

but the important rule is proper problem diagnosis -- and as soon as you pinged/tracerted an outside internet address, it was always going to be a name resolution problem

if only we could remember the 100's of millions of IP addresses we would not need DNS

scoobymad555

iTrader: (1)

hmm dns ftw then

glad it's working trout