Connected to wireless network but internet does not work

[jloyva]

Hey folks,

I just joined in hopes that someone can help me. I've spent a lot of time in the last few days searching for a solution to my problem and couldn't find an answer (there's no way I can be the only one with this problem).

Tuesday night I spent 50 minutes on the phone with a Qwest support tech and he had no solution to my problem, so I thought I would try posting to see if someone else could help.

I've had a 2Wire 2701HG-D DSL modem (ethernet cable to desktop) and 2Wire 802.11g wireless card in my laptop for 2 years. I've had no problems in this time. On Sunday the modem stopped working so I bought an Actiontec M1000 DSL modem with W1000 wireless adapter. I hooked this up and the M1000 seems to be working fine with the desktop, but now the laptop can not connect to the internet. I'm pretty sure everything is set up correctly and the wireless manager box says I'm connected to the network. I've tried Firefox, Internet Explorer and Opera and none of them work.

The Qwest tech had me check everything and said it's all correct and he doesn't know why it's not working.

Encryption is WEP.

Turned WEP off - no luck.

Tried WPA - no luck.

Both computers are running Windows XP Pro - SP3

Wireless manager:
- Connected at speed 54Mbps
- Signal 100%
- IP address: 192.168.0.3
- Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
- Gateway: 192.168.0.1
- DNS server: 192.168.0.1
- DHCP server: 192.168.0.1
- WINS server: 0.0.0.0

Tech support had me:
- change the SSID and WEP key, same results
- tried to ping google which didn't work
- tried to ping 192.168.0.1 which didn't work
- checked 'Wireless Network Connection Properties' and found everything to be ok
- tried to repair the wireless network connection which didn't work
- tried to connect MSN Messenger, wouldn't connect
- tried to turn off Windows Firewall
- he checked the line from his end and said it is strong with no interference
- ran services.msc and tried 'Wireless Zero Configuration' which gave me the message "Windows cannot configure this wireless connection"
- closed the 2Wire wireless manager and tried the Wireless Zero Configuration again, it connected to the network just like the 2Wire wireless manager but I still can't get on the internet

That's about all I can remember.

I am receiving something from somewhere. Two nights ago when I shut down it installed 15 updates, last night 10 updates. And it is slowly receiving bytes as shown in the 'Wireless Network Connection Status'.

It seems like it should be an easy fix since everything was working with the old modem and everything seems fine other than the fact I can't get on the internet, is there anyone that knows what is wrong?

Thank you,

Jim

[ArmaTheGreek]

I guess the Qwest Tech guys did their best but cannot figure out the problem, which is hard sometimes but anyways what is the make/model of your laptop?

You mentioned that you tried pinging google.com and it didn't work. Can you also post the exact error message when you ping google? so that we can figure it out for you.

[jloyva]

When I ping google I get "Ping request could not find host www.google.com. Please check the name and try again."

Laptop is Compaq Evo N1020v

I also just found under the 'Qwest Modem Configuration' page (on the desktop) I'm at the 'Web Activity Log' on the modem configuration tab and it shows 192.168.0.3 (laptop) attempting to access www.google.com multiple times, which is what I've been trying to get to as a test. Does this mean my desktop is somehow blocking my laptop?

And thank you for the reply.

[ArmaTheGreek]

Desktop will not block your laptop from connecting, I think we're doing something wrong here. Can you access you M1000 modem using the laptop 192.168.0.1 and see if you can access the modem page. If not then it means you're not connected to the modem. best thing to do is to access the modem page using desktop, turn off the WEP/WPA and make sure no privacy is on then try connecting wireless again, when is says 'you're connected', try accessing 192.168.0.1 and see if you can access modem page.

[jloyva]

I turned off WEP (WPA was already off), no privacy is on. I tried to access 192.168.0.1 modem page with the laptop and get "Internet Explorer cannot display webpage" message.

So the answer is "No, I can't access the modem page"

But as stated in previous posts It says I'm connected and it is receiving what I assume to be automatic updates from Microsoft. So something is coming through.

p.s. I hate computers

[ArmaTheGreek]

Now try this one, setup WPA on modem using the other computer then try to re-establish wireless connection on your laptop and see if the laptop will be asked for network key/passphrase. After that, try accessing again 192.168.0.1 using your laptop.

[jloyva]

Tried it, no luck.

One of the guys at work let me bring his laptop home and that connects perfectly.

This is quite frustrating.

Could it be a 2Wire 802.11g card driver issue?

[ArmaTheGreek]

Now we can conclude that it might be your wireless card.

[jloyva]

Originally Posted by ArmaTheGreek

Now we can conclude that it might be your wireless card.

So are you thinking it not compatible with the DSL modem?

It couldn't have stopped working at the exact same time as the old modem.

I uninstalled the 2Wire card from the laptop, then reinstalled it thinking it might reset something, but it still does not work.

Looking at the Network Connection Details, everything is the same on my laptop and the laptop from work (except the physical address and IP address of course).

However in the Wireless Network Connection Properties on my laptop I only have 2 tabs - General and Advanced. But the laptop from work has 3 tabs - General, Wireless Networks and Advanced. That seems kind of goofy.

Edit: I uninstalled the 2Wire connection program and used Wireless Zero Configuration and now I have the third tab, but still no internet.

[ArmaTheGreek]

On wireless properties go to wireless networks tab, make sure you check on 'use windows to configure my wireless'. If still not working, I guess the best option is to try a different wireless adapter.

[jloyva]

I just turned the laptop on again and that box was already checked, so I was all ready to give up.

But earlier today I uninstalled the 2Wire software and used Wireless Zero Configuration to hook up to the wireless network and it still had no success, but I had not rebooted yet. Now that I turned the computer on it seems that it took a reboot to get it cleared out because now it works. It seems to me that the 2Wire software is what was messing things up. This has been many hours of pure frustration.

ArmaTheGeek, I really appreciate the time you have taken to help me. Thank you.

Jim

[ArmaTheGreek]

No problem Jim, glad I could help. Thanks for sharing the solution as well.