I totally agree Scott, but since I also do this for a living, I don't mind thowing out these suggestions :) And it is fun to fix the problem. If he has a cable modem, it should be a snap. If he has DSL, I'd really make sure it is a dhcp account and not static one. If static, it'll require a few more steps and he needs to have some info in font of him. I'm up for A while longer and will follow. Good luck Craig! Time for some laundry.... WEEEEeeeeeee....

Dave

Pretty amazing to listen to you pros, that's for sure. My head is spinning trying to keep up with you guys.

It also seems like Craig is a glutton for punishment ;) I would have given up hours ago and reset the dang thing!

Dave

Hide the SSID and use MAC address filtering.

Uh oh, what happened to Craig? He has been silent for awhile?!? I hope he hasn't thrown his laptop against a wall :eek:

Dave

Make sure your firewall (software or hardware) is allowing the subnet of local IP addresses to talk to each other. Also, if you want to share printer and resources, make sure sharing is enabled in Windows XP.

Yes WPA would be the best alternative as I stated on the first page. Also I think I was mistaken about WPA not being supported on your router. I just reread the firmware note:

And realized that I misread line 7. Your router does support WPA. i would definately configure using WPA-PSK instead of WEP.

This is so much easier on a MAC.
:p ...JK

Yup, I run WPA-PSK with TKIP too.

you could dump it in the trash (or put it on ebay) and go buy and Airport. It works fine with PCs, and is dead simple to configure.

http://www.apple.com/airportextreme/

Nooooooo! Not the red button!!!!!!

RTFM!

Manual Location

Click on User Guide.

Page 63

11. To start over/reset the Router to factory default.

Hold the Reset button for up to 30 seconds and then release it. This will return the password, forwarding, and other settings on the Router to the factory default settings. In other words, the Router will revert to its original factory configuration.

RTFM, and specifically appendix C, Configuring Wireless security.

......gues what I did?

SYSTEM RESTORE! Win XP feature ;-)
Went back to Sunday afternoon, and POOF she is all back to where I started.

So......how do I do this WEP the correct way - start with the PC *then* do the laptop?

Read section C, it is very straight forward and covers both the Router and how to do the setting in XP on the Laptop.

Click on this link (the full install manual for your router) and print it out first.
http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/BEFW11S4.pdf#search=%22BEFW11S4%20Ver.%202%20insta ll%20instructions%22

Then Press the little botton in the back of your router until it resets to the factory default settings, shut down the computer and lap top. Unplug all of the cables that connect your router to your PC and modem (all of them), restart the computers and start over.

That's what I'd do.

windows problems are funny...

That certainly doesn't show him how to configure the WEP or WPA functions.

Use the Linksys manual above, direct from the Linksys website.

I hope you get things worked out Craig! I am outta here to remove my engine and tranny once again....

Dave

Funny, I just spent 2 hours in the empty 930 engine compartment wiring up an Intercooler & a turbo cooling stuff. Time to go cleanup......

Thanks for all the help!
The saga is not over yet...

After all this discussion I bit the bullet and reconfigured my Belkin Wireless G router!

As mentioned above...
The easiest to setup is WPA-PSK which uses and 8 - 11 character pass phrase to encrypt the traffic and maintain the association (using TKIP).

Steps were -
Disconnect wireless router
Hold in the reset button in the little hole in the back until it reset (flashing lights)
Load the software/config disk
Follow the wizard for setup to reconnect the router and access the internet.
Use the web based configuration screens by using the address of the router provided in the manual.
Set the name of the router to something meaningfull to me.
Change the security to WPA-PSK and set a password.
Set router to block pinging.
leave broadcast SSID on so I can find the router network on the other devices.

Set the same access rules on the laptop to WPA-PSK and TKIP use the password to log it on to the router.

Go to do the Squeezebox music device next !

Go to do the Squeezebox music device next !

- which took me an hour and a half to get nowhere - it didnt give me a WPA option....

So I'm back to open networking with no security - this industry sucks!