Desktop not connecting to router. Please help

[ballaratdragons]

Hi all.

As some may know, I am a total computer illiterate.
I don't even understand the lingo.

I have a big problem and need someone to guide me through it in very very basic kindergarten language how to fix it.

Doug (Hagar) gave me a terrific Desktop PC for my imaging and Astro broadcasting but I cannot get it to connect to my router.

Over the last month I have tried about every googled method found on the internet on how to get it to connect but it still won't, and my patience has worn out.

The router connects to one PC wired, and 2 laptops wirelessly, so we know it works. I am using it know to write this on my lappy.

Is anyone prepared to spend the time to help me with really simple 'normal speak' instructions as to how to fix this please?

I am using XP Home SP3.
Router is Netgear N300 Wireless - WNR2000

I will explain what it is doing:

A balloon pops open at bottom right of screen saying:
Wireless Network Connection
Connected to: network password
Signal Strength: Excellent

and the connection icon just below it shows a connection has been made.

Then about 8 seconds later a red 'X' appears on the icon and the connection is lost.
Then about 10 seconds later the balloon returns and the connection icon just below it shows a connection has been made again, then red 'X' says it's gone again, and so on.

This on - off connection just keeps repeating.

Please help :help:

[mithrandir]

Ken,

The symptoms sound like the signal strength is weak and it keeps dropping out. How far is this PC from the router? What sort of walls are between them? Any nearby metal walls or roofs can cause signal degradation like ghosting.

What sort of aerial does the PC have? If it is inside the case can you attach an external aerial?

Does the lappy work from the same location? If the PC is under a desk, try the lappy there.

Can you pick up the PC screen with one of your webcams and broadcast it for one of the PC gurus to watch what is happening?

If it would be any use I can donate you a 100Mb switch so you can have multiple wired connections.

Andrew

[ballaratdragons]

Andrew,

The symptoms sound like the signal strength is weak and it keeps dropping out.
Signal strength says excellent.

How far is this PC from the router?
About 5 metres

What sort of walls are between them?
None

Any nearby metal walls or roofs can cause signal degradation like ghosting.
There aren't any.

What sort of aerial does the PC have?
External.

If it is inside the case can you attach an external aerial?
Already done.

Does the lappy work from the same location?
They are next to each other. I have the lappy in front of me typing on it and the PC is next to me.

If the PC is under a desk, try the lappy there.
PC is out in the open.

Can you pick up the PC screen with one of your webcams and broadcast it for one of the PC gurus to watch what is happening?
Yes, whenever a PC Guru is watching.

If it would be any use I can donate you a 100Mb switch so you can have multiple wired connections.
Thanks but I won't be able to use a wired connection. It is impractical where it will be going in the sunroom (when it finally gets the wireless connection happening).

[ballaratdragons]

I am now broadcasting my PC's monitor here if anyone can help. You can chat to me in there: http://www.nightskiesnetwork.com and click on 'Snake Valley Australia' in Red text

[Visionoz]

Ken

If the PC has an onboard/add-on network adaptor, chances are either it is buggered or the driver needs updating!! If you can get your hands on another network card to replace the existing one it will tell the full story ie if the "new" one works then the existing is indeed buggered!! if it still does not connect then chances are your "winsock" stack needs to be reset - use WinsockFix XP from majorgeeks.com to to reset the winsock stack automatically AND also check for malware/spywares on the PC

HTH
Cheers
Bill

[ballaratdragons]

Thanks Bill.

Just spent nearly 7 hours 'live' online with guys from around the world and we almost have it nutted. It's now 5:40 am and I gotta give up for now. Too tired.

Back at it Sunday night. I need sleep right now.

[bartman]

Will you be on in 12 hours as said online? cause I might have some ideas too in addition to Matt's...
4 Hours Matt!! dedication!
cheers Bartman

[mithrandir]

Having spent a couple of hours with Ken, it's not that simple. It looks like Windows is reporting two wireless connections, but he has one card and an active antenna.
Then the box crashed and would not reboot - getting a video error beep code.
Ken pulled the side cover off and ran a web cam on his lappy over the PC. We established he has onboard video, so not simply unplug the card and plug in again.
After it cooled down, it did reboot and came up with a "failed boot due to bad overclock settings". I left it with Bert talking Ken through checking BIOS settings via webcam as work had paged me.

I give Ken credit for lots of patience. Coping with two PC geeks trying to explain some thing complex over the internet to someone who doesn't know the jargon is very hard. It is hard enough with the PC in front of you and the owner there so you can point at things and talk to them.

Andrew

[ballaratdragons]

Yep, thanks heaps Andrew, Bart, Bob and the other Aussies who joined in with assistance. :thumbsup:

Also Matt, Tim and a host of other Americans. :)

I am amazed at how patient everyone was with me when I couldn't understand what they wanted me to do.

Back at it again tonight :sadeyes:

[ballaratdragons]

I'm going online now Bart :thumbsup:

[GTB_an_Owl]

Ken, just a thought

have the boys talk you through pulling the Ram out and checking it for dust on the side closest to the fan - careful not to get your fingers on the gold bits at the bottom

wouldn't hurt to pull it out and make sure it is reseated anyway


geoff

[GTB_an_Owl]

the other thing i would be looking for is leaking capacitors on the motherboard

(black gunk leaking out the top of them)

geoff

[GTB_an_Owl]

in the case of the wireless card going on and off it could also be a power setting allowing windows to turn it off when it feels like it

geoff

[GTB_an_Owl]

i take it you have done the spybot or malwarebytes check on it as well ?


geoff

[spearo]

there's some good people in ISS i tells ya!
frank

[Barrykgerdes]

Here's a new one for the desktop not connecting to the router (by wireless in this case)

Some time ago a mouse (under the influence of Ratsak) got into my computer and contaminated the mother board to the stage where it would not work. I replaced the motherboard and put the two old plugins back, one of which was the wireless card.

All worked again for a couple of weeks and then I started to get intermittent wireless connection that always seemed to come good after a reboot. However it slowly got worse and I looked in the spares box for another card but the one I had did not work either. I then had a good look at the old card and noticed a sticky film on the track side over a section near the connector. I washed this film off and replaced the card. It now works perfectly again.

Barry

PS A side issue of the mice is the Ratsak never worked and I resorted to the old trap method. Caught 5 over three days and have not had any trouble since.

[ballaratdragons]

Thanks Geoff for all the tips. :thumbsup:

I am going to get someone who knows how do this to come here and physically do it.
Too hard over the net.

Good tip thanks Barry, but in my case, the whole insides is completely spotless.
No dust, mice, or cobwebs. It is only 3 months since it was built and it has only been used a few times at the November Camp. Now I want to use it here at home.

Here is what it is doing.

PC picks up the wireless network. It even says the signal is excellent. I click on connect and it loses the wireless completely. I search the whole PC and it cannot find any connections.

I have reloaded the driver disk.

Everything in the PC works perfectly. It just refuses to connect to the wireless even though it can see it.

I can see what will happen. Some computer Guru will sit down here in front of it, go click click click and it will all work.
Won't be the 1st time that's happened to me :lol:

Thanks all.

[GTB_an_Owl]

yes Ken

you will probably be "ANNOYED" at how simple it will be

by the way - have you fetched the hammer from the shed, and put it beside the puter?
another one i find handy is the dirty shovel

geoff

[ballaratdragons]

Well Geoff, I have dug a hole for it while the ground is soft from all the rain.

One wrong move and it's "into the ground with you Mr. Computer" :violin:

:lol:

[alistairsam]

Hi Ken,

what is the make/brand of the wireless card in your PC? if it is a netgear, I can tell you that the v3 version has issues.
if you can get a new usb wireless adaptor from any shop, a good brand, that will save you a lot of headache, especially since the connection is stable from your laptop.

also, what encryption and authentication have you set on your wireless router? set it to the simplest one, either open,wep(to test), or wpa-psk.

it sounds more like a problem with the wireless adaptor on your pc and not windows.

also, when it says connected, see if you got an ip address.
click on start, run, type in cmd and click ok.
type ipconfig and check the ip address that it shows. if its a 169. address, then it has not got an ip from the router. (compare ip address from your laptop). it needs a vald ip from your router to work.

also check the system log. right click my computer, click manage, click on event viewer on the left and look at the system logs. look for entries related to the time it connects and disconnects and it will give clues on why it disconnected.

alternately, if you can connect a lan cable to this pc and you install teamviewer, a free reliable remote software, one of us can jump on and have a look for you.

good luck

[GTB_an_Owl]

let you all in on a secret

the BEST EVER wireless card (USB) around at the moment is this one

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Alfa-AWUS036H-1000mW-1W-Wireless-G-WiFi-USB-Adapter-NEW-/120633864058?pt=AU_Computers_Networ king_Accessories&hash=item1c1656af7a

i buy them 3 at a time for the clients of the wireless network we run in an over 50's village up here

they are brilliant

geoff

[ballaratdragons]

Thanks Alistair.
Give me a few hours to slowly work out what you said, try them, and se what happens.
If all fails it may need a new network card.
No, it's not a Netgear wireless card, it's an MSI wireless card.

[ballaratdragons]

Thanks Geoff.
Can they be bought in shops like Officeworks, Hardly Normal etc?

[GTB_an_Owl]

off Ebay Ken

not readily available here as far as i know - nice and dear if you can find them

the place in that link is generally the cheapest - and delivery is reasonably quick - around 7days or so

geoff

[bartman]

Heya Ken,
Sorry I missed you the other night. I was at work and thought it would be quiet enough to give a hand..... but alas It got busy.
Anyway- obviously I missed some of the things that have been done ( but I did see the curious abrupt end to one of the help sessions that night :shrug:? )
Anyhoo.... one thing I thought of was, when I saw the session where you were attempting to enter the password ( passkey) on the dud puter, is that I'm wondering if the router has a different encryption protocol than your puter. In other words the router may have been set up with WEP protocol and your puter with say....WPA-PSK protocol.
So you might have been typing in the right 'network password' but just not the right protocol.
I made this booboo a few years ago and took me a week to sort out.
Have you got a name for the 'dud puter'?. I dont like calling it dud.
Are you familiar with getting to the home page of the router? On mine I go and open up firefox and type into the address bar 192.168.2.1 .
From there I can see ( via navigating through the menu ) which device ( puters/ mob phone etc) are connected to the router.
I just think ( this happened to me ) the dud puter had a conniption. Reset some stuff and made the router think its there but not:confused2:.
Hence the connecting/disconnecting...

I'm not an IT dude but have played with puters for a loooong time ( build my own) but that doesn't mean I know all and what I have just written might not be a solution, just another possibility:rofl:

I dont know why the device manager had that yellow warning sign on the router....
A suggestion for that would be to remove the card from your puter. Start the puter and try and remove the drivers from the system.
This might sound silly, but reboot the computer a few times ( but in between try and access the net - just let it give you the error msgs of not being able to connect to a network and cxl/close the warning boxes)
Then re-install the card ( maybe in a different slot if available). Re-install the drivers and .......hope.....

Thats all for now....yes a lot to digest including the other helpful posts that could be solutions.....

Mate...good luck and happy days
Bartman

[alistairsam]

Hi Ken,

have a look at the system event viewer to start with. as I mentioned, that will tell you why it disconnected. copy and paste that if you can into this thread.

to ensure you've got the the authentication and encryption matched to the router, simplest way is to compare settings with the laptop side by side without making changes. (remember to hit cancel)

if there's still no luck and you have'nt got another adaptor, let me know and myself or someone you know can connect to your PC via teamviewer if you can temporarily connect a network cable and install teamviewer. (www.teamviewer.com)

couple of wireless adaptors in local shops.

http://dicksmith.com.au/product/XH9698/linksys-wireless-n-usb-adapter


http://www.officeworks.com.au/retail/products/Technology/Networking-and-Wireless/Routers/Wireless-N/NENP910N

http://www.jbhifi.com.au/computers/accessories/d-link/wireless-n150-usb-adapter-sku-51679/

bet you're confused with all the different suggestions!

just let us know what you tried last and the results and we can suggest from there.

[ballaratdragons]

Yep, confused beyond belief.

I have just read the last few posts and my head is spinning and I don't even understand most of it. The jargon is waayyy beyond me.

encryption, wep(to test), or wpa-psk, encryption protocol, WEP protocol, WPA-PSK protocol, cxl/close, system event viewer, :shrug:


and no, I don't have a network cable.

I really appreciate all the help you guys are giving me in an attempt to help me out, but for me it really is like being lost in a crowded back street market in Mesopotamia an asking for directions from the non English speaking locals, while trying to ride a bicycle for the first time.
Very overwhelming and starting to cause anxiety.
So I have decided to prevent myself from having a total migraine, to abandon any attempt until I get a tech here in my house who can sit down at the computer and do it for me.
Yeah, a cop-out, but I am really starting to get anxiety from this. That shouldn't happen.

Thanks for all the help. You're a great crowd always willing to help. :thumbsup: