Wireless connection not fully connecting

Hi, I just recieved a brand new Travelmate Acer Laptop with Windows XP Pro and a 120 GB Harddrive as a gift, and for some reason, I cannot get my wireless connection to fully connect to a network. It's trying to finish connecting to a network called belkin54g, but for some reason says that it's trying to find/renew my IP address. I let it sit there for 20 mins, and nothing seemed to progress from there. Can anyone help me figure out what's going on here!? Thanks, Madison

Hi, Sorry to hear about the wireless problem. Some first steps that may be useful: 1 Check to see if your computer has a wireless switch ( to switch wireless on and off) ……quite a few laptops have this. Now go to 'internet options' in control panel, connection tab, and select 'never dial an internet connection'. Ok your way out. 2 Now power cycle your wireless router access point….turn it all off, (unplug it if necessary) wait 3 minutes with it off, now turn it all on, again wait another 3 minutes and now close down your computer (a full close down, not a sleep/hibernate/standby, wait 30 seconds with a blank ,black screen and then restart your machine…. see if you now have a wireless connection as this may do the trick for you…if not then: 3 Check that your network adaptor card is recognised (look in Device Manager) check that the card is present and that there is no Yellow or Red marker against it 4 In Device Manager make sure that the properties for your network adaptor card show that it is working correctly. 5 See if any of your chums can access your wireless signal, in your home, using their computers..if so then at least we know the fault is in your computer and not with your router/adsl gateway/access point 6 Post back and let us know how you are getting on…..we will also need to know the following: 7 Make and model number of your computer and the same information for your: 8 Router, modem, Access point and how you normally connect to the Internet….Cable ,ADSL etc 9 Please also advise what encryption you are using…WEP, WPA etc and if you have allowed access to the Internet through your 2 way software firewall…..If you are using a router that includes a hardware firewall, then it would be OK to disable your 2 way software firewall for a test to see if this allows you to access the wireless signal correctly. On receipt of the above information we will advise the next steps Regards paws

Hey sorry I have been super busy for the last 2 days or so, I will print these out now and try those steps asap!

Okay so I did step 1, then step 2, and still had no internet connection afterwards. I followed step 3 and 4 and everything looked good, no red or yellow marks and everything is working correct. Step 5 - My dad has a laptop with a wireless connection and his works just fine in our house. Step 7 - I have an Acer TravelMate 7520-5594 Step 8- Router: Belkin ( I have no idea what the model number is) Modem: HDAUDIO Soft Data Fax Modem with Smart CP Access Point: I'm not sure what this is We normally connect to the internet using Cable in my house. Step 9 - I am using WPA encryption and have allowed access to the internet through my software firewall. I don't think that I have a hardware firewall. Also, my dad got a little ahead of himself and actually ended up calling the place where he bought this laptop at and talked to some guy who said that my laptop needs a new router. I guess he said that alot of people that had bought this particular kind of laptop had been having lots of trouble connecting to the belkin54g network. He said he wants to put in a linksys router. I noticed actually that when I first turned on my laptop and tried to connect to a network, it wanted to automatically connect to a linksys network, but I was told that I would need to connect to the belkin54g network.

Hi, Ok, When you start up your computer it should automatically search for any wireless signal that it is capable of receiving. It should display a list of all signals that it is receiving……….although that may only be one or two………..Then you have to select which connection, ie which router you want to connect with (You should only connect to your own router, not to a neighbours router for example, so if your router is a Belkin then connect to this, your machine should then ask you for the WPA key so type this in exactly as it was set up in your router and see if this helps. You could always take up the shops suggestion and try a different router….. A cheaper solution would be to take your machine to some of your chums homes and see if you can connect to their routers…….(they will need to disclose their encryption keys( WPA key.)..but if they are security conscious they can always change their WPA key after you have done Regards paws

Yeah my dad uses a belkin router as well, and he connects to that one perfectly actually! Yesterday as a test, I did somehow manage to connect my computer to the linksys network and had a connection for around 10 mins, which was kind of odd haha. So on Wednesday this guy is coming over to put in a new router. Thank you for all your help, that's some good info to know especially if this new router doesn't work either, I'll try those steps again