Securing my wireless network?

[Johnny Toetags]

So I installed a router yesterday. Hooked it up to my PC to give the two laptops wireless.

Now, when I connect from my laptop my network says it is "unsecured", how do I secure it? I assume it's simple password protection of some type...?

[Pandora's Sweaty Box]

on the router configuration, turn on WEP and give it a key code

configure your laptops to use the same key when you configure them to connect to the 'secure' network

[John O'Brien]

Yup, you can either setup WEP encryption (64 bit or 128bit keys), or the newer WPA-PSK or WPA-PSK2.. Usually, any form of encryption should suffice. If you really wanted to tie down your router, you could setup MAC filtering, which will filter devices by MAC address along with your standard encryption..

If you have any problems setting up WEP, give me your router make/model and I'll find out where in your config page to set it up.

[Johnny Toetags]

on the router configuration, turn on WEP and give it a key code

configure your laptops to use the same key when you configure them to connect to the 'secure' network

I can't seem to find a program that's been installed on my comp, is this in windows somwhere?

[Johnny Toetags]

Yup, you can either setup WEP encryption (64 bit or 128bit keys), or the newer WPA-PSK or WPA-PSK2.. Usually, any form of encryption should suffice. If you really wanted to tie down your router, you could setup MAC filtering, which will filter devices by MAC address along with your standard encryption..

If you have any problems setting up WEP, give me your router make/model and I'll find out where in your config page to set it up.

Linksys Wireless-G, Model wrk54g.

[Pandora's Sweaty Box]

the router also acts as a web server to serve out the config pages. the default address is 192.168.1.1 usually. put the ip in your web browser and let 'er rip. the default username is 'admin' and the password is either 'password', 'admin', or nothing. not sure...

link to downloads for wrk54g (http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?childpagename=US%2FLayout&packedargs=page%3D2%26cid%3D1115416835852%26c%3DL_ Content_C1&pagename=Linksys%2FCommon%2FVisitorWrapper&SubmittedElement=Linksys%2FFormSubmit%2FProductDow nloadSearch&sp_prodsku=1130276683500)

[Pandora's Sweaty Box]

FYI, you might need to hit the factory default settings reset button on the router if you didn't get it brand new

[Pandora's Sweaty Box]

http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/5671/untitled3cy.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

link to user manual (http://s40.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1N8YMD5USSVZ411YGI9395EXIY)

Enjoy!

[Crax]

Turn on wep 256 if its available on your model. If you want to get fancy you can setup a radius server and use WPA, but if not WPA-PSK is always an option as well. If your not including some other protocols like leap, your standard basic protection from strongest to weakest:
WPA>WEP 256>WPA-PSK(dependant on pass)>WEP 128>WEP 64

Like PSB said above, on a lot of models you usually just connect to the IP of your router from a wired connection through your broswer like http://192.168.0.1

[dy-no-mite3000]

go to your web broswer and type in "192.168.1.1" this will give you access to your routers info n shit.

btw its people liek you who close their wifi networks that mean i cant have free net when i travel.
i hate choo.

[Johnny Toetags]

I'm on the router's config page, what do I need to set-up to limit my access to my computers?

[Johnny Toetags]

hmmm, i secured it but now I got limited connectivity...

[Johnny Toetags]

reps guys, it's working well now.

[dy-no-mite3000]

what did you do to finally fix it?
and btw i know whos other laptops on your config. awww i thinks it be cute :D

[Johnny Toetags]

fuck you dyno!!! FUCK YOU!!! I'M HARDCORE!!! I don't DO cute. :mad:

[kcb]

I don't DO cute. :mad:

That's for damn sure.

[John O'Brien]

Hip hip, hurray.

[Johnny Toetags]

hmmm, everything was working well for like 2 days, and now I'm having a problem with one of the laptops - just one, mind you.

It has perma-limited to no connectivity, looks like the router's not giving this bitch an IP. It says "windows could not finish repairing the problem because the following action cannot be completed: Renewing the IP address."

thoughts? I already updated the firmware, no dice.

[Johnny Toetags]

any ideas? anyone?

[dy-no-mite3000]

hmmm go into network places, then the view network connections then disable the wifi, then enable it.

see if that works.

your next option may have to go foward with assigning an ip address to the laptops and the router, a bit more work that that dhcp option but it would correct it.

[Johnny Toetags]

weird, I was talking to a linksys tech and he suggested switching channels which restorded one of my laptops - but the other one still has the same problem. Should I play around with the channels more?

[dy-no-mite3000]

weird, I was talking to a linksys tech and he suggested switching channels which restorded one of my laptops - but the other one still has the same problem. Should I play around with the channels more?
give it a shot, worst case scenario si you could always go back and restore defaults in the system.

[Johnny Toetags]

this is very weird. So I reinstalled the router, reset everything and now it works fine on my laptop with the PCI adapter that came with the fucking router - but my laptop with a wireless card still gets nothing.

I dunno man.

[Mad Processor]

What router version/vendor and card version/vendor?

[Johnny Toetags]

Linksys wireless-G broadband router WRK54G. It works FINE now with my laptop that has the linksys wireless PCI adapter, but not with the laptop with the Dell Wireles 1370 WLAN mini-PCI card.

[Mad Processor]

Are you trying to have Windows XP control the wireless settings on that card?

[Mad Processor]

There might be some useful tips in here:
http://networking.ittoolbox.com/groups/technical-functional/NetworkAdmin-L/wireless-router-linksys-wrk54g-internet-connection-problems-717906#

[Johnny Toetags]

...not sure what you mean, but... no?

[Mad Processor]

Basically, Windows XP loves to handle the wireless stuff, but it sucks at it. Where you enter the key's etc, is that happening in a Windows XP "Wireless settings" window, or are you using the configuration tool for the card itself. All cards come with the driver and some software used to control it.

If you're using the WinXP control thingie, there should be a check box that says "Have Windows XP configure your wireless settings" or something.

[Optimus Van Optimum]

JTT,

This is a common problem between Dell and Linksys. I've done numerous installations where the Dell wireless card does not recognize the Linksys router or access point. You'll probably need to buy another Linksys card for you other laptop.

The first thing I would do is get back to your default configs. Dump the security for now and disable any firewalls too. It is much easier to troubleshoot when the security setting are not an issue.

If that doesn't work switch the router to use 802.11b and your cards as well. It is a slower rate but the standard has been around a lot longer than G which will also make it easier to troubleshoot.

You also don't need to use that stupid utility to configure your router. Open up IE and go to http://192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1. When you're prompted for a password enter admin as the username and password. The web interface is much easier to use.

Let me know how you make out.

[Johnny Toetags]

both laptops can now connect to the network, and it says connected - but I can't get online. I can release and renew IP's, but nothing loads. W. T. F.

[kcb]

How do you know you are not online?

First, make sure that you have an IP address (ipconfig in cmd prompt).

If you conclude that you have an IP, try pinging some websites like www.yahoo.com or www.google.com (sites that you know are available 99.99999% of the time). If you can ping those sites, then conceivably be able to reach them via browser.

Make sure that you don't have some fucked up proxy settings in your browser. If any of those settings are wrong, you won't be able to view websites.

[Optimus Van Optimum]

I would like to add to KCB's post...

Type ipconfig /all
Make sure you have an address next to DNS Servers

You may not get a repsone from your pings but if it will at least resolve the name to an IP address like below then you should be ok.

Pinging www.yahoo.akadns.net [216.109.118.79] with 32 bytes of data:

[Johnny Toetags]

okay, I'm fixing this today. I'll let you guys know what I'm doing.

[Johnny Toetags]

When i IPCONFIG, I get nothing in DNS suffix, I do get an IP and a Subnet mask, and a default gateway.

I have a DNS addy when I ipconfig /all.

I can't ping google, or yahoo, or anyone.

Browsers just don't load any pages. wtf.

[Johnny Toetags]

just tried to release and renew the IP, no go.

"An error occured while renewing interface wireless network connecton: unable to contact your DHCP server. Request timed out."

[kcb]

When i IPCONFIG, I get nothing in DNS suffix, I do get an IP and a Subnet mask, and a default gateway.

I have a DNS addy when I ipconfig /all.

I can't ping google, or yahoo, or anyone.

Browsers just don't load any pages. wtf.

I'm a little rusty on all of this, but it sounds like a DHCP issue.

login to the router and check the DHCP settings. Report anything concerning DHCP back in here for troubleshooting purposes.

[Johnny Toetags]

Login Type: DHCP
Internet IP Address: 0.0.0.0
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway: 0.0.0.0
DNS 1: 0.0.0.0
DNS 2: 0.0.0.0
DNS 3: 0.0.0.0
MTU: 1500

:(

[Crax]

I may have missed this earlier in the thread, but do you have a dsl/cable modem you are plugging into this wireless router or do you have a dsl/cable combo modem and router so esentially you are connecting a router to a router?

[kcb]

Login Type: DHCP
Internet IP Address: 0.0.0.0
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway: 0.0.0.0
DNS 1: 0.0.0.0
DNS 2: 0.0.0.0
DNS 3: 0.0.0.0
MTU: 1500

:(

Yeah, pretty much that tells me that DHCP isn't assigning you an IP address.

Also, do you have Service Pack 2 installed?

SP2 comes with great wireless support, from what I have read.

[Johnny Toetags]

I may have missed this earlier in the thread, but do you have a dsl/cable modem you are plugging into this wireless router or do you have a dsl/cable combo modem and router so esentially you are connecting a router to a router?


it's a straight DSL connection.


I don't fucking get it. I reset the router, reinstall it and it works for 24 hours or so and then, next morning, both Laptops have no more IP, no more network access, nothing.


is it my ISP maybe?

[Crax]

I know linksys has had some intermittent problems with some of their routers. Are you on the latest firmware? Do you only have two wireless connections or do you have a wired connection as well? Are they all disconnected in the morning?

[Sid-art]

Linksys wireless-G broadband router WRK54G. It works FINE now with my laptop that has the linksys wireless PCI adapter, but not with the laptop with the Dell Wireles 1370 WLAN mini-PCI card.
Go to start-controlpanel-addremove programs and uninstall Intel proset utility. Press Fn and F2 to enable wireless.

[Johnny Toetags]

I know linksys has had some intermittent problems with some of their routers. Are you on the latest firmware? Do you only have two wireless connections or do you have a wired connection as well? Are they all disconnected in the morning?


I did, and that didn't change anything. Weird. Oh, and Sid-Art - I don't have that program in my add/remove.

[Rasengan]

another thing you may want to do to limit access to your network is to turn off DHCP and set the number of leases to the exact number of computers that you want to have access to your network...then set each of your computers up with a static IP...usually you'd want your first computer that is wired directly to your router as 192.168.0.100, then your next computer will be 101, followed by 102

this is done so any other computer attempting to access your network will never be able to find an empty IP address because there will be no DHCP server to automatically assign it one

a few other things you may want to do is to turn off radio broadcasting once all your computers are connected...also, change the default channel in which the router broadcasts at