Anyone know about wireless networks?

Question

Hello
Last night my housemate and I set up our wireless net work.
he has a MAC and brought a Mac airport wireless router.
I have a dell and a universal wireless adaptor plugged in the back.
My PC could see the network but would not connect and said that it needed to configure.
WHAT THE Hell do I do- and what is a net work key, and what do I need to configure so my computer connects to the network.
Help me or I may throw it all out of the window.
If this helps its 128 bit, 802.1 network and all that

THANKS X

Answer 1

Just ask your roommate what type of encryption he used and the encryption key. It was probably WEP. So set your wireless client up to use WEP and type the WEP key that was entered into the router exactly.

Answer 2

Just chuck it all out the GD window. Dells cost upto 25% more than Macs, now, for the exact same hardware, and Dell sucks!
you'd be doing your man a big favor! Get a Mac! Instant connections! Virus and Trojan proof! So simple a woman can do it!

I fix both, and your housemate is smart to have a Mac! Virus proof, and it runs upto 50X faster than the Microsoft virus magnet.

So, like you are not bright enough to read the book, or to google.com for the answers, and expect us to help you?


1. Not enough info and technical data is presented in the question, so that any normal geek could answer in any relevant manner.

2. You don't know enough to even understand the terms we have to use to describe the steps you need to take!

3. It certainly is NOT a problem of the Mac or the Mac Airport router, it is a problem with your DELL so you NEED TO CALL DELL!!!

4, If this is how you react to all small issues that you are clueless about, you might find you will be OUT until you get some wisdom about how to ask a question or how to ask for help!

5. You mention the last line, that you are 128bit, and that only means one thing, the wifi is encrypted, and your Dell needs to configure the network name, the Keystream codec, or key, and, the password!!!

I am betting you are a blonde. I hope I offended you enough to wake you up. Learn to assess situations and not threaten to toss it all out the window, as if money grew on trees!

Answer 3

On your Control Panel turn off Windows firewall if it isn't already turned off. Make sure any other Internet security programs are disabled as well then select Setup Wireless Network Wizard and follow the instructions then for the Network device look In the destructions it should provide you withe a network ISP address for eg: http://122.122.0.1
On your main PC open up Internet explorer and type the ISP address in the address field. A site should come up. Select setup wireless network. This will bring up another site. click WEP and push the Generate button. You would then see about 4 lines with different numbers/letters. On the laptop or other wireless device after running setup wireless network wizard on it, type in the generated key. They should then talk to each other. Then restart your firewalls but first making sure that you first type in the ISP exceptions for the devices. THE MAIN THING TO DO IS READ THE INSTRUCTIONS ON THE NETWORK DEVICE.

Answer 4

The net key is a code or password of the router/wireless network.
For the configuring, i don't think u can do that yourself because i use wireless network and a router too AND i call an engineer who works in the same place i bought the router to configure it.

Answer 5

on a 2wire modem/ router the network key is a ten digit number enclosed in parenthesis located on the modem

when using win PC just type in the 10 digit numbers

when using MAC with Airport type in the dollar sign before the 10 digit number

just make sure that you are connected to your network

when your wireless adapter is able to pick-up available wireless networks select one that has 2wirexxx the last three digit of the modems serial number should match the numbers after 2wire

Answer 6

His network is secure that is why you are getting asked for a key. Have him give you the key that he entered in the router. If the key is setup via defualt then look in the manual WEP or WPA. After you get the key enter it and then you should be able to connect if your wireless card is the same version 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g as the network.

Answer 7

Should work fine.
What security settings have you got on the router ?
Which channel is it set to use ?
What is the security key/phrase and did the PC ask you to type one in ?

It may be you are using a security setting on the router that the PC cannot use, try setting it to open to get it working then figure out how to set the security.

Try dropping the speed on the router if it has > 54mb capability drop it to 54.

Answer 8

you will find that when your housemate setup the wireless router they will have configured the SSID ( which is what you can see when you scan for their network ) but they will also have configured the router to use either WEP or WPA. If they have configured it to use a preshared key then you will need them to tell you this value. Then you can configure your wireless connection on your PC to use that connection. You may find that you can right-click on the icon for your wireless device and in there you will see something like "Preshared KEY".

Answer 9

The network key is the encrytion key - it's probably on the mac - get that and put it on a USB memory stick and transfer it to your PC - use the XP wizard to set up the connection.

Answer 10

Check out detailed explanation on how to configure wireless router here: http://www.home-network-help.com/wireless-router.html

Check out detailed explanation on how to configure wireless adapter here: http://www.home-network-help.com/wireless-adapter.html

:o)
picoHat