Help with wireless router--can't connect.

[kim-chee-san]

I just moved into a new place and am having issues connecting to the landlord's router from my laptop. I can see the network SSID and I get anywhere from 95-100% signal strength. When I try to connect to the network, it seems like a connection is established but it says "acquiring IP address" and never does.

I know that I am using the correct SSID, the correct security option, and the correct key (I checked the key once, twice, and three times just to be sure). I'm by no means an expert on wireless routers, but I think I'm solid on the basics of setting up. I know my landlord hasn't configured any advanced options--when I asked her if MAC filtering was turned on she said she wasn't sure if a MAC (read: Macintosh) could be used with the router or not.

I'm fresh out of ideas and pretty frustrated after 3 days of trying to get this to work. Ideally I would love a solution, but other suggestions to try out would be very much welcomed too.

Almost forgot to mention--when I plug an ethernet cable directly into the back of the wireless router from my laptop everything works fine.

**I have a Thinkpad T60 running Windows XP SP2 with an Intel 802.11abg wireless card.

**The landlord's router is a Netgear Rangemax WPN824 802.11g wireless router using WPA-PSK/TKIP for security, DHCP is on, and MAC filtering is off.

[jdhurst]

Out of all that, if MAC filtering is OFF, and then if: (1) the SSID is correct; and (2) Security is set for WPA-PSK/TKIP; and (3) if the security key is correct, then it will connect (always does for me).

So when I cannot connect, one of the three variables above is incorrect. Common errors for me: (1) wrong SSID (there may be a space or other like character in the router that I ignored in the setup and (2) security key errors are dead easy to make in a complicated security key.

Finally, maybe your network card is not compliant with your landlords router (I had to upgrade my Netopia to a new box to get it to work with my new Vista laptop wireless).

Good luck, ... JDH

[GomJabbar]

One possiblity is the number of IP addresses may have been limited in the router or your laptop has a static IP address. Check the router configuration under Advanced settings > LAN IP setup. Also check for any reserved IP addresses. On your laptop, make sure you have TCP/IP set to use dynamic addressing.

Additionally it could possibly be a software firewall issue or an encryption issue. Try turning off wireless security (WPA) and see if you can connect. Try turning off your software firewall and see if you can connect.

EDIT: Another thing. Sometimes rebooting the router and computer can resolve these types of issues.

If you are using IE7 try the Network Diagnostic Tool.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/usin ... stics.mspx

[beGi]

If mentioned advices don't work, try this one. I had very similar issue (only difference is that I had use SecureW2 WPA supplicant, but never mind), as in your case signal was excellent, entered correct data, and I couldn't connect and all I got was "acquiring IP address"... Called admin, well, my little sister knew more about WLAN than he did, no go… Anyway, I "played" a bit with WLAN driver options in device manager and changing value in Mixed Mode Protection from CTS-to-self enabled to RTS/CTS enabled resolved my issue (try to change and confirm it if it’s set to default). Try to change other values that make sense, I’m not sure anymore if that was only value that I changed. Hope it helps…

[kim-chee-san]

Thanks for all the advice. I did try everything recommended to no avail and finally resigned myself to purchasing a Netgear wireless USB stick--after all that I just assumed that my Thinkpad's wireless card wasn't compatible with the router for whatever reason.

Well, I decided to try one last thing--something that I thought would be absolutely ridiculous...but hey, what did I have to lose? I typed the WPA key in all caps and bam! It worked!

The key my landlord had given me was in all lowercase letters. I asked her why in the world she wrote them that way....she said she didn't realize it was case sensitive. For the love of humanity.......