Help setting up a wireless network (please!)

Wife has treated herself to a little Toshiba netbook (NB200) and has tasked yours truly with sorting out a wireless network, which is a completely new area for me, and I'm stumped already.

Connecting the Tosh to our wired network is fine, so bought a D-Link DAP-1160 wireless access point, thinking that the wiring goes from the wall socket, to our Speedtouch router, then wired from one of the router ports to the D-Link, and wirelessly from the D-Link to the Tosh.

Followed the setup instructions (which also involved buying a USB DVD drive for the Tosh, to read the D-Link manual which is on CD), and using the built in Tosh and D-Link software, I can see the D-Link access point from the Tosh, but cannot connect. Keep getting the error message 'Another Vendor's Application is controlling the wireless adaptor', but what application?

Anyone successfully connected a Tosh netbook in similar circumstances?

Thanks!

(My own DVD audio problems are on hold until this is sorted!)

Reply to
Graeme
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Look for Toshiba's wireless utility, find the Access point and do the connect with that. I think you are using Microsoft's version of that, which has been partially disabled due to the Tosh s/w being also installed.

Don't worry - this is, er, normal ...

Reply to
Adrian C

The utility which gives the error message is ConfigFree, which I think is Toshiba's software, which I assume is fighting with MS's software. What I'm not sure about is how to disable either one, to let the other do whatever is necessary.

So I gather, from Googling :-)

Reply to
Graeme

OK, so Microsoft's software is in the chair ... Don't go about disabling things.

In control panel, click the "Network Connections" icon.

Right click the icon relating to the wireless connection, and choose "View Available Wireless Networks"

You should be OK from then on finding and connecting ...

Reply to
Adrian C

You made the error of installing the software off the cd. Uninstall it and start again without making the error. (You may need to use system restore to roll it back a bit.)

Windows can find the wireless network without any of the cr@p that comes on the cds.

You will want to log into the AP and set security once it is working.

BTW are you sure its an access point? most are routers.

Reply to
dennis

In message , Adrian C writes

A l "Windows cannot configure this wireless connection.

If you have enabled another program to manage this wireless connection, use that software.

If you want W This behavior occurs for several reasons. Some computer and hardware manufacturers provide their own configuration software that replaces the Wireless Zero Configuration service that is provided in Windows. In that case, you must use the software that is provided by the manufacturer to configure your wireless network. If you want to use the Wireless Network Setup Wizard or the View Available Wireless Networks feature to configure your wireless device, see the documentation that came with your computer or with your wireless network card. Use this documentation to determine whether you can use the Wireless Zero Configuration service to configure your wireless network. Sometimes, you cannot use the Windows functionality.

Hmm. :-)

Reply to
Graeme

In message , "dennis@home" writes

Yes, I did wonder about that. The D-Link thing came with a huge sticker saying :

STOP! Insert CD First.

The netbook is almost brand new, so I suppose I could set it back to 'brand new'.

It is described as Wireless G Access Point, model DAP-1160, suitable for use as an Access Point, AP Client, Bridge, Bridge with AP, Repeater, WISP Client Router or WISP Repeater.

Reply to
Graeme

The CD supplied with the access point would have had software intended to configure the wireless point NOT anything to do with configuring your wireless adaptor on your laptop.

This following is pure Dennis.

Back to the laptop, forget ConfigFree for the moment. That looks merely like some convienience software for swapping settings for different locations and their available internet connections be they wireless or cabled. It's not a wifi driver.

If you look in device manager from control panel. i.e.

formatting link
'll find the make of the wireless network adaptor. Either Atheros or Intel I think. The utility software that you want to select and make the connection is the following.

Intel - Intel(R) PROSet for Wireless Atheros - Wireless Lan Client Manager

Either should be found from the programs menu and could be the 'other' driver that MS (and also ConfigFree) are complaining about.

Reply to
Adrian C

Ha, that was your first mistake ... !

That depends on the wireless card and if it has a standard chipset. Anything from Netgear, D-Link or 3com should be ok, and recognised by windows.

As has been said, de-install your card software (but not the drivers) and windows should pick it up and use the Wireless Zero software.

Only default to the card makers software if windows can't drive it.

There's loads out there on the web for and against WZC.

e.g.

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Paul.

Reply to
zymurgy

Yes, but presumably that wasn't in the laptop. Or was it? Normally you'd install the D-Link software on a wired network PC. Then you'd use the web browser on that PC to configure the WAP over the wired network. (You don't need a crappy CD to do that, but that's another story). There's no need to install any D-Link software on the laptop. Unless you use the laptop to configure its own access point, which I suspect would be confusing and inconvenient to say the least.

So:

Wired PC: install CD if you must, use your web browser to configure the WAP (passwords, etc).

Laptop: don't install CD, use either Toshiba's software or Windows' software, and whichever you get working first, stick with it. You should be able to find Toshiba's software in the Start Menu, and when you start that software you should see a check box "Allow Windows to manage this connection" or similar. I'd check that box and see how I got on.

Lastly, take heart from the fact that this is all par for the course.

Reply to
Mike Barnes

OK, it sounds like you have the physical connections sorted. There are now three things to do to get it all up and running:

1) The AP has an IP address of its own, and this needs to be on the same subnet as the rest of your wired network. IIUC, the default address of the AP, is 192.168.0.50. If your existing network also uses the 192.168.0.n range of addresses you will be able to talk to the AP via a wired connection straight away (just enter "http://192.168.0.50" into a web browser). To check what subnet your wired lan is using, type IPCONFIG from a command prompt, and look at the address allocated to the wired ethernet controller. If the address does not start 192.168.0.n, then you won't be able to talk to the AP yet. See note 1. 2) Once wired access is working to the APs configuration pages, you can give it a SSID name (something that makes it obvious its your one - nothing worse that hunting through a list of APs all called something like D_LinkNNN / Sky1279864 / etc). Also turn on WPA2 encryption and enter a decent length network key. 3) Have the laptop search for, find and connect to the AP. Others have covered this last bit in some detail. Note however it is possible to end up with working comms between your laptop and AP, and yet have none between the AP and the wired lan and hence the internet. For it to work all the way though, you need to have step 1 above working.

formatting link
the built in Tosh and D-Link software, I can see the D-Link access point

Yup, it just means the Tosh has its own software for configuring the wireless side of things. Sometimes laptop vendors do this to add facilities not present in the native windows stuff, and other times it is to support hardware not supported by the windows utilities. In the former case you can force it to revert to the windows default if you like. However the easiest thing is to just find the bundled wireless configuration application and use that.

(note, with some recent tosh laptops, it is not uncommon to have to flash them to the latest bios version to get any wireless connectivity working correctly at all!)

Note 1 : how to reconfigure an AP when its on a different subnet to your computer

There are a few ways to do this. One is to use the software supplied with the AP. This will include SNMP management software that can communicate with the AP even when its on the wrong subnet. This can be handy for when you don't know what the APs default IP address is. Usually however I don't bother installing the supplied software.

Another common way is to temporarily change the IP address of the computer being used to do the configuration to move it onto the same subnet as the AP. However this is a bit cumbersome as you have to tit about changing it back again after to manage to reconfigure the AP.

The simplest way, is to add a temporary route to the PC to tell it how to find the AP. If you don't do this your PC will see the AP address is not on your subnet, and assume that it is a foreign address it can only access via your main router and forward the request there. Needless to say, this won't be able to work out what to do with the address either!

Say your PC has the IP address 192.168.1.5 and the AP has the default IP of 192.168.0.50

In a command prompt type:

route add 192.168.0.0 mask 255.255.255.0 192.168.1.5

That tells the PC that any address it is asked to find in the range

192.168.0.1 to 192.168.0.255 should actually be forwarded via your own network card to the local lan, and not sent to to the default gateway (i.e. the broadband router)

Now you can plug the APs address into your web browser, talk to its configuration pages and change its IP address to match your network. Note that if you have DHCP setup on your main router (quite likely), give the AP ad address that is not in the range of addresses that the main router is allowed to hand out.

Reply to
John Rumm

In message , Mike Barnes writes

Not sure if I can help at all, but I just pop in to say that I'm the owner of an earlier Toshiba NB100. Mine runs Ubuntu and I ran into a whole heap of problems caused by my Linux inexperience with what to answer to the questions that Ubuntu updates asked. A later version of Ubuntu cured almost all of the mistakes I'd made, and I now really like the little machine.

There are some Toshiba Europe forums for these machines eg

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might give specific advice.

I certainly installed no software, just connected to my router. But the wireless access point needs to be configured to pass through the dhcp settings and DNS from the router transparently, and that's where you need to have the software installed somewhere wired to set up the access point.

I've done this using a second router as a WAP and it can be very confusing.

Reply to
Bill

SSID, encryption, etc.

Reply to
dennis

In message , Adrian C writes

I think we're making progress. Found the Atheros settings under Programs, and told it to let Windows take over. Windows confirms the D-Link is connected, but is stuck, 'acquiring network address'. I start work in ten minutes, so will try again later.

Reply to
Graeme

In message , Mike Barnes writes

Mike, this is where I'm confused. Why do I need to bring a wired PC into the equation? All I want to do is make the net book connect wirelessly.

Reply to
Graeme

Ok, so you have recognised the link, but DHCP is not set up correctly.

That may in fact be something you need to configure on the WAP.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Really?

Reply to
Adrian C

Graeme presented the following explanation :

I cannot help wondering why you bought an add on WAP, when it would have been no more expensive to simply replace Speedtouch with a combined modem/ router with an included WAP. It would have made setting it up so much simpler and the cost would have been similar.

I have a much more complex system here and for various reasons I have everything on my network configured with fixed IP's rather than using DHCP. That way I know where everything is, can connect directly to them and can ping them to make sure they are on and get straight to router configuration web pages to check/ alter their settings.

It is also no bad thing for your LAN's security, to change the IP's away from their default settings anyway, especially so if you add a WAP.

Reply to
Harry Bloomfield

Quite so. It might be possible to connect to it as it comes "out of the box" but that would be pretty lucky and obviously isn't happening here.

The first thing you should do, before even touching the laptop, is to make sure the WAP is working as a member of your wired network, and configure it. The software on the CD is meant to help you with this but it isn't really necessary.

First, the WAP might be configured to obtain an IP address automatically, or it might not. Probably not, in my experience, it will be configured with a default fixed address. Go to a PC on the wired network, start your browser and type 192.168.1.1 into the address bar - this is a pretty popular address. If that brings up the configuration screen (or asks for a password) you're in luck. Otherwise search the CD- ROM documentation for 192.168 and see what you find.

If you're really unlucky your wired network will be on a different subnet (first three numbers different from the WAP's default) and a rather more complicated procedure will be necessary. I can explain it if necessary but I think it probably won't be necessary.

Otherwise you could just run the CD and all this should be done for you.

Once you've got your configuration screen up, you need to configure your WAP. Change the "SSID" to a distinctive name so that when you see a signal on your laptop, you know it's yours and not your neighbour's. :-)

There's lots more to it but I think that's enough for now. Let us know how you get on.

Reply to
Mike Barnes

It happens that Mike Barnes formulated :

Most WAP's have wired LAN sockets, so probably his easy option would be to plug into one of these directly to view the WAP's set up page.

Start by working out what the routers default IP and subnet is, then once you have logged into the WAP - set that one up to the same subnet and the same IP as the router, but add a one to the final number of the IP. Thus - xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx + 1 (192.168.1.1 would therefore become

192.168.1.2)
Reply to
Harry Bloomfield

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