Complete networking noob needs suggestions

karansar

karansar

karansar

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Joined
16 Nov 2004
Posts
64
Location
Devon
Main comp (vista 64 bit) and xbox360 downstairs in the front room. Son is getting my old pc (xp home) in his room, upstairs, back of the house.
I truly haven't got much of a clue when it comes to networking, been using a BT voyager 100, that I got from aol umpteen years ago.
Have been looking for a router, but there's sooooo many. So, could you good people please suggest some for me. Priorities are: ease of use and (low)price. I'd really just like to plug and play if it is at all possible.
Oh, both comps will be playing WOW at the same time.
Many thanks.
 
Yes, Netgear are fairly easy to work with. my favourite are Linksys however.

Routers are very close to plug and play in that they will work with your computer without any problems straight away, however they themseles need to be told your broadband details.

With your old Voyager 100, your computer stored your user name and password and when you went to use the internet, the PC dialed up broadband with the voyager and then the computer told your internet people your name and password and then providing it was good, you were on the internet.

A router you will have to tell your username and password to, and then the router does all the work... It will stay onthe internet as long as it is switched on and your computer will talk to the router.

Once the router is setup you will find your computer use so much better using it than it was before.

The only issue you will have is getting your name / password into the router as I said, but just dont rush into it, take your time and it will be fairly straight forward.

Let us know what model router you get in the end and we will show you how to set it up.
 
FatRakoon said:
Let us know what model router you get in the end and we will show you how to set it up.
Click to expand...
That's really nice of you, thanks. I certainly will do that. Actually, I do own and have been struggling with a Thomson speedtouch st585v6 (supplied by aol) over the weekend. I did have it running ok for about a fortnight, well over 6 months ago, but it just dced and I couldn't get it up and running again. Aol "help" were absolutely no help at all, so I abandoned it went back to the voyager.
I made a new build on Saturday and just thought I'd give the speedtouch one more try before trying a different router.
 
Linksys ADSL stuff is garbage though, the Brodcom modems that are in Netgear are generally better at getting the highest sync-rate possible from a line than the chipset that is found in Linksys stuff.
 
KARANSAR:
I got a SpeedTouch 585 too... My mother got hers from AOL also.

Not THAT bad, and I had a play when I stle my mums to see if its locked and it was not and I used it for about an hour with no problems. Really easy to setup.

AOL help ? - HA!

Yes anyway, give it a go... Silly not to I suppose if you already have it.

WIJ:
Linksys are bad?

Each to their own I suppose , but when my linksys got fried a couple of years ago in a storm, my spare Netgear came out... Inless than 2 days I decided to look out for another Linksys.

The model I had and wanted again is no longer made, so, I asked around and eventually found one. I gave my netgear and £50 for the linksys.

I myself would say that linksys are vastly superior to netgear.

I have recently moved over to Post Office for my broadband and they supplied a netgear... Naturally I have used it and did so for a few days to fully test it but hey... Im back on my Linksys.

Linksys is a WAG354G v2 ( My old one was v1 )
Netgear is a DG834GSP v3

ICurrently, my Data Rate on this Linksys is 7264 / 448 Kbps while the netgear never gave better than about 3500 / 448 so for me linksys are clearly the better option.

Either way, both are good options, as are DLINK ( Althoug hI find them a little complex for the beginner ) and bloody Belkin have certainly lost their status with me.
 
FatRakoon. I've been messing about with the speedtouch for the latter part of yesterday and most of the morning today. Didn't get any joy, so I came here for advice on getting a new router, but if we can sort the speedtouch, it'll save me a few quid :D
All 5 lights came on, but the WLAN one stayed on red. Tried to install it through aol software, but it couldn't find the router. Of the two lights on my ethernet port, one was yellow, the other orange(limited connection). Aol support guy talked me through into control panel>admin>services, then made me reset/stop/start DHCP Client and DNS Client to no avail. I think he went off to get some advice, then came back asking me to find "DCPIP", when I couldn't find it, he copped out and told me to get in touch with my comp manufacturer. Then he buggered off. It wasn't until I googled DCPIP that I realised I should have been looking for TCP/IP. Must've been the guys accent, really haven't a clue where he's from :rolleyes:
One thing I think I figured out was, that there is a problem with my IP address being recognised by the router. But as it's a new pc, with a new Vista installation, I can't see how that would be the problem. Then again, I don't know what I'm doing.
 
Ok mate...

Trying to work out your EMail... You are on AOL then? You dont need to use that ridiculously useless pile of poo software they give you... Their service is fine however, I cannot fault that but the software... Well, lets not go there.

You said that all 5 lights came on, but then you talked to a guy and now they are not?
The thing is that when all the lights are on... Its working, so why you then talked to a guy I dont know and even worse is that the guy should have verified that it was working before tellign you to do things that seem to have ruined it?

So, how many lights are on now?

Ok, lets get things back to the start

Firstly, RESET the router... There is a small almost hidden button at the back of the router.

now reset the PC

With a bit of luck, as long as you have not actualyl changed anything in the PC with the Network info then we will hopefully get onto the ROUTERS config page.

So, open up FireFox / Internet Explorer / Whatever you use to view web pages... Or anythign with an address bar on it and type down

192.168.1.1

A Box might come up asking for a username and password
Try admin for both, but it will bein the manual

Now, if all has gone well, then we will be at the routers setup page...You will see a place to enter your username and password... Fill those in and save the info and viola! - you should be on the internet.

Have a look for the DSL Light on the router ( Middle-Right ) and if thats lit up then the router can see the phone line is broadband capable and the far right LED means that its connected to the internet.

Both these will hopefully be on!

Is any of that any help?

Let us know how far you get as we may have needed to change your Network properties ... Depending on how much dammagewas done bythe phone call???
 
Mate, thanks a lot for taking the time to help me out, it's very appreciated. I've got a feeling that the speedtouch is knackered. Weird though. It's got to be about 6 months ago since I used it last. It was working fine for a couple of weeks, then one night I was playing wow, got disconnected and I never managed to reconnect with it again afterwards. I tried to get a replacement or assistance from aol, but the nice aol helpline chap was no help at all. although he did eventually convince me to wipe my system (i was very drunk tho and it made sense at the time).
I've just managed to download the user manual from Thomson and had a quick read before I saw your post. According to the manual, when resetting, the power light should turn from green to red in about 7 seconds. After 60 seconds I gave up. Still stayed green.
I'm not sure if the recent helpguy, helped me bugger up my new Vista install, but as I'm waiting to get connected before I install anything else, I've reinstalled the OS, just in case . I've also just downloaded the most up to date ethernet drivers from Asus, but not sure if I should just wait until I buy a different router rather than try this speedtouch again.
I did try your advice with Internet explorer and firefox, but I was just told I had no connection. All the lights were on green only the WLAN was on red.
 
Hmm...

Ok, well, the lights are ( And this is from memory now so dont have a go if Im wrong )

From left to right...

1 - POWER
this one is obvious

2 - LAN
This means that your PC and router are talking to each other
The 192.168.1.1 will verify this or even typing IPCONFIG in a DOS BOX

3 - WLAN
Wireless LAN - Ignore it - it will be red until you connect to it wirelessly

4 - DSL
This meansthat theRouter is connected to a Phone line and tha tthe phone line is
capable of broadband - It does not mean that its connected however, just capable.

5 - INTERNET
This is the one that says its connected to the internet.

Now if you have all 4 ( except WLAN obviously ) then as far as the router is concerned, your PC is talking to it and so is the internet.

As for the NO Connection... By whom?

Ok, do us a favour... Open up the command prompt and type down IPCONFIG

and let us know what it says please... Make sure that its info is good.

The important junk is the IPv4 and the Default Gateway really.. The rest is not important right now...

When you know, get back.
 
Bit of an adventure this afternoon/evening, left me feeling more than a little bit jaded. You're right with the lights sequence FatRakoon. They all came on, but it seems the computer isn't recognising the router...I think.
Since my last post, I've followed the manual and even tried to get the router going with the ****ey aol software, but still nothing. I ended up calling aol again. Nice chap told me that I had been connected to the net 8 times this afternoon :eek: but then my connection had dropped straight away.
He told me that my phone extension cable must be too long and if I were to go closer to the main socket (he almost guaranteed) all would be ok. So I shifted everything across the room and then......still nothing. Really p****d off, I put everything away and phoned them, demanding a new router. Nice guy in India (I know, cos I asked, cos I'm paying the phone bill) put me through to his supervisor, who told me to connect up again, then they would run me through it all again, and then decide if I need a new router. So I went off on one. "Useless aol. Useless help etc", then hung up. Bet they'll lose sleep tonight.
But..... tbh I think the problem lies within my computer.
I did manage to reset the router I think, by pressing and holding in the reset button as I turned it on.
My IPv4 address is 169.254.**.*** ( am I supposed to keep it secret? I know, I'll pm it to you)
and the Default Gateway is blank.
There is a subnet mask number, do you want that too?
Also it says Media state: Media disconnected.
I have read tonight, that IPv6 is unimportant and to disable it, so I did. Right thing to do?
Anyway, thanks for sticking by me mate. Hope you can still help, because the nice aol guy said even if I bought a new router, I'd still have the same problem.


Oh, I can't find how to pm you.
 
Last edited:
That's a dud IP. It's what your machine automatically decides to use when it didn't get an IP from the router.

There's no real gain from messing with IPv6, it's not doing anything.
 
Forget about IPv6 - its v4 we need to worry about. and as Tolien says the number means bugger all... If you still have that number ( You dont ) then its useable but otherwise...

Anyway...

1 - DO NOT CONTACT AOL AGAIN - THEY CANNOT HELP YOU
2 - DO NOT INSTALL THE AOL SOFTWARE EITHER - IT TAKES TOOMUCH CONTROL AWAY FROM WINDOWS AND WONT HELP US IN ANY WAY.

Ok, you Default gateway is blank... That means that the PC has not been given its IP by the router, this therefore means tha tthe PC is not properly talking to the Router.

So, get rid of any and all AOL software off your PC

Open up
control panel
Network & Sharing
View Status ( Right side in the middle ) - small text
Properties ( Box in Bottom Left )

( Here you can also see theactivity - it shows how much data has gone to and from your Router to the PC... This is not necesarily the internet data however )

Highlight TCP/IPv4 ( Half way downthe list possibly? ) and click on Properties

Make sure you are obtaining IP automatically and the same with DNS

Click ok

Restart the PC and router and see what happens?

DONT TOUCH THE AOL STUFF ANYMORE.
 
My PC------Unidentified Network------Internet
Status
IPv4: Limited
IPv6: Limited
Media State: Enabled
Speed: 100.0 Mbps

IP set on automatic as well as DNS
Restart and exactly the same problem as before, same IP address etc, router not talking to pc, pc not talking to router or neither of them are talking to the other.

I checked through device manager. The Atheros ethernet device is working properly.
:(
 
Despite my lack of knowledge, I think the router stopped working when I first used it with the original computer; dropped connection, couldn't reconnect, router wouldn't talk to pc. Now my new comp can't see it either. All the same symptons, all the same bull**** with helpline. I reckon, although I'm quite possibly wrong, for whatever reason, the router is knackered.
I was going to buy myself a new one, but a free one is better (I hope) so I bit the bullet and called aol again last night and eventually managed to convince them to send me a new router. Should be here 3-5 days. Is it a good idea to get myself a NIC card, just in case the mobo is at fault?
 
No not really.
The LAN works fine

When you get it, DONT start messing abut with it, it should simply connect and thePC should be able to talk to it just fine... Its ony a simple matter of going o the routers home page and entering your username and password ( If they are even needed - it might even be setup to go from your Phone number in which case you probably dont need to do a thing ) and it will be done.

So, dont try to be funny and change anything unless you know EXACTLY what you are changing, to what, from what, and why!
 
Impatient me got bored waiting for aol to deliver whatever they decide to send me. Will probably be the cheapest pile of poo they can get away with anyway, so I bought one of these
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=NW-081-LS&groupid=46&catid=1012&subcat= I like the look of the online guide etc, for idiots :D
On night shift tonight, so I'll have to try it out tomorrow some time. Will let you know how I get on. Fingers crossed. Thanks for your help FatRakoon.
 
Not had any experience with that particular Router, but I myself love Linksys... Many dont, but, each to their own.

when you get it, it will be completely simple to config ( Providing the PC can see it )

But let us know yeah?
 
All up and running now. Really easy to configure, just had to call aol cos I needed to confirm username.
Very nice router too I must add. Out of stock here at OcUK atm, but if anyone's looking for a new easy to use router, wait til they're back in stock and get one. If I can sort it anyone can :D
Thanks so much for all your help FatRakoon.
 
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