TC Router-WIndows XP Help

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Level 1

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TC Router-WIndows XP Help

Oh geez! I am on a neighbors internet right now, I feel so dirty.

My dad bought a TC and is using it primarily as a router at the moment. I have read almost every post 10 pages back with internet connection and Windows problems.

Background- My dad set it up and I came home that night, connected and stayed connected for about 6 hours. I live in the guest house so it is a bit away. I am using a WMP300n wireless card right now and have 1 bar. The entire 6 hours I had a perfect connection. We had a bad storm and lost all power for hours during the night though. The next morning I woke up powered everything on and it will not connect.

I have downloaded the WPA2 pack for windows and installed it. Using the Linksys Network Monitor I can not get the network to show up at all. If I turn it off though and use the Windows Network Manager the network will show up. He recently changed it to WEP to see if I could connect. Under my network connections it is showing it still has a WPA2 though. I put in the password, it tries to connect but gets stuck at acquiring net address. It will sit at that for a minute or two and then just drop me and try over. I will try and keep this updated with what I try but I need some desperate help! Thanks in advance for any advice.

PC, Windows XP, PC :(

Posted on Apr 11, 2008 11:03 AM

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Answer 1

dchao99

Level 4

2,074 points

Apr 11, 2008 2:29 PM in response to PSG-1

You need to isolate the problem down to either it's your dad's TC or your PC. If you dad has the same problem from his Mac's as well, then it could be the router, you need to restart the TC to see if it will improve.

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Answer 2

PSG-1 Author

Level 1

0 points

Apr 11, 2008 3:59 PM in response to PSG-1

Okay well I have been trying several things to no avail.

So under the regular PC Network Connections->Wireless Network Connections (properties)->TCP/IP Properties->

+Use the following IP address->IP address->Subnet Mask->Default Gateway+

+Use the following DNS server addresses->Preferred DNS Server->Alternate DNS server.+

For those boxes that need to be filled in. What is it I need to find on my dad's computer?

He can connect just fine to his TC, well not fine I think he had a PPoE problem that resolved itself after a few minutes.

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Answer 3

jseg2005

Level 1

40 points

Apr 11, 2008 5:38 PM in response to PSG-1

Don't manually enter that information, it causes more problems than it solves.

Issue 1: You may have a draft 1 n card. The TC is draft 2 and your pc may have some n connectivity issues, not as likely, draft 1-2 usually work ok together.

Issue 2: Possibly interference. Try changing the channel on the router to channel 9 or 3. This fixes most issues.

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Answer 4

dchao99

Level 4

2,074 points

Apr 11, 2008 6:07 PM in response to PSG-1

Yep, it's better to leave the router IP address and DNS Server IP address to automatic. However, you need to check these two IP addresses after acquiring network address to make sure they are pointing to the TC (which defaults to 10.0.1.1), because if they are not, you won't be able to connect to the internet You can set it manually when troubleshooting and try to find out what is going on.

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Answer 5

PSG-1 Author

Level 1

0 points

Apr 11, 2008 7:45 PM in response to dchao99

Well thank you for all the help guys! I fixed the problem for the moment. I moved my computer into the house next to the TC. I have a great connection! But sadly I don't understand why. I was getting a decent 50% signal strength reception. It promptly connected when I started my computer up, DHCP assigning me a IP. I am not sure why DHCP won't assign me a IP with a poorer signal. We are setting up a airport express to boost the signal. We have 2 airport express and 1 airport extreme. Any ideas on how to boost it with those?

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Answer 6

dchao99

Level 4

2,074 points

Apr 12, 2008 3:16 AM in response to PSG-1

It would be best to place the Airport Express right in the middle between the main house and the guest house. However, I image that's not very practical.

AX has less range than TC since its internal antenna is very cheap (it's printed on the main circuit board), so depends on your configuration, it might not even work. I suppose you can place the two AX's right next to the two closest windows and point the top of AX at each other.

If that doesn't work, you can try run a seperate wireless network off the TC (using ethernet cable). Get a 802.11n router (one three diversity antennas) and set it in bridge mode, position it close to the window get the signal to your guest house.

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