Cannot connect my machine to wireless router

[kenkickr]

I bought a Belkin Wireless G Router for a friend for Christmas and he said I could share off of his network so I bought a Trendnet USB wireless G adapter. Worked fine for a couple days then all of a sudden no connection. The strange thing is it would see the router but would never connect so took it to work, tested the adapter out, and exchanged it since the adapter wouldn't show a connection at work either. Tried the second one out last night and it worked for 10min then no connection. Went to walmart this morning and bought a Belkin Wireless N adapter. It now finds 4 connections in my small town and will connect to one that has a 2 bar signal strength but still will not connect to the router upstairs. Talking too my boss he says Vista has networking issues but I am thinking it is the router upstairs. Any input would be much appreciated!

He has a XP system incase this is needed.

 

[WhiteLotus]

checked out your firewall settings?

 

[craigwhiteside]

hmm, try updating the drivers and firmware for the router and wireless adapter, check gateway settings, make sure nothing could intefere with the signal (microwaves, radio, even crt's can cause inteference)
also i noticed the way the antenna is positioned affects the signal, so try to find out the best position by using a usb cable.

 

[twicksisted]

connect to that router using an ethernet cable, then go into its control panel.. (probably 192.268.0.1 or 192.268.1.1) then check on what Wifi settings you have setup.

also worth noting is that by default these routers have passwords like "admin / admin" administrator / password" etc...

If you did not change this when you got it, chances are someone else may have hopped on your line (wifi) and changed it for you to lock you out.

dont worry if this has happened though as most routers will have a master reset switch somewhere where you can reset the thing completely

 

[kenkickr]

When I setup the router for him I setup WEP and 128 bit hex key. I know the router is right next to their CRT monitor so I'll look at that but if I bought a wireless N router and let him use it would that fix the problem?

 

[twicksisted]

im not sure what you mean here... its not working so if i buy another one will that work?

Basically, from what ive read, theres nothing wrong with your hardware... you just need to go into the control panel of the router and check that the password, key etc is alright...

I used to do a bit of wifi-abusing (dont ask) for fun, in this apartment block i lived in... and basically someone can hack your router, change the passwords so you cant gain access... and generally screw up all your settings..

All you, as the router owner, need do... is reset the damn thing... or plug in a hardware ethernet cable and hardwire youself to it, then log into its control panel (192.168.0.1 - 192.168.1.1 etc...) and create new passwords and connections.

thatll work fine im pretty sure... try the hard reset button if you cant connect to it with a hardwire ethernet cable, then its probably screwed... this will take it back to day one