Might want to make sure the old connection is deleted first. Go the the Network and Sharing Center and there will be something about wireless connections on the left. Click it to open that and then delete the old connection from the list (particularly if you have a copy that doesn't say WPA).

Well, at some point, I disabled it, and tried to connect: nothing changed.
However, I'm not sure if I had to restart the computer for the "offline mode" of the firewall to apply. ;o

I've read on the internet I had to set her IP as static (or dynamic? can't remember) in order to solve the "Limited IPv4" problem. I might try that out later on tonight. Just not sure which IP I am supposed to enter in? I decide of all the number or are there some rules?

Are you sure I have to delete it? I've just set a new WPA and all that jazz...

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Mar 6 2011, 11:50 pm by payne.

Go into a command window and type "ipconfig" and paste the results here. Basically just refer to my last post.

"ipconfig" on her computer gives me 3 different item listed as "unconnected", and then 35 times the same item listed as "unconnected".
I didn't get any IP from that process.

Wait what? So you go Start->Run, type cmd, press enter, type ipconfig and press enter and get what? Make a screenshot maybe, that sounds a bit weird.

I wouldn't use static IP addresses unless you know what you're doing. Sounds like your DHCP is working just fine, so you shouldn't need to.

You shouldn't have dynamic and static addresses both on the same network, by the way. Pick one or the other for all hosts connected to it.

There. I finally got to get a connection on my sister's pc by plugging the cable directly in it.
However, if I remove it, it still doesn't get on WLAN properly.
If anyone wants to help, go get TeamViewer.

http://gegeek.com/gegeek_articles/network_troubleshooting/network_troubleshooting.htm

Just ignore the tunnel connections. I'm not sure what they're there for, but they won't be doing any harm.

Can you translate the 2nd and 3rd connections please?

They are "sans fil Connexion reseau sans fil" and "Connexion au reseau local"

I'm guessing #2 is the WLAN connection. The IP address there, 169.254.155.138 indicates that it could not locate the DHCP Server, so has fallen back to using an automatic IP address (see my post 2 posts back where I said that was a likely issue).

My guess is that your sister's laptop can't manage the new encryption that you've set up, or isn't correctly configured for it.


Also, the link that Tux posted is highly likely to not be useful for you. The first section is all at a higher layer (4) than your problem (1, 2 or 3) and the network hardware section is apparently old because it doesn't mention wireless at all.

http://translate.google.com/#auto|en|sans%20fil%20Connexion%20reseau%20sans%20fil%0AConnexion%20au%20reseau%20local


If he has a connection, but can't get internet, that sounds like layer 3+ to me...

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Mar 7 2011, 4:38 am by Tuxedo-Templar.

He definitely doesn't have a correct IP address, which may in turn be because no connection.

Definitely <= 3 at this stage.

Well, I've phoned to a friend: we tried a lot of stuff with TeamViewer on the course of 2 hours, to finally solve the problem.
We've tried so many different things I don't really know what solved it. However, I have a good idea of what to do on the other laptops of the home to configure the network.

Thank you very much to everyone for their help!

?

We're talking about his sisters laptop here.

The ipconfig output above shows her wireless connection has an IP address of 169.254.155.138, which is an automatic IP address windows assigns to an interface that is configured for DHCP but can't connect to a DHCP server.

OMFG FML!
Somehow, the connection isn't working anymore. I haven't changed a single thing, and she lost her ability to connect on the wireless network!

This is the weirdest and most annoying bug of the computer's history, period. >:O

That's at least layer 3, still... well whatever.

On the right hand side of the link I posted it does list some steps for lower-level connectivity problems.

Post has been edited 2 time(s), last time on Mar 7 2011, 9:09 am by Tuxedo-Templar.

IP addressing is layer 3. That's why I say <= 3. You said 3+, as in 3 or higher.

I'm no real expert, but if it were less than 3 I'm not sure how he could even be connecting at all...

Evidently not. If he's able to talk to the router, but not able to connect (is that what's going on?), that still implies security settings problems, which is indeed below level 3...


Anyway, I can only find a few issues with the router itself, despite the fact that it appears to be a discontinued product.

If the issues are persistent/intermittent, it might be worth risking an (unofficial?) firmware upgrade, if all else fails.

Post has been edited 8 time(s), last time on Mar 7 2011, 11:43 am by Tuxedo-Templar.

Doesn't Windows Vista have an automated diagnostic + resolve agent that can be started when windows detects something not working? Or is that Win7 only?

In any case to resolve the IP issue (169.254.xxx.xxx = no configuration; default IP) try restarting the WLAN adapter. Usually there's a button on the laptop case to turn it off/on. If not, disable the WLAN adapter in the device manager then reactivate it.

Actually it's pretty standard. Guess why there's people making a living from pc support.
And in case of WLAN, well it's an unstable technology. My own WLAN also oftentimes just dies on me for no apparent reason even though I have full signal strength. The received packets are just all bad ==> connection dies. A few minutes later it comes back as if nothing happened. From what I understand it's incompatibilities between router and WLAN adapter. So it is possible that you're suffering a similar problem and when you were using the WEP protocol there were no such problems.
Just for the sake of testing revert back to WEP (on both the router and the laptop) and then try again and let us know what you observe.

If it turns out it's the protocol that causes the trouble maybe you can use WPA1? I don't know if that's sufficiently secure or anything else about it for that matter...

If you have Internet via LAN cable on your sister's laptop I can help you over teamviewer.

Just skimmed the WPA article on Wikipedia.

WPA and WPA2 use unique keys for each packet sent, so even if someone managed to brute-force the encryption, they would only be able to decode the single packet.

The only attack that wikipedia mentions on WPA is a spoofing/re-injection attack, where small, known packets like ARP can be recorded and then replayed into the network. The worst this can realistically do is cause you to transmit your local LAN data out to the internet instead of the destination computer; but it would be pretty evident (within a few seconds) that something was wrong because your network would appear to stop working correctly.

Using WPA as opposed to WPA2, no one should be able to transmit packets on your wireless connection unless they know your pre-shared key (password).

Wikipedia does have this little note, too: "The later WPA2 certification mark indicates compliance with the full IEEE 802.11i standard. This advanced protocol will not work with some older network card", however when discussing WPA2 it says that after March 2006 all hardware that displayed the WiFi logo must be compatible with WPA2. If it's a very early Vista laptop (or an XP one that was upgraded) then it's feasible that it may not support WPA2, but seems fairly unlikely.