How do I attach my new wireless adapter to my wireless router?

DirtySteve · February 3rd, 2006, 12:13 AM

I've just purchased a D-link AirPlus G wireless adapter and it can only seem to find my neighbours connection (which is coming in around 1 to 9 mbps!) now the reason I went out and bought this was because we have a wireless router (linksys WRT54G) in this very house that I would very much like to connect to. I can connect fine with an ethernet cable but this is sloppy and we already have cables everywhere. It seems what I'm missing in the setup is with my flash drive. in the wizard it tells me to plug into my wireless access point and then my pc, before plugging back into the host computer that I would also like to network into. Is the WAP my router? I'm really lost here. there is no usb plug in the router or cable modem, what am I meant to do? I know that the router was set up to be pretty tight with security but I have the password.
please help!
ds

Mickwish · February 3rd, 2006, 12:24 AM

If the router was set up tight then there will probably be no SSID broadcasting, which is what windows will look for to choose a signal from with it's wizard. You need to put the SSID in manually, then, in your wireless network setup on the PC. The neighbour is obviously broadcasting his SSID so you can see it.

If you don't know what the SSID is for your wireless router you will need to go to the setup page of the router and find out. This will mean having a PC that connectes directly to the router via cable.

It could even be that wireless has been disabled altogether on the router. You'll need to check on it's setup page.

Cheers
Mick

DirtySteve · February 3rd, 2006, 12:44 AM

Cheers Mick, I'll give it a try!
I'm currently connected to the router through ethernet, it's just that I would like to ease up on all the cables that are streching throughout the room so I'm going wireless. there is another pc with a wired connection as well. we also have a laptop that is configured to connect wirelessly so it is possible. I'm still not sure about what the wireless access point is that I'm supposed to plug my flash drive into, is it the actual router? 'cause there isn't a usb port. and how do I get to the setup page on the router? I'm new and this was all setup by a friend before.
cheers
ds

Mickwish · February 3rd, 2006, 12:50 AM

Not sure about linksys routers, but access webpage is probably 192.168.1.1 or something like that. Just open a browser on a PC connected to the router and type that in. Otherwise you'll need to find the manual or a linkysys knowledgable member here.

Cheers
Mick

Mickwish · February 3rd, 2006, 12:51 AM

Not sure what you mean by plugging flash drive in, though. Have you go the windows XP network wizard on flash fdrive or something??

Cheers
mick

DirtySteve · February 3rd, 2006, 01:07 AM

the XP wizard recommends using a flash drive for the setup of a wireless network it says. it seems all so simple. plug in the usb, upload some autoplay files. plug in to the WAP, then my pc, maybe a printer, back in the first computer that is running setup wizard, hit finish and BAM! wireless connection. I'm guessing that's what's supposed to happen.
cheers
ds

I'll see what I can do about fiddling with the setup.

Amr · February 5th, 2006, 12:10 PM

My neighbour has a non-secured or encrypted wireless network, while fooling around I connected to it and could even access the guys control panel on the router...

PonzSpyder · February 5th, 2006, 12:21 PM

Yes the WAP is your Wireless Access Point ( your router ).

Sounds like you are trying to use the XP Network Wizard, dont. Its much easier to just do it manually.

Go on the computer that has a cable connecting to the wireless router and open internet explorer. In the address bar type in http://192.168.1.1 just as if it was a website. The default login is a blank username and the password is admin. This will bring you to the "Setup" tab of your router settings. There should be an other tab in there that says "Wireless"

Ok, now there are 3 things you want to look around for in these settings...

1 - Check for settings to enable wireless just to make sure that the wireless feature of your router is turned on. As a second thought you should double check that DHCP is also enabled ( it usually is by default anyway ).

2 - Find the setting for SSID and put in a name for your wirless network. That is the name everyone will see when trying to connect with your wireless.

3 - Find the setting that reads SSID Broadcast and make sure it is enabled.

After that, you should just have to go on the wireless client and connect to the router.

Hopfully this helps you out a little more.