Any ideas

This is a follow on from a previous post. I have had to buy a new PC
due to problems with the old one. Windows 7 does not support the old
modem so I bought a Edimax router as recommended on here. Both of the
suggested methods of configuring the router do not work on the new PC
- via a CD or via entering an IP address in a web browser. The process
stops at the initial stage of using the provided log in / password. I
have double checked all of the connections which are correct and I
have switched off the windows firewall. Norton - which came with the
machine - has not been activated and no firewall shows for that
programme.

As a test I linked the router to the netbook I am sending this message
on and the configuration programme moved past the password stage. The
Netbook also uses Windows 7 and I did not make any adjustment to the
firewall settings and yet the IP / browser method seems to work.
Clearly I don't want to run the router off a netbook.

Any ideas as to why an almost new, unmodified PC would prevent the
router configuration working while it would work on a netbook? Note I
am a numpty so plain english answers are essential.

Catman is kindly pondering this question as well as trying to rescue
the old PC but I thought I'd throw open the router issue to the FOAK.

 

I'm going for a guess that both the router web config and the software
are using javascript, and the new PC does not yet have it.

You can, you realise, configure the router using the netbook and use it
with all the machines.

--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
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Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
#www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

which cable are you using from the Edimax to the netbook & PC? I note that
you have USB or "RJ45 Fast ethernet" options. Using the RJ45 option means
you won't need any special drivers as Win7 should just use standard network
protocols.

 

I am using the ethernet cable as per the instructions. I have plugged
in the USB cable once but it didn't cause any reaction from the PC.

 

Well that's a tad stupid if your hunch is correct. I don't recall the
netbook loading up Java but it may well be part of another programme.
Adobe Flash?

You know how I said numpty? I think I have tracked down the router
settings from my ISP but I need to phone them to make sure I have the
right ones given I am with Talk Talk Business but am really on a
legacy Pipex broadband (non LLU) contract.

 

Right I have got the settings from Talk Talk and have entered them via
the netbook. Surprisingly simple. When the netbook is plugged into
the ethernet cable all is well as I automatically connect to
broadband. If I plug the ethernet cable into the PC I cannot get a
connection and if i try to set up the router then nothing is detected
by the PC / control panel. I have switched both the router and the PC
off and on in order to see if a reboot assisted. They didn't.
Similarly although the netbook can see the wireless router I cannot
connect to the net as the log on / security key is not recognised even
though I know I have entered it as set up. God this is a pain in the
bloody preverbial although not as much as having to sit on the hall
floor to use Broadband!

 

Getting nothing at all on the PC could be an IP address issue: either
the PC is set up to use DHCP but the router isn't acting as a DHCP
server, or the PC has a fixed IP address in the wrong subnet.

The problem with the wireless security key could be that you're not
using the same type of wireless security at each end: there are all
sorts of different settings to get wrong - WEP/WPA/WPA2, AES or TKIP
encryption, etc.

David

 

I still think is down to the wretched set up software not working with
the PC.
It clearly does work asit has loaded on the netbook.

Or it could be down to the user not quite putting in the password
properly - doh!
I am managing to use the netbook wirelessly without any great issue
this morning.

 

:

What software? As per my other post. You should not need to load any
software onto the PC to work with the router via the ethernet port. Any
software supplied with the router would be for those wishing to use the USB
connection, which would require drivers. Through luck it hasn't nobbled the
netbook but sounds like it has confused your desktop.

So, if you have installed anything from a CD/DVD that came with the router,
delete it from the PC.

 

Well I really haven't got a clue what is going on. I have tried to get
the PC to detect the router and it won't do it. That was via Control
Panel asking the PC to detect the router. Despite it being beside the
router it doesn't detect it. The router is not invisible given the
netbook can find it from another room. Similarly connecting the router
via the ethernet cable causes zero recognition with the PC.

there is nothing installed at all. I have taken off anything that
could conceivably cause a conflict. I had tried to see if the
Speedtouch modem would work but it doesn't so it has been deleted. I
have also removed attempts to set up a broadband connection.

The router is obviously set up and working given I can connect to it
easily with the netbook either wirelessly or with the ethernet cable
plugged in. I have got Agent 6 downloaded and installed on the netbook
so I can at least read usenet properly - that has also set up fine and
is downloading fine wirelessly.

There is obviously somthing amiss with the PC but I don't know what it
is.

 

I could have a look when I return this very dead hard drive, if you
like.....

--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 GTV TS GT 3.2 V6
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
#www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

The router won't show up as a device in Control Panel.

It should be listed under network conncetions as a LAN or Local Area
Network connection.

See if you can find that when the router is plugged in. If you have 2
ethernet cables perhaps compare the settings under "properties" between the
netbook & PC (assuming they are both running the same version of Windows)

 

Amazingly you won't need to. For some reason - god alone knows why -
the network adapter was not enabled. I had a look through Windows 7
help and this was about the only thing that I hadn't tried. Brought up
device manager, select device, right click and enable.

Hey presto the PC talks to the outside world. Now to try to remember
what the hell was on the old machine. I have a horrible sinking
feeling that I may have lost more photos than I thought on the very
dead hard drive. I'll mail you shortly about what to do with dead
thing.

 

I had some discussions with Elly wrt backups of photos. She has so many
now (and more all the time) that writing them to DVDs was untenable,
particularly as it would preclude searching. As hard drives are so
cheap now, I slipped her a quick terabyte into her box for use just for
pics, and she'll back up to another terabyte drive (which is used in an
external caddy) when she sorts out the software.

The idea is to keep the external drive off site - at her Dad's, or at
work for example - and just reclaim it for backing up. Then she's safe
and the worst that can happen is she'll lose a week's worth which she
probably has in the cloud in any case.

Not much use to you now, but may be worth considering for the future.

 

I do have a 1tb external drive and the majority of files, photos etc
are on that. Looking back through Flickr yesterday I just had a
horrible sinking feeling that I may have more stuff from recent months
that is not backed up. Some can't be repeated while others are
possibly not a huge loss while others are retrieveable from Flickr.
It is the sense of stupidity on my part that is perhaps more
irritating - it's not as if I don't know the theoretical risk of hard
disc failure. I now know the reality although I may try a specialist
to see if they can rescue what is on the duff machine.

What is odd is that my ancient old Viglen machine will still work -
albeit very slowly now but it had no hardware problems. Every
subsequent machine has lasted a shorter time until it conked out. The
hard disc crash machine is possibly only 2 or 3 years old which is
pretty crap even if I have to recognise that there is probably a
quality trade off by manufacturers in order to keep up with ever
increasing functionality and falling prices.

 

Especially with disks. Consumer grade kit now generally has a 1 or 3
yr warranty, and doesn't last a lot longer. As platter densities have
risen, so has the odds of an eventual mechanical failure.

My advice, treat disks as consumables and upgrade the most important
ones every 2.5 yrs, using the cast offs for unimportant things.

 

+1

Also, if you have any data you really want to keep- such as photos, make
multiple copies and put them in at *least* two physically separate places.

I keep meaning to implement a mirroring scheme with a buddy so all this
can happen automagically in the off hours, but haven't acquired the tuits
yet.

 

Reading a couple of wesbites from disc recovery companies would
suggest that this is a widespread issue. I recognise they may wish to
paint things as worse than they are so they get more business but even
so.

Ironic that all of the convenience of something like digital
photography is undermined by the storage media being next to useless.
You have to wonder if all the people taking snap after snap and
storing document after document on their whizzo digital devices know
how at risk all their data is.

I know flim negative can fade and eventually fall to bits but it's far
more robust that computer discs provided you keep it in a dark place
and within a proper sleeve. I've got boxes of photos that have
survived longer than stuff I took a few weeks ago - assuming the disk
data is beyond retrieval.

Thanks for the tip nonetheless.

 

Just buy something like this:
www.lacie.com/uk/products/product.htm?id=10477
with 2x1Tb disks in a Raid1 mirror and stop worrying. On your home network
sync up your PC or lapdog. Then all your data is on 3 HDD and you don't
need to worry about physical failure.
Sync up to a separate USB drive every week/month and keep it offsite and you
are covered against fire/theft, which you can't say of celluloid.

 

And store anything truely important in a cloud storage solution.