Wi Fi Issues

[ing.matt]

Et al,

Sorry, I've been away for a few days, so I havent' followed this forum.

It appears that the issue is that either the router or the Palm Pilot is not able to perform DNS (Domain Name Service) which translates human readable web addresses (IE: www.google.com) to machine readable IP addresses (IE: 64.233.183.104). Machines can't read, but they are really good with math and numbers!!

By default, when you install a home router it acts like a DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) server. This protocol allows a host machine (router in this case) to hand out important information to the client (your PC, PDA, etc.) like:

- Client's IP address / mask (needed to communcate with all other machines)
- IP address of the DNS server (otherwise translations won't happen)
- Default gateway (tells the client how to get to the network)
- other stuff, like lease time, primary/secondary WINS server, etc (not really important here).

If you set the PDA to use DHCP, then it gets this information from the router every time you initiate a connection. If either the router or the PDA is misconfigured, then some of this information may be missing and you can't communicate. This is likely to have happened in your case. My guess is that the router you had is not bad, it is just misconfigured. You would have to look at the manual for the router to know for sure.

To use DHCP in the PDA,click on the Network Icon in the menu bar, select the network in the list of available networks that appear,then click Edit --> Configure. Click Details --> Advanced. On the next screen, select Automatic in both the IP Address and DNS Server fields.

This allows the the router to give this information to the PDA, and life is good.

If you want to see this information on the PC, goto START-->RUN, then type in CMD and hit Enter . this opens a DOS command line window. Type ipconfig /all. To clear this information from the PC type, ipconfg /release then do ipconfig /all again... all fields are now empty. Now type ipconfg /renew then do ipconfig /all again... What happened is that your PC "requested" an address (nothing specific). And in turn the router acknowledged the request and "granted" the address information you see on the screen. The router is in control of handing out all local IP addresses.

Finally, you may have noticed, the DNS IP address is most likely in the service providers address domain, but how did the router get it since you probably didn't configure it? The simple answer is DHCP has a cascading effect. When the router powered up, it sent a DHCP request to the service provider network and some DHCP server there responded with the address information. And the router then passed some of that information along to your PDA when it issued a DHCP request. All was done under the covers, and you didn't really configure anything.

Hope this was helpful in understanding what is going on under the covers (and not too confusing).

Cheers,
John

[shadrack kakui]

Thanks for the info. It has been working great since I installed the NetGear Router on my last posting.

[Tiara S]

I have to agree with dampman on this. I had a Linksys router and couldn't get the TX to connect reliably using WiFile (to see the other computers on my network). I went out and bought another Linksys router thinking maybe it was time to upgrade. Still had issues. I went out and bought a Netgear per the advice from another forum and I haven't had any issues since.

[cchabla]

I have the linksys wireless g w/speed boost, I setup the T|X as its own profile with a static IP address of 192.168.1.103 and set the T|X in manual and entered the settings for the static IP, the subnet auto defaults, and used the base router address 192.168.1.1 and set the DNS to manual also using 167.206.3.219 and 167.206.3.153 and it works flawlessly, no connection problems, no nothing..just works and by using a static IP for the T|X and using static IPs for my desktop 192.168.1.101 and my sons laptop 192.168.1.102 controlling the internet access on those 2 IP's with no access from 12am-9am and having IP's 192.168.1.100 (my laptop) and 192.168.1.103 (T|X) allowed access 24/7. all other IP's 192.168.1.104-192.168.1.254 set to access denied, my son cant sneek in with his PSP either......TOTAL Control is great......Rich

[Raymond 007]

French,

Although I haven't owned a Linksys in several years (using D-Link exclusively now), I am curious what the difference between NetGear and Linksys is. What were the reasons given in the other forums for Linksys's inferority? I use WiFile and have no problem. I have demonstrated (in a classroom environment) the simplicity of cracking into a relatively unprotected network using my TX and WiFile. The router breached was a Linksys, and the demonstration was all the more impressive because it was done with such a seemingly innocuous device... a tiny pocket sized PDA.

There are a lot of variables that must be taken into account, client OS, network device IOS, software version levels, config settings of all devices, etc., etc., etc., the list goes on. Although I don't believe Linksys is the best-of-breed just because Cisco has put their name on it, I have difficulty understanding how and why WiFile doesn't work.

[Hitlers Heirarchy]

Linksys security can be the same as all others if setup correctly....Rich