Stuck on "waiting for network to be ready" while connecting to wireless network

I just moved into a new place. My computer was the host of a wireless network, but the new place has cable already set up and a (defunct) wireless network.

I took my old wireless router (linksys wrt54gs v2) and connected it to the cable modem for the network. The host computer (on now) works and connects to the internet. However, when the other computer tries to connect it goes through the normal stuff but hangs on "waiting for network to be ready". On the "repair" function, it appears to get stuck while renewing the IP address. I didn't change any settings on the router, but I did unplug the cable modem to reset it.

Both computers are on winXP also.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

Hello webmaster111,

Is that the exact message you get, "waiting for network to be ready" or is it something different? It sounds like it is unable to connect to the DHCP server. Have you tried to manually configure the ip address to see if that would work?

If you compare the ipconfig/all settings between the problem computer and on a working computer and post them here to diagnose the problem. Does the wireless router have encryption enabled?

Ok, well as an update, last night the network finally connected. I was surfing the net for a while on the computer that is connecting to the router. But sometime during the night the connection was lost. I was able to reconnect at some point today, but that was for a very short time, and the computer is stuck on "acquiring network address" . I don't know if the wireless card is bad or whatever, but it is a motorola and it's not particularly old or outdated. It's not very far away either, but the signal strength varies from 1 to full bars.

Oh yes, and something interesting I found was that the computer could not connect to the network, but 3 times I brought the laptop near the computer, connected to the wireless, and then the desktop was able to connect to the wireless network. What's up with that? I don't think it is merely a coincidence. Perhaps the laptop hones in the signal or amplifies it somehow?

I'm still having problems, but I think it's primarily a signal issue at this point, as I am abl to sometimes connect and surf the net normally.

Might try a wireless card with a external antenna.

Maybe this will help with things.
10 tips for improving your wireless network

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/more...elesstips.mspx

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Train

Might try a wireless card with a external antenna.

Maybe this will help with things.
10 tips for improving your wireless network

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/more...elesstips.mspx

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I have a motorola wireless card with an external antenna. Not sure on the model, but I could get it if necessary. It's really not that old, maybe 3 years. When I reconnect to the network, the laptop is the guaranteed/only way to get it to work still... it's quite odd.

I ran into this exact problem today on two laptops. I lost half a day trying to figure it out and finally was able to get it resolved. I logged into my wireless router (from another laptop that can connect wirelessly) and renamed the network name (router's name when you see in wireless network list). Then my laptops were able to detect this new name and I was able to connect to the wireless router. Both of my laptops run Win XP.

Another suggestion (I didn't try, but pretty sure that it would work), is to reset your wireless router via a paper clip. Then your router's settings are back to factory defaults and then you can reconfig it after reconnecting to it.

Hopefully this helps the next person with this problem.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ecross

It sounds like it is unable to connect to the DHCP server. Have you tried to manually configure the ip address to see if that would work?

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Hello!
I follow this thread because it deals with my problem.
How to 'manually configure'?
Sorry, I am just learning abour networks. But, I do know the IP address of the router. Is that useful?

Links:

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/19249...-or-windows-7/

http://www.google.com/#hl=en&output=...w=1112&bih=779