[RESOLVED] Recommendations for wireless network?

Hope you all had a good Thanksgiving?

With all the good Black Friday sales out there, I'm looking at wireless (again/still ;) )

Have a desktop with Chaintech 7nif2 mobo. Connected to cable via Motorola Surf Board. Desktop is in home office and isn't going anywhere. Have Gateway 400x notebook that I want to create a wireless connection for so I can use it around the house. It has "Integrated Intel® 10/100 Ethernet Network Adapter, Integrated 802.11b Wireless Ethernet. " I've read reviews till I can't see straight. And as far as user reviews, they aren't consistent: seems to be either a love/hate relationship.

Security is utmost priority with speed a close second. If I have to pay extra $ for those features I'm willing to do so.

What prompted all this was teasers that stores have: C City has a Netgear wireless G router and wireless notebook adapter for $20 after rebates. Best Buy has D-link wireless G kit for $14.99 post rebates, but it's a USB adapter, not a notebook adapter. And there are good buys on others brands as well, such as Belkin Wireless Pre-N. Any recommendations are appreciated.

Hello KatMac,

Both D-Link and NetGear are good ones to choose from as well as Linksys products. Do you have links to the products you are looking at? Maybe we can help you decide if you need a little help. This Dlink router cost $20.00 after the rebate. It has support for WPA.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...P=OTC-MSNHPAGE

Hi Eric,
How goes it? I went out yesterday and grabbed one of the NetGear's from CC (got last one of two they had on shelves. Big rebate fiasco at checkout, but finally did get both router and notebook adapter at final cost of $19.94 after rebates. And although users either love or hate this product, figured at that price, it's worth a try.)

I got:
NetGear Model WGT624 (version 3) Wireless Router
NetGear Model WG511T Notebook Adapter

You can take a look a Router specs and reviews at
New Egg and Circuit City

I remembered what you told me last spring about getting WAP, so I made sure this one has it. I'm about to try to set it up now.

Am sure I'll be back if I encounter hitches. I stressed to salesman at CC that I wanted security as an utmost priority. He told me he sets up Cisco routing systems as his "day job" (just in CC PC sales for holidays), and suggested for added security setting up the MAC address as well as static IP. Maybe that will make better sense when I delve further into it.

Some say linksys products are good, but they are cheaply made and I have had nothing but problems with any linksys products I have ever owned. D-link is great, and netgear is even better...I'd go with netgear but that's my own personal choice and seems to be the personal choice of the others who replied to this thread so far. You can't go wrong with netgear

You can obtain the firmware upgrade and reference manual here.

http://kbserver.netgear.com/products/WGT624v3.asp

Thanks Eric. Got firmware upgrade. Got NetGear router all hooked up, and notebook is now connected.

Next step is making sure it's secure. I'm running ZA firewall on both PCs (XP Pro on desktop, XP Home on notebook.) Use AVG Antivirus, Ad-Aware, SpyBot, Spywareblaster. I set it up using WPA and an intricate passphrase.

I am very concerned about security for the laptop. I do not plan to use the laptop for any work-related issues or in-depth personal financial use (that will all be strictly kept on the Desktop). Notebook will be for surfing and paying personal bills online, since I can now locate the laptop at my "personal" desk, which is in a corner of the family room.

OK, that's my intended usage. I have two questions so far:

1) Printer Sharing. Printer is connected to desktop. I want to be able to share that printer with laptop. But I do not want to share any files/folders between PCs. If I set up a network, will that automatically leave a stream open that includes not only printer sharing, but files as well? Or can I designate printer sharing only and exclude files/folders?

2) They told me at C. City to configure/use the MAC address as added security. That has me really confused at this point. I guess the primary confusion is the difference between IP address and MAC address. But I did start>run>cmd> and entered the command to locate my physical address, so I do have MAC address. But don't know what to do from there, having trouble locating that at NetGear's KB.

Just share the printer. If you don't want to share files then don't share any out. You should be able to do MAC address filtering through the NetGear router. Have a look at the manual on page 64.

Well, this has turned into a small nightmare. Attempted to do printer sharing, but kept getting errors that this request could not be processed (Comcast able to block that or something?) So I left that idea alone for awhile. Since notebook was only connecting at 56 mbps, I shifted focus to trying to get the router run at 108 mpbs. Configured it according to instructions at NetGear site, and it has not worked since. Can't even revert back to prior settings. On notebook, NetGear utility says I have good connection, but I cannot view web pages, as if I'm offline. And on the notebook, under "about" section, there is no IP address listed.

I have no clue where to go from here. Reading the manuals and forums at NetGear completely confuses me. I have ZA and AVG shutdown on notebook. I reset IE settings from Custom to Medium security. Just now, I even went so far as to do a system restore on both computers, prior to the time I installed Netgear hardware/software, and started over again. Same thing. Can connect on Desktop no problem. Firmware is upgraded to latest. Notebook shows I'm connected, but cannot access web pages.

If anyone can help, I'd be very, very grateful. 3 days on this is driving me crazy!

It might help if you provide the ipconfig/all for each computer so we can diagnose the problem.

The laptop should be getting an ip address from the router. Usually in the 192.168.x.x range. I suggest that you disable wireless encryption on the router temporarily until everything is working. Was it working before without encryption?

Eric, you are a good guy :)

OK, I can post IPconfig/all if you need it.

But I just set Desktop security to "Disable". Set notebook to "Disable". It's working again and I got online with notebook.

When it was working the other day, I had security settings at WPA -PSK [TKIP] on both computers, same passphrase entered, and I got online no problem. (I didn't really know which choice to make with WPA, since there's also WPA-PSK [AES] and then both WPA-PSK [TKIP] + WPA-PSK [AES] as options. I just remembered you telling me last spring when shopping that WPA is most secure.) When I started encountering troubles, and randomly tried "fixes" I tried switching to WEP, but that confuses me too and I don't know which settings to choose (64 bit, 128 bit, keyes, etc.)

Well, the problem is with the security settings as you discovered and no I don't need the ipconfig settings for each computers.

You want to choose the highest encryption that you network equipment can support, and since it supports WPA let's use it. The router will need to be set with WPA-PSK. That is what you want. Then you'll need to configure the adapters either by a third party or the Windows functionality in XP.

WPA Wireless Security for Home Networks
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/u..._03july28.mspx

OK, I can se it back to WPA-PSK (that's the choice, of the 3 for WPA, that you're recommending?). But this next part:

Quote:

---

Then you'll need to configure the adapters either by a third party or the Windows functionality in XP.

---

Can you break that down for me? Sorry, I'm just not following. I know squat about wireless and networking. ;)

EDIT: Clarify choices for WPA-PSK.

I can choose:
WPA-PSK [TKIP]
WPA2-PSK [AES]
or both of the above.

Are you suggesting WPA-PSK [TKIP] ?

After you've set up your router or access point for WPA-PSK, you need to configure the computers with the appropriate settings. If you are using the Windows functionality to configure the wireless network, then look at the link above. Some network cards come with their own utility. If so, you may have to use the software provided.

OK, I'm following. And therein lies the problem. I'm using Netgear Config Utility Software on notebook. As soon as I switch Desktop from zero security to WPA, then go to notebook and use Config Utility to switch to WPA (including entering exact passphrase), I'm back to the same spot. Netgear config utility on notebook fluctuates between showing I'm getting a "good" connection (all green lights) to switching intermittantly to red lights. Even when it shows I have a "good" connection, I can't connect to web on notebook and IP number is showing all zeros again.

This might not have anything to do with your problem, but I would make sure you have the latest drivers. Check Device Manager and expand the network adapters and check to see what version you have. You might want to get the latest drivers. I'm wondering if you can use the Windows functionality and uninstall the NetGear utility.

WG511T Notebook Adapter
http://kbserver.netgear.com/support_...asp?dnldID=875

Yes, double checked. Downloaded latest drivers for router immediately. Per what the adapter box says, I have the most recent version on the software CD that came with it. But I'll check again, won't hurt.

This is going all over the place, Eric. With security Disabled on router and adapter, I can get to Comcast home page. But not other pages. I changed it back to WPA on both, sometimes now I get to home page and not further, sometimes can't even get to home page. Know you have to leave soon. I will try to work on this some more, but don't have hopes of getting too far. If it's OK with you, I'll be looking for you tomorrow, if you'll be around?

Thanks!!

~Kat

Keep us updated if you come along any further. I would try to use WPA if you can. If you have too much trouble, then try using a different encryption method.

If you want to try using WEP 128 bit encryption. This way you won't be without any security. WEP keys use a mixture of numbers and letters from A-F and 0-9. 128-bit keys are 13 2-digit numbers or 26 hex characters. Each computer will need to be configured with the same WEP key.

Eric,
I found a possible reason for the glitches, but not sure.
Apparently the firmware upgrade for this router has caused a vast number of customers to have problems (and in some cases a worthless router).
I didn't see the thread till now. It's here:
http://forum1.netgear.com/support/vi...er=asc&start=0


I can't find a way to "undo" the firmware upgrade, as it would not download to hard drive for me. Only option was do it auto upgrade via online.

Just wanted to add something. As of late this afternoon, my Desktop is really going haywire (scanning thoroughly for virus/spyware now, just in case.) When I log onto internet, I'm immediately directed to NetGear's router configuration page (routerlogin.net), only that redirects to routerlogin.com. I can't get away from that site, and it keeps trying to configure my router as if it's brand new. Have to go through some of the steps (choosing intial settings, such as location) before I can get out of there and get to a different web page. Wireless mouse going haywire too - center scroll wheel wants to move forward/back entire pages, not up and down within a page. Could be neither here nor there, but coming right on the heels of router problems is rather odd to me.

Also, I noticed for first time in Security section of router configuration that Trend Micro security features were checked (60 days free with router purchase.) Didn't want TM firewall and AV, alrealy use ZA and AVG. I declined to use it at install and did not install the TM software, so don't know why that option was checked in router configuration. Perhaps just one of those "push it onto the user" deals. Or another weird glitch to add to the others going on. Hard to tell.

Ewido scan picked up Smitfraud Trojan (first Trojan I've ever had). So maybe that explains some of the wacky behavior. Odd, did not have "typical" symptoms described at AV sites and neither AVG, Ad-Aware nor SpyBot picked it up. Removed Ewido files, scanned with Housecall (nothing serious, but did remove 23 spyware still left). Hopefully Desktop is clean again.

The reference manual actually explains how to restore to factory settings. Try doing that.

EDIT: Eric I didn't see your reply before I posted below. Yes, I have set back to factory default. But I think it's a different issue, if you're interested, I've detailed below. Still working on it....

Hey Eric (or anyone listening ;) )
I keep posting what's going on till someone comes around :D

I think I might have found the problem. (And good news for now: notebook is connected again, and I'm trying to snag Windows Updates before/if I lose connection again. I set security at WEP and chose 1 key. (I sure hope I did that process correctly. ) But I did have to shut down ZA altogether. Only way to increase my chances of connecting to web.

ZA keeps alerting me that "Generic Host Process for Win32 Services wants to accept connection from Internet". I encountered this on my desktop a couple years ago and it absolutely drove me bonkers. I'd get the error, deny access, sometimes allow it, sometimes I'd connect, sometimes not. Best bet for connecting to web pages was to shut off firewall altogether. (I think the way I fixed it wasn't even a fix really. After we rebuilt my Desktop here (and hence did a clean install of XP) , I think I stopped getting those same messages on Desktop. It was a chronic nuisance. So now Notebook is doing the same.

1) Question about hotfix for Generic Host: Only "fix" I can see for Generic Host is M$ Hotfix , however, that is for systems running XP SP2. I'm not running XP2 on the notebook. (stayed away from it, too many people here had issues with it. See now M$ has posted a work around to uninstall SP2, so there must have been a lot of gripes?) But I digress...So, think it's safe to install the hotfix anyway, without SP2? Or have any other suggestions?

2) Wireless speed question: Wireless Netgear in Network Connections show I'm connecting at 108mbps (what I was shooting for). But Netgear's Configuration panel is only displaying about 48 Mbps. Is the 108mbps the speed that data is transferred between router and adapter card, and the 48mbps is the actual connection speed between notebook and internet? (Just trying to make sense of this.)

Anway, at this point I would bet the router/network adapter is OK, and it's that darn Generic Host error that's causing the failure to connect.

Kathy, I found this information from the forums at Zonelabs regarding the Generic Host Process for Win32 Services.

In Program Control/Programs, Click on Generic Host Process for Win32 Services then:
Trust Level = Super (3 green lines)
Access = green checks for Trusted and Internet
Server = green check for Trusted and red X for Internet
Send Mail = blue question mark, (you could probably apply a red X here as I've never seen GHP generate an alert for mail)
Next right click on Generic Host Process for Win32 Services and select properties. Now add:
2 red checks in Advanced Program control, (1. This program may use other programs to access the Internet & 2. Allow Application Interaction)

Ah, thank you Eric! I've been running around looking for fixes on the web and getting Critical Updates caught up on the laptop, scared it would lose connection (plus I was running without a firewall.) I use ZA free edition, so I don't have all the settings that ZA mentions that you posted for me. But I did get the appropriate settings done. Guess what? So far so good! Notebook is still up and running with firewall now ON :)

I'd like to change settings to WPA, but am scared to do it at this point. Suppose I could save the "good" WEP profile I'm running on now, and try higher security.



One more question if you don't mind, about the speed issue.
I set configation online for router at mode "g and b". Laptop network connection says 108mbps, but NetGear Control Panel (installed on laptop) says 48 mbps. I can go back online and reconfigure router, there is option to set router config to "auto 108" instead of "g and b". Do you think that might gunk up the works again? I'm confused about the speed, since Notebook is saying two different speeds. Make sense?

And again, thank so much for the assist! An exercise in frustration, but also lessons learned (which is always a good pay-off!)

I suggest that you update your computer to Service Pack 2. This way you are protected against the latest security issues and fixes.

I don't know about the speed issue. However, I would probably use the default configuration and have the mode set to "g & b". I personally rather use the Windows funtionality than using NetGear but there is nothing wrong using third party to manage the wireless connection.

Windows networking can be a lot of fun and you can learn from it. I would like to see you use WPA (or even WPA2). You can always switch later, and if if something goes wrong you can always go back.

Now that you got this working what about your printer?

ACK! My printer! I totally forgot about that! Ha!

I'm game, I guess. I forgot where I left off, after the (what's it been now, 3 days?) saga with router :D

First, you need to properly allow ZoneAlarm for file and printer sharing. With ZoneAlarm go into the Trusted Sites and add the ip addresses.

Then share the printer on whatever machine it is connected to. When you done with that step, go on the other computer use the Add Printer Wizard and tell it to connect to a network printer.

Hey Eric,
Something is definately not right here. I'm trying to get info together and will post a log in hijackthis forum here, and cross reference this post. I was online on notebook all afternoon yesterday no big issues. This morning, back to problems again. Connection showed, but couldn't connect to web. So I took adapter out of notebook and connected directly to cable. Had some initial troubles, but after a few seconds did get online. In process of trying to update/clean up notebook (I haven't used it at all this year) I'm running across some really goofy stuff. So before I blame Netgear's router, I want to make sure this machine is running at peak again.

I take there no wireless card in either computer at this time. Each computer is directly connected to the router's LAN port.

Is that correct?

Yes, removed wireless card and hooked notebook up to ethernet cable that I use for desktop. (basically I swapped out Desktop and put notebook in it's place, so notebook connection is coming through cable>router>cable modem>notebook via ethernet cable. Then when I first got connected, it was to AT&T home page (changed my homepage to ComCast days ago on notebook). So don't know why it reverted, AT&T was my last ISP on here but I uninstalled that software ages ago. In CP Add/Remove I found Viewpoint Media Player in progs list (didn't install it, it's viewed as spyware by websites I checked, and AdAware/Spybot don't pick it up) and there's other odd things. In add/remove, have some programs not listed at all, and SpyBot is listed twice (old and new version). Click to unistall older version and it launches the program instead. Web pages slow to load. IE hangs a lot. I've run Ad-Aware again, Trend Micro online (nothing showed); scanning with Panda online now. Just a lot of non-related squirelly behavior that's common with something lurking on my machine from the dark side ;)

OK, Eric, I think we're up and running!

Kept my Laptop connected directly to ethernet (router>Cable Modem>Ethernet cable) and got it all cleaned up. (Many varied scans done and found Smitfraud and a Dropper Trojan, plus some deeply hidden spyware.) All clean now, runs very smoothly. crunchie thinks my hijackthis log looks good, but I posted a Silent Runners log at his suggestion and he'll take a look.

So I swapped back: hooked Desktop up to router, re-inserted adaptor into notebook. First try I got "page cannot be displayed" although notebook had a good connection showing. A reboot fixed that.

Had trouble with printer, took me an hour or so of reading posts here and web articles to figure out I missed some very basic steps, and will post for anyone that might benefit in future. It was a combination of firewall settings and Network ID (SSID).

First mistake: I did not enter my IP addresses as "Trusted Zones" in Zone Alarm. So in Desktop I entered Notebook IP as trusted, and in Notebook I added Desktop IP as trusted. (I always have left XP firewall off, and made sure it was still off on both machines-- it was.)

From the Desktop, I went to Printers and Faxes Properties>Sharing tab and shared the printer. XP wanted to fight with me on putting a share name in, but just kept trying till it worked (for some crazy reason there was nothing in "share name" box and it wouldn't accept what I put in, but finally after repeated attempts Windows automatically put in the correct printer name.

Next I went to Notebook Control Panel>Printers>Add Printer. That's where I ran into trouble. No matter what I tried, the Wizard did not list my printer, and Wizard kept hanging when searching for one. I sat here thinking about it and it dawned on me, it must be the Network name (so basic!) The laptop already displays the SSID name in the Netgear Configuration software. But the Desktop didn't display it anywhere. So I went into Desktop Network Connetions>Local Area Connections>Properties and changed the name from "Local Area Network" to the same SSID I used for the router. Once I did that, I went back to the notebook, sailed through the Add Printer wizard and there was my printer listed.

So, in a nutshell, the two basic things I neglected to do were 1) assign the firewall permission to communicate with each computer and 2) make sure that the desktop and notebook shared the same Network ID/ SSID.

Anyway, this is resolved (for now!) If you want to mark the thread resolved, can we wait a couple days, make sure I keep the connection on the notebook? I'll post back whether I encounter problems or it's continued smooth sailing.

Thanks for the assist, I greatly appreciate it!

~Kat

Thanks for the feedback! For your information, you can mark your thread resolved under the Thread Tools. :)

Ah, I thought 'resolved' was a Mod only feature ;)

Things seem to be going OK for the moment (still holding my breath a bit!). Carried notebook to various rooms/levels of house last night and this morning, getting a good strong signal and good connection. Probably sounds like I've been living in computing dark ages, but I get a kick out of being able to send files to the printer via wireless (feel like I got a new toy :D)

Have a quick question re: firewall and IP addresses.
My desktop IP ends in .1.3
My Notebook IP ends in .1.2
Default gateway ends in .1.1

Yesterday trusted zones I entered were .1.3 and .1.2 per each machine. This morning I attempted to log onto IE from Desktop, and ZA gave me an alert that program svchost.exe was attempting to connect from source IP 1.3 (desktop) to destination IP .1.1 (default gateway). I thought I got svchost.exe covered yesterday when I put green checks under all categories except Internet Server, which got a red X. Anyway, to correct the issue, I put a trusted range in ZA, from IP address ending in 1.1 through 1.3, to include both machines and the default gateway. (I read up on default gateway but am still a bit confused about it. ) Is that OK/safe to use that range?

Yes, it's safe because anything in the 192.168.x.x range is a private ip address. Your getting these addresses from the DHCP server (router) which also acts like a firewall. However, those addresses can always change.

Am I going to have to keep an eye on the IP addresses and perhaps reconfiguring the router if/when addresses change, or should I just put a larger range in there to cover changes? (Trying to cover all preliminary bases here.) And thanks, BTW, for the education I'm getting here.

You can decrease the number of DHCP users on the LAN setup page in the router.

Hey Eric,
Just wanted to let you know that after a week, all is still well. So I think it's safe to say the wireless networking has been a success! Thanks so much for all your input and time, I greatly appreciate the assist!

~Kat

You're welcome! :)