Help with 1420 please. Can't get on the internet.

Hi guys,

I tried using my laptop on campus for the first time. And I couldn't connect to the internet. Everyone else around me was able too, including those with MacBooks and the girl next to me had an E1405. I was wondering if there was something I had to do to get this wireless card working. It actually detects 5 bars for the signal but it just wont connect to the internet.

In Stella's review, she mentioned something about disabling the bluetooth function because she didnt have one. I couldn't find this setting or any bluetooth devices or programs at that.

Please help. Thank you.

 

Can you see anything in Network Neighborhood?

 

Did you set your connection up with the university? At my old university you couldn't just hop on line, you had to get a validated connection.

 

my school required a log in first

 

Oh yes this Cisco network page comes up and we have to use our Student ID and Passphrase to log-on. The passphrase is universal. It's the same one we use to register for classes, pay our fees, see our transcripts etc.

I'm sorry. What is a Network Neighborhood. I'm not familiar with Vista yet.

 

if you can see the login page then that means you are connected to the network.

 

Oh that's the thing. I dont see the log-on page. It says connected to AirBears at full strength but that's all I get.

 

Airbears eh, another Cal student. I think you have to activate an airbears account 1st,, be warned though airbears is not a secure network

 

Will your laptop connect to any other network?

 

heres some initial setup instructions from airbears,,, though i dont remember doing any of that

Initial Setup

1. Set your computer to "Automatically Obtain an IP Address" via DHCP. Instructions provided courtesy of the LIPS service are here.

2. Set the "network name" (SSID) of your wireless card to be

AirBears


(case sensitive). Your wireless card might automatically select a wireless network; if AirBears is selected automatically, you can skip this step. If another network is selected automatically, you will need to change your network to AirBears before continuing.
3. Turn OFF WEP or any other encryption or data scheme that might be turned on by default. The AirBears service does NOT use encryption.

 

Their website says "Make sure that you have turned off all encryption (WEP) because AirBears does not use any encryption."

The laptop can't connect to anything. It can't even connect to the coffee shop next door. I was thinking it was a firewall problem with McAfee but I turned those off and it didn't seem to do anything. I also turned off the Windows firewall as well.

 

How would I do step 1 in Vista?

 

Maybe its a configuration that needs to be setup in Vista? Did you try the network setup wizard to connect to the coffee shop? Was the coffee shop free wifi or do they have to issue you a user id and password? Search for available networks?

I would go to a place that advertises free wifi and try the network wizard to detect thier network and try to get on that way. Either that or the tech support at your university might be helpful, they were at mine and always did the extra steps to make sure I was happy and getting my tuitions fees worth.

 

step 1) should be done by default

i really don't remember doing any of this to get on Airbears.

So right now when you open a browser, you don't see the login page?

also did you choose connect to airbears first?

right now i have a Inspiron 1501 with Vista Home premium, and probably the same network card as you as well.

 

don't tell me you are sitting in moffit right now trying to fix this

 

Thanks for the help. I just went to campus and it started working today. I don't know what was different.

And there was no need to configure everything. I think there was just something buggy about the wireless card, since I couldn't get on the internet that was considered Free WiFi last night.

 

so you go to berkeley =)

 

Have you tried installing AOL yet!?!