how to access internet?

hello,
My dell 6400 shows an icon in task manager, saying, "found a network-connected".But i am not able to access the network nor the internet.My friend who has a compaq is easily able to surf.
My college has a wired network as a bone, and uses access points to make it wifi enabled. I am running Xp home. What should i do to access the net?
thanks

 

Do the following and tell us the results.

Go to Start -> Click Run
In the box type "cmd" and press return
In the new box type "ipconfig" and press return.

Paste in the results you see. What you've just done is asked the computer to specify it's network connection details. With these we should have a better idea as to why you can't access the internet.

J

 

You might want to update your drivers.

 

my sem exams are over, and i am at home now. will be able to go to coll next week.At the moment, i am at home and i am connected through the ADSL. It works fine when wired. the problem starts when i try to access through wifi. Is it coz of the xp home that i am using? Home says, it does not support networking of more than 5 comp. But i am only logging onto it, not networking.

@zaz the drivers are updated.I don think that is the problem

 

ok unplug your wired connection and attempt to connect with your wireless connection.

After you believe it's connected, do what I asked above and paste the results.

Are you having this problem with wireless connections everywhere or just at school/college?

 

i don have any wireless network anywhere near me now.
It happens only in my department network. There is another network in my library and i am able to connect and use it there.

 

ok so from what you've told us, I would suggest that if you can connect to other wireless networks, there is no problem with your hardware or software.

The problem will either lie on your departments network not letting you access the internet (for whatever reason) or you can connect to the network but don't have the correct encryption key to access anything.

 

I asked my network admin about it and he gave me,
IP address
default gateway addr
preferred and alternate DNS addresses.
he said other lapops will connect directly or with these values.But it doesn help.
same config and addresses works in library even though the gateway address is different there.

 

I'm sorry but I have absolutely no idea what your problem is then. If your drivers are all up to date, and your hardware is working correctly, then it must be a problem with the information your network admin gave you.

The best thing to do would be next time you are in school/college (sorry I'm not sure which you attend) post the results of ipconfig. Failing that grab your network admin, march him/her up to where you are trying to connect and get them to connect for you!

 

i am in college. doing my BE engineering. I guess thats the best thing i can do. now that i am sure, my laptop is not the culprit.
hope the XP home is not the prob right?
thanks neosenate

 

It could be a proxy. Ask your friends if he has any proxy configurations. My school has wireless, and in order to use it I need to set up a proxy on my computer.

 

I don't think XP home is the problem since I use it at home and it connects to more than one network with different configurations.

Hope you get it sorted!