How would I add a new wireless connection on my network?

Here's the deal, I have a simple wired network set up right now, connections going through a router to my desktop and my xbox 360. My router IS also wireless (Linksys BEFW11S4). If I was to add a laptop, wirelessly through my existing router, how can I go about doing that? heres a simple visual of what I mean. Bare in mind I have NO software installed anywhere for my router. Is the process as easy as doing the wireless setup wizard in the CP?

 

Have you reviewed the online manual for the BEFW11S4?

 

#1: Is the wireless turned on on your router?
#2: What is the SSID (name of the wireless on the router)?
#3: Is encryption activated on the router wireless?
#4: If Yes to #3, what type (WEP, WPA)?
#5: If Yes to #3, what is the password key for the encryption?
#6: With information gathered, set up wireless on laptop GUIDE

 

umm, I dont know all that. i have no software or configuration for my router. i bought it off my friend a couple years back and just connected up and it was fine. Plus the Wireless-B light is on, so is it active or turned on?

 

It's actually very easy, and the computer and router should do most of it by themselves. If you haven't already, review the setup manual, which will explain the steps you need to take. If you don't have the manual, download it from the Linksys website.

Basically, to set up the wireless connection, go into your "network connections" window on the laptop, enable the wireless interfact and configure it so that it gets an IP Address automatically from the router under "Automatic DHCP." Next, go to the router's administrative webpage from the wired system (it should be 192.168.1.1, unless you've changed the default IP of the subnet), login (if you've never logged in, and your friend never changed the UID or PW, it should be UID=admin and PW=admin I believe). First thing, if you the UID and PW are set to the defaults, change them to something that's not quite so easy to discover. Next, enable the SSID if it's not already enabled (it'll make it easier for the laptop to find the network, and you can turn it off later once the connection is made if it makes you feel more secure). Finally, enable WPA security and pick a security key (the process is self-explanatory) - you'll have to type the same security key into the configuration window for the wireless connection on the laptop.

That, in brief, should be most of what it takes to set up the wireless access to your pre-existing network. Also, please note that setting up the wireless security will not have any effect on the wired clients that currently connect to the router. One thing you will have to do on the XP machine is download from Microsoft the Link Layer Topology Discovery Responder ("LLTDR") and install it on the XP machine because without that app installed the _Vista machine will not properly "see" the XP machine.

 

wow, thx man, good advice.

 

Sure, no worries. Come back if you have any difficulties (whoops, I meant to say "serious difficulties," you'll almost certainly have some simple difficulties ), and we'll see just how far astray we can lead you!

Nice diagram, by the way.

 

wait, u said u have to enter the adminstrative webpage. that when u type in 192.168.0.1 into the browser and login? i cant do that, i never even did that b4. it brings me to an msn search or an error page.

 

Try 192.168.1.1

username is blank(empty) and password is "admin". Unless of course it was changed which i doubt.

 

Actually, I said

, which is the Linksys default router IP address. To get to it, open a browser window, type "192.168.1.1" into the address line, and hit return.

If that doesn't get you to the router admin webpage, then it's probably because the default IP address for the router (and, hence, the subnet) has been changed. A quick way to check is to check the IP address on the XP desktop. To do that, go Start->Run..., type "cmd" in the box that opens up, and hit return. When the command console comes up (black window), type "ipconfig /all" (without the quote marks) and hit return. Each of the network interfaces on the desktop should be listed, along with the configuration for each one. Look at the ethernet card listing, which should list the card's current IP address. It should be listed as a set of four 1 to 3 digit numbers with periods between each number, for example, "www.xxx.y.zzz". If the router's IP address has been changed from the Linksys default, the router should still be the first node on the subnet, so if you find that your desktop's IP address is "www.xxx.y.zzz", then the router's IP address should be "www.xxx.y.1" - give that a try and see what happens.

EDIT: Of course, that's the hard way of doing it. The easier way is to run "ipconfig /all" (no quote marks) on the desktop and see what IP address is listed under the ethernet card for the "default gateway" - that will almost certainly (99.9999999...%) be the router's IP address.

 

mine isnt 192.168.1.1, or anything else, I even set it to 192.168.101.1, still didnt work.

 

I'll ask again: have you read the online manual? If not, go to Linksys and download the manual. You'd be surprised how much information is in that manual.

 

Connect your laptop to the "ethernet port". Look on the task bar (at the bottom) the icon that looks like two monitors together, you should get two of them, one has a ((|)) drawing, that's your wireless connection, if you are getting Internet through this connection, then you should see the planet earth. If you don't see the blue planet, then right click on the icon and select "Network and sharing center", then press on "View status", then press "properties" at the very bottom, then at the top select "configure" and select the tab "driver" and click on "update driver", this should install the appropriate driver for your laptop wireless card adapter.

All the above assumes that your ethernet connection is working including Internet, this way you will be able to install the appropriate driver for your laptop wireless card adapter. Your router should also know your SSID and WEP key, set it up like this for the moment, WPA is safer but tricky, try it later.

The SSID and WEP key should be written on the back of your router, you may change these later, only if you want, in case you do, keep two things in mind, 1. don't lose them and 2. if you reset your router they will be gone.

 

Ok, let's go back to basics; have you opened a command-console window and run "ipconfig /all" on the wired desktop? If so, what did it show for the ethernet card's IP address and for the default gateway? If you're not sure what I'm referring to, post a screenshot of the ipconfig results.

 

ya i ran ipconfig, i also manually set the default gateway to 192.168.1.1, but for some reason it doesnt show up on the ipconfig.

 

HOLY CRAP, i got it to work finally, WOO, lol, thx for ur help.

 

How did you do it?

 

Well, my properties on my LAN were set to manual because of my Xbox Live connection, so I set it to automatic and finally got to log into my router, but probably have to redo my Xbox live settings now. But, how can I speed up my connection now? The internet is really sluggish since I made the change.

 

What are the speeds?

 

Ahh it's alright now, I guess it takes about 10 minutes after the change to gain full speed. thx again tho.

 

Run speedtest.net and share your results.

 

4249 kbps Down, 426kbps Up, pretty standard for me actaully.

 

Standard as in "as usual"? Is this what you always get?

 

Yep, it's fine for me.

 

So, why are you saying that your connection has slowed down?

 

Congrats on getting it going! Nothing like a little perseverence and a big dollop of good luck. Depending on what router you have, you may be able to reserve a particular IP address for the Xbox live (which will allow consistent port-forwarding, which I'm assuming, in the absence of any actual knowledge, is a prerequisite for that).

 

No, it was slow for a while after the change but sped up to normal

 

Ya i haven't tried it yet, I'll work on it tommorow but I'm pretty sure Ill just have to set the connection to automatic and maybe tweak a few things, shouldn't be too bad since I can now port forward UDP 88, 3074 and TCP 88 now if I needed.

 

Ok, very good, then enjoy it.