may i ask for some help from you tech savvy folks.............

[dalt01]

you know.............i could give you a paper clip and six feet of cable and you would build a server.....for some reason i cannot get two laptops online at the same time with my wireless router.....it tells me its available with excellent strength but cannot connect when we have one up. if we shut that one down then the other one will connect. any suggestions?

 

[k5jm]

On some wireless routers, there is a security feature to allow only a certain number of wireless users. You might check to see if that number is set to 1.

You might also check the DHCP scope of the router and make sure that it is set up for more than just a few addresses.

A 30bit subnet mask can cause some headaches if you are trying to attach more than 1 device!

 

[dalt01]

On some wireless routers, there is a security feature to allow only a certain number of wireless users. You might check to see if that number is set to 1.

You might also check the DHCP scope of the router and make sure that it is set up for more than just a few addresses.

A 30bit subnet mask can cause some headaches if you are trying to attach more than 1 device!

english dude..........english

 

[FireDancer]

A 30bit subnet mask can cause some headaches if you are trying to attach more than 1 device!

I don't get it...did you send that joke UDP?

 

[Pipser]

I don't get it...did you send that joke UDP?

ahhh....is it sad that I got that

Anyway, dalt01.....first thing, what kind of router is it (linksys, belkin, dlink etc...) and did you set it up yourself or have someone do it for you?

Essentially the info that k5jmh gave you is all correct but you may need to know how to access the router's administration to be able to change/check those features.

 

[DEA]

If you can supply the make and model of the router, we might be able to walk you through the best setup for your situation.

My other questions, troubleshooting from the computer side of things:

1. Is it always one laptop connecting and the other one not connecting? Or does the first one up get to connect, and then the other is out of luck, regardless of which laptop? So, if you have one machine up and running and connecting, and then shut it down, does the other one now connect successfully?

2. Can you check the Network control panel on a Windows machine, or the Network System Preferences Pane on a Mac, or the output of ifconfig -a on a Linux laptop (or the Mac command line) to see what IP address each machine is showing? And just to make sure that networking is enabled for the wireless interface.

3. And, back to the router end, are there filters on MAC (nothing to do with Macintosh) addresses? This will limit connections to the wireless router to only those machines whose network interfaces have a particular hardware address that is (supposed to be) globally unique. If there is only one MAC address listed in this section, then you would see only one of your laptops able to consistently connect. This goes back to (1) above.

 

[dalt01]

linksys...............forgot to mention that when no one has been on for a while and then tries to get on it says no network access and we have to either unplug or reset the router............im thinkin i am just going to get a new one.

 

[k5jm]

linksys...............forgot to mention that when no one has been on for a while and then tries to get on it says no network access and we have to either unplug or reset the router............im thinkin i am just going to get a new one.

In that case, I would reset the router to default using the reset button and a paperclip and start from scratch.

Big Red button wins all ties!

 

[disneym2m]

It is rather weird that I actually understand all that has been posted. Darn husband and all his computer talk. I guess some of it actually sank in.

I hope you can get your lap tops working. And don't worry, at first, I didn't understand any of this either.