Connecting to household router/WiFi

  • Thread starter Thread starter Gordon
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G

Gordon

I am in the process of building a new desktop computer to replace
my old obsolete one. I've used a Gigabyte S-series
GA-P35-DS3L/S3L motherboard with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor
and two 1GB SDRAM memory sticks. I have this computer up and
running, using Windows XP Pro, and it works very well except I
can not get it to connect to my household network. This network
centers around an Actiontec 54 Mbps Wireless DSL Gateway. I have
my laptop and my wife's kitchen computer connected to this
gateway by means of wireless cards, but my old desktop has a Cat
5 cable connection to the gateway. This desktop computer is the
"manager" for the gateway.

This gateway has Cat 5 Ethernet sockets for up to 4 computers,
but in the past my old desktop was all that was connected by this
means.

My new desktop computer with its Gigabyte mb has an on-board
Ethernet connector that I have been trying to use to connect to
the Gateway. This is specified as an Ethernet LAN connection, and
I'm not sure it is compatible with my Actiontec Gateway.

When I connect the Cat 5 cable the Actiontec gateway light shows
an active connection but the computer is completely blind to this
gateway. I've gone back through the BIOS settings and can not
find anything else to try.

Do I need give up on the mb ethernet connection and buy and
install a separate Ethernet card?

I would like to connect both the old and the new desktop
computers for a while, until I am sure I have everything working
well on the new one, then I will remove and dispose of the old
computer.

Thanks for any insights or suggestions. Gordon
 
Couple of things to check:
Drivers installed for the Gigabyte Ethernet/Lan Card from the mobo CD??
What does device manager show??
Have you run the network connection wizard??

peter
 
Thanks, Peter, that fixed the problem. I apparently didn't get
the Ethernet driver properly installed with the first attempt.
After re-running the Gigabyte CD and re-installing this along
with other drivers, the problem was resolved.

I appreciate your help. Gordon
 
When I connect the Cat 5 cable the Actiontec gateway light shows
an active connection but the computer is completely blind to this
gateway. I've gone back through the BIOS settings and can not
find anything else to try.
Thanks for any insights or suggestions. Gordon
Click to expand...

Couple things to check:
When you connected the cable did the light on the MOBO connector light
up ? You said it was completely blind....that light must be lighting
up to indicate the connection (HW) is ok. If not try another cable.
Get the lights lit on both sides of connection first.

Install the latest Ethernet drivers from the MOBO Web site. Make sure
the MOBO onboard lan is enabled in BIOS if setting exist there. Check
device manger to ensure it is working properly.

Check your gateway security settings to make sure your not disallowing
unknown computers via MAC address filtering.
If so add the MAC for the new machine to the allowed list.
 
Couple things to check:
When you connected the cable did the light on the MOBO connector light
up ? You said it was completely blind....that light must be lighting
up to indicate the connection (HW) is ok. If not try another cable.
Get the lights lit on both sides of connection first.

Install the latest Ethernet drivers from the MOBO Web site. Make sure
the MOBO onboard lan is enabled in BIOS if setting exist there. Check
device manger to ensure it is working properly.

Check your gateway security settings to make sure your not disallowing
unknown computers via MAC address filtering.
If so add the MAC for the new machine to the allowed list.
Click to expand...
Thanks to both of you for your responses. These got to the core
of the problem. I figured out what I had done wrong. I had not
gone to the MS Update site and updated my installation of Windows
XP Pro. The Gigabyte install software would not install some of
these drivers unless XP had been updated to at least the SP 1
level.

Anyway, all's well that ends well. I have my new computer up and
running and it all seems to check out fine except I can not
figure out how to move my old MS Outlook Express e-mail messages
to my new computer. I got the address book moved with no trouble
but I can't get the old messages that I've saved for future
reference to show up on the new Outlook Express.

Gordon
 
Couple things to check:
When you connected the cable did the light on the MOBO connector light
up ? You said it was completely blind....that light must be lighting
up to indicate the connection (HW) is ok. If not try another cable.
Get the lights lit on both sides of connection first.
Click to expand...
I didn't check this at the outset. That is, I didn't know there
was a light, or lights on the mobo connector. I checked this
later and it shows a steady green on one side of the socked and
an intermittent blinking yellow on the other side. The whole
setup seems to be working very well, now that I got the drivers
installed correctly.

I certainly appreciate all the information and help on this.
Gordon
 
I am in the process of building a new desktop computer to replace
my old obsolete one. I've used a Gigabyte S-series
GA-P35-DS3L/S3L motherboard with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor
and two 1GB SDRAM memory sticks. I have this computer up and
running, using Windows XP Pro, and it works very well except I
can not get it to connect to my household network. This network
centers around an Actiontec 54 Mbps Wireless DSL Gateway. I have
my laptop and my wife's kitchen computer connected to this
gateway by means of wireless cards, but my old desktop has a Cat
5 cable connection to the gateway. This desktop computer is the
"manager" for the gateway.
(snip)
Click to expand...
Next problem;
I can't get the new monitor, or, for that matter, the computer to
go into sleep mode or any other inactive phase. I'm using an Acer
22 inch monitor, and have the Display Properties settings such
that it goes into screen saver mode after 10 minutes of
inactivity. This works as expected, but it won't go on into sleep
or off mode. What settings should I check and how do I locate
these settings? I've gone through the BIOS settings and tried
every option that I thought might accomplish this, but did not
get the expected results.

Thanks, Gordon
 
Next problem;
I can't get the new monitor, or, for that matter, the computer to
go into sleep mode or any other inactive phase. I'm using an Acer
22 inch monitor, and have the Display Properties settings such
that it goes into screen saver mode after 10 minutes of
inactivity. This works as expected, but it won't go on into sleep
or off mode. What settings should I check and how do I locate
these settings? I've gone through the BIOS settings and tried
every option that I thought might accomplish this, but did not
get the expected results.

Thanks, Gordon
Click to expand...

Right-click on the Desktop
Properties -> Screen Saver -> Monitor power / Power -> Power Schemes ->
Turn off Monitor

Also, in the BIOS, tell the system *how* you want the monitor disabled.

Finally, check to see if the monitor type matches your monitor.
 
On Sun, 04 Nov 2007 15:48:13 -0000, C2D <[email protected]>
I didn't check this at the outset. That is, I didn't know there
was a light, or lights on the mobo connector. I checked this
later and it shows a steady green on one side of the socked and
an intermittent blinking yellow on the other side. The whole
setup seems to be working very well, now that I got the drivers
installed correctly.

I certainly appreciate all the information and help on this.
Gordon
Click to expand...

Just FYI - the steady light means the physical wired connection is ok
- that is the one I referred to. Should have steady lights on both
MOBO connector and Router connector. The blinking light indicates
when data is being sent or recieved...I could have been clearer.
 
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