Trying to set up a wireless network. Some questions.....

[dem629]

My ISP is telling me that I need to change their modem to something called "bridge" which will only allow wireless, so I would have to go backwards through the steps in order to directly plug in if I ever wanted/needed to do that again. Does that sound right?

The problem (which they said the above solution would fix and didn't) is that I can see the network but it says local and I can't browse, get mail, etc. Even though it has asked me for a password and I typed it in and it was accepted.

Should the DNS server numbers all be 0? Or should that automatically set itself up?

Maybe if someone knows of a really good step by step website that would be great....

I don't even know if I am explaining this correctly. But thanks for any help.

[PennDem]

1. Are you using DSL or cable?

Lookup your ISP and hardware for configuration assistance here:
http://www.dslreports.com/forums/all

[dem629]

3. DSL. Thanks

[IDemo]

2. Here's what I had to do

after trying and failing to connect to my ISP with a Belkin wireless router.

1. Plug your network cable directly into the PC, bypassing the router.
   
2. Go to a command (Dos) window: type 'cmd' from Start/Run.
   
3. Type 'ipconfig /all' and write down the IP address, gateway, and DNS server(s) displayed.
   
4. Reconnect to your router and run the configuration tool, probably by typing its IP into a browser address bar, something like '98.2.0.1'
   
5. Identify your connection type as 'Static IP', and enter in the info you wrote down for IP, gateway & DNS.
   
6. Repower or reboot the router, and it should now display a 'connected' status.
   
7. If so, re-run your config tool and change the connection type back to 'Dynamic', or "DHCP'.
   
8. Reboot the PC to gain an IP from DHCP, and hopefully, the router will still display the 'connected' status.
   

I'm writing this from memory from a Linux partition, so there may be slightly different wording in
whichever (presumably Windows based) configuration utility you are using, but the general steps should still apply.

Good luck!

[dem629]

4. Thanks for your help.

[RC]

5. Your DNS server and IP address should be set automatically get what they need.

If there are zeros in there, that is your problem, or at least one of them.

[ChromeFoundry]

6. A lot of your answers will be determined

by the type of hardware you have and type of broadband.

DSL or Cable.
Separate Modem and Router or Single unit Modem/Router.
Manufacturer(s) of the hardware.

No, your DNS Server addresses should either be your ISPs DNS Servers, the address of your LAN Router if your router supports DNS Pass-Through or a service such as OpenDNS. The should never be 0.0.0.0.

[dem629]

7. Thanks for all the tips. I got it working! (And I suck when it comes to this stuff.) n/t