Wireless connected - can't ping router

Hi, I'm new to Wireless networking - any help would be very appreciated. I'm trying to connect a G5 Mac running OS X 10.3.6 and a Compaq nx 7000 running XP Pro SP2 to an ADSL line through a ZyXel 660W/HW 4 port gateway router with 802.11g Wireless. The router is set up to use WEP, DHCP, and MAC addresses. The 'hard' ethernet connections work fine on the LAN - the machines communicate through the router and access the internet. The Wireless connection on the laptop seems unable to recieve a dynamic IP address and gives a 'limited connection' with an automatic private address. To correct that I assigned an Alternate configuration - user configured IP address that is in line with the other IP addresses. It will then give me a 'connected' message with 'excellent' signal strength at 11Mbps. The problem is that I can't connect to the internet nor can I ping the router or the other machine if I disconnect the LAN. Is it possible to have a good wireless connection but be unable to reach anything?
I can ping successfully in all directions on the LAN.
The MAC addresses are correct for each adapter and I've doubled checked the WEP keys. The SSID is correct on router and laptop (not broadcast).
Any ideas? Thanks

 

Double check that you have the correct MAC for the wireless card in the router.

run IPCONFIG /all from a dos prompt to get your MAC addresses. Some of these machines have a hardwire nic and a wireless nic, its easy to grab the address for the wrong one.

Another thing to test is WEP compatibility. If you do the above and its correct, try disabling WEP on the router and see if you can get in.

 

MAC checked WEP disabled problem unsolved

Hi, Thanks for your reply. I disabled WEP on the router and in the XP Wireless Network Connection properties. Checked MAC once again. Got a successful connection - excellent signal strength - unsecured wireless network - shows up in the router maintenance Wireless LAN association List that lists wireless clients currently logged on. I still, however, am unable to ping router or make any connections. I can neither ping the laptop from the router or the router from the laptop.

 

issue resolved

Spent the day chasing this problem around and around. Finally I've a working LAN and WLAN that incorporates a PC and a MAC (PC laptop is running the wireless). I'm going to send a new thread with some of the details of the solution in case anyone has similar problems - they include SP2 problems similar to those mentioned in DesBradley's thread.

 

WLAN problems and solutions - culprits SP2 and NIC driver

Sorry folks - this thread went off prematurely by accident -here's the full text (perhaps admin could delete the other one )

edit note: just merged the 'solution detail' thread with this one. Not a problem. Newt

I've just spent a day and a half chasing down a wireless networking problem and wonder if the solution might save someone out there a few grey hairs! So here goes..
I was trying to acitvate a wireless connection on an HP Compaq NX 7000 laptop that was successfully connected to a LAN that ran through a 4 port ADSL gateway/router. I was using XP Pro updated with the SP2 pack - the network adapter is an Intel(R) Pro/Wireless LAN 2100 3B mini PCI adapter that came already installed. When nothing I did seemed to succeed I went to the source - Microsoft - specifically the following link

http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=kb;en-us;815485&spid=1173&sid=1248
(Overview of the WPA Wireless Security Update in Windows XP)
where I found a paragraph headed: For information about an Intel issue with this update, visit the following Intel Web site:
http://www.intel.com/support/network/wireless/pro2100/sb/cs-006131-prd944.htm
where Intel points out that the WPA patch for Windows XP (included I believe in SP2 update) causes problems with Windows' XP's Zero configuration feature. They suggest updating the driver, which I did.
So the laptop and the router are now configured to use WSA-PSK (private shared key) and TKIP. The final leg of the journey was in configuring the router. I'd problems with the graphic user interface - it wouldn't accept the 802.1x WSA configuration, constantly giving the error message 'please turn off static WEP key'. No amount of WEP disabling worked. The solution was to use telnet to make the configuration changes.
So - if you've installed SP2 update pack, make sure your WLAN adapter drivers are updated (go to the manufacturers site - the Windows update button doesn't always work!)
Another useful link:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314067/EN-US/
(How to troubleshoot TCP/IP connectivity with Windows XP.)

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate it

 

Thanks for posting the followup on this one.