Wireless connection

I am looking for someone who is using a wireless connection that can trouble shoot a problem for a user.

The user is connected with Shaw high speed internet. His system is a dell laptop with a Lan card. Running Windows XP. The user tells me that he is hooked up through a resedential gateway Dell 1150. The user gets messages that tell him " No Lan Detected " or " Unable to Detect Computer " Shaw cable told him to get in touch with dell. Dell has sent him dozens of patches and still no luck. His laptop works when directly connected to Shaw cable but has no luck when hooked up to this wireless connection box of his. I have no background on how wireless works. Can any body send me a few ideas ???

 

Not sure about Shaw Wireless but here is my setup at home and you tell me if I have a similar setup. I may be able to help. I have four computers networked at home...one of them is also a Dell Latitude C600 laptop with an onboard 3Com 10/100 Mini PCI Ethernet Adapter that I use at work and a Netgear MA 401 Wireless card that I use at home with my wireless network. I have two services coming into my home. I have a wireless service and cable. I'm in the process of changing from my wireless WAN service to cable through CableOne. Both the wireless and my cable service have a wireless gateway installed to distribute the services to my other computers. I have a Netgear Wireless Router Model MR314 for my wireless service to my home and a Linksys BEFW11S4 wireless router for my cable service. I've swapped them and each works fine with each service. Now that I have rambled on....I have a couple of questions. Is he only having problems after the router/gateway is installed in the system? Is he hard-wired to the router or is it also wireless? Has he powered down the Shaw modem after he installed the router so it could get the MAC address of the router? More info would help.

 

It seems that the problem has been solved. The user called a tech that was not related with Dell or Shaw cable and was able to diagnose the problem. He told me it was all in the configuration. I beleive he might have been talking about the DNS or IP set up. He was told by Dell to enter 6 didgits and for some reason things might be defaulting back to 5. I am not quite sure.

Does the user actually have to manually set up DNS/WINS or IP settings manually when hooked up through cable modem ??