Oh, lovely wise people of mumsnet. I have a wireless router....what do I do with it??

[BelleDeChocChipCookieMonster]

I've connected it as per diagram, stuck the disk in, pressed set up and it says it's not able to connect to the router via any network adapters in the computer.

Please, please help

Have you tried that 192.168.2.1 address?

Then try this "Switch to the XP machine, plug in the cable, bring up the DOS box and then enter that ipconfig /all thing"

Yup, I did all of that. The Xp machine's having none of it, the box goes off as soon as it comes up and the internet goes off the vista when I pull the plug. The address still doesn't work. Apparantly the router is a Broadcom 440x 10/100 integrated controller (whatever this means). I can get a little info from the Xp, not alot though.

OK looking at the XP machine for a minute....

If you enter the cmd command a black box pops up and then immediately shuts down?

If so doing Start/Programs/Accessories/Command Prompt

I've found the box on the vista! (yay) It's erm... yes, well, has alot of letters and numbers in it.

IP4 address: 82.13.235.157
It needs to be 19something.

Try the box on XP.

Run the command.

And what does it say for "IP Address" under the bit labelled something like "Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:", Ethernet being the key word...

it's 192.168.1.2 on that one

the ip address of the router is often printed on the bottom of it Belle

OK so on the XP machine when connected with a cable you get an IP Address of "192.168.1.2" come up in that black box.

When you have the Vista Machine plugged in with the cable you get an IP Address of "82.13.235.157".

Trying 192.168.1.1 fails on both machines when they are connected with the cable?

When connected with the cable the Vista Machine is the only one that can get onto the internet?

yup, that's it. I have to go and collect ds from school. I'm confused!!

Thank you

OK and your computer is plugged into your new wireless router and your wireless router is connected to what? A cable modem?

Getting "82.13.235.157" from your Vista machine looks very, very wrong. It "should" be getting a 192 type address and not that.

Is your ISP NTL (Virgin)?

I've got a funny feeling that your router might be acting in some sort of bridge mode rather than as a "proper" router....

Badgers if the old router is still on would this cause this?

You'd definitely still be able to see the SSID if that was the case

"Badgers if the old router is still on would this cause this?"

That 82 IP address looks like an internet facing IP address, it doesn't look like the sort of thing an out of the box router would normally give out to a connected device (though it's entirely possible that it could if it were set up in that way).

The Vista Machine must be connecting via the new router as when the cable is out it doesn't work.

Also I presume that the 82 IP address came from the section of ipconfig for the Ethernet wired netword card, again suggesting that that's the address that the router has given it.

So initial thoughts are something to do with bridging, that the router is acting as a bridge between the Vista machine and the cable modem, which I'm guessing is on a NTL/Virgin network.

IP address: 82.13.235.157

Reverse DNS: cpc1-derb8-0-0-cust924.8-3.cable.virginmedia.com.

ASN Name: NTL (NTL Group Limited)

Belle, based on the info from the Currys web site, the Belkin N150 is for an ISP providing a phone line for connection.

If that is correct, then I think you must have another ethernet cable going from the cable box to your wireless router. Is that correct ?

In the past, I understood the cable services sometimes kept track of a different piece of data identifying the computer (the MAC address) and if the router has two ethernet cables connected then it explains how the Vista PC is working but nothing else is. I could be wrong, of course, as I'm not familiar with that Belkin router, and there's no cable service in this area so cannot speak from experience.

Hmmm - confusing - have just found another Belkin product named N150 which is a wireless dongle. Oh dear, back to the drawing board...

it's this one

I'd like to focus on what the differences are between the XP and Vista machine.

Do the ipconfig /all command in the black box on both machines when both are connected with a cable to the router.

Look for the section that says "Ethernet" and "Local Area Connection" as a header.

What exactly are the differences between the values that the two machines report?

Then run up Internet Explorer on both machines. Select Tools/Internet Options. Clock on the LAN Settings button.

Do ether machine has "User a proxy server" selected?

Do both machines have the same setting for every option in that window?

Then go to Start/Settings/Network Connections. What connections are listed on both machines? Is there one with a "pipe" type icon as opposed to an aerial? If there is click it, select "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)" from the list and click Properties.

What are the values shown on the General Tab?