Wireless router only allowing 'local' access

I had a Belkin 54g wireless router (for cable broadband), which was working fine until recently when it disappeared from the list of available networks. After finding that my internet connection itself was fine and that a wired connection to the router worked, I concluded its wireless transmission must have stopped working (five years on since I originally bought the unit).

So I purchased a replacement, this time going for Belkin's N+ Wireless Router.

However, although the N+ router does now show in the list of available networks, I can only get a 'local' connection to it, meaning it is not accessing the internet. This same issue is reproduced on three different computers running both Windows Vista SP1 and Windows XP SP3.

I've followed all the step-by-step instructions and tried both automatic setup using the install disk and manual configuration via the so-called web-based advanced user interface. I've tried several types of encryption key and also tried using the router with an unsecured network, just to see if an internet connection could be achieved that way. I've rebooted and reset both the router and the modem in different sequential orders on a number of occasions.

There is no new electrical equipment in our house that could be interfering with the signal. Obviously, I can't say whether that's true of everyone in the street too, but the fact that the router is showing as an available network would suggest that's not the problem in this instance.

Can anyone suggest something I might not have tried yet?

I've got a cable broadband connection with VirginMedia (formerly NTL) in the UK.

 

EDIT: OOPS: just noticed the above is your first post and I have gotten this thread confused with another one. I will leave my comments below stand as they may help. Sorry about that. I have found the folks at Lynsys very helpful if you have (or are willing to try) one of their routers you may want to give them a call. Beyond that a call to tech support for your device may help as may a call to you Internet service provider. Since its a cable service the ISP would probably send a tech out to troubleshoot the issue.

I am getting confused. I thought you said everything was fine in every room but the family room. Is this not the case? If you can get Internet access everywhere but the family room then its got to be the room itself somehow. If there is no Internet access anywhere thats a different situation and an extender will not likely help. Just off the top of my head it is possible (I believe) that an existing electrical appliance may have deteriorated to the point it is interfering with the signal. I guess you could test for this by unplugging every device in the room and checking if this helps. If it does plug each device in individually and you should be able to identify the source of the problem. Can't hurt to try.

If I think of anything else I will post it.

 

No, I've never posted here about this issue before.

I dont think my ISP would help out with this problem because their internet connection and the modem they supplied are working fine. The difficulties are therefore at my end, not theirs.

There has been a fractional amount of progress since my original post in that a proper internet connecton, albeit not a very fast one, was achieved via the wireless on some of the computers in our house. Only it disappeared soon afterwards and I've not been able to revive it.

I'm starting to wonder if this is an interference issue, though I don't think it will be one of our making as nothing has changed inside the house. Every room in the building was able to connect to the internet via the wireless router previously and now they're all having problems, no matter where they are located. There's been no new electrical equipment in the house that might interfere with the signal but I suppose it's conceivable that someone in the street may have started using some new device. I don't know.

 

You might want to try a direct connection to the net. If thats not working properly you will know its not your network, if it is working you will know it is. You might also want to speak to some of your neighbours and ask if they are having a similar problem. If someone in the neighbourhood is using something that is disrupting your set up then it stands to reason it would also be disrupting other systems.

As a matter of personal experience I was having serious issues with download speeds and my ISP insisted everything was fine. After many calls and complaints they sent a tech out and he determined that squirrels had chewed through the sheath of the cable (the covering) causing a very dirty degraded signal. It was good enough for the cable company to see the connection at their end but meant a very poor connection at my end. Bottom line, if you have done everything you can at your end to resolve the problem I think its reasonable for you to have the ISP send a tech to take a look at things and make sure there is no problem with your modem and the physical line. If they will not, I would suggest that you tell them you are going to switch to another provider since you believe the fault lies with them. If you get no joy from this contact another ISP and explain the situation to them. Ask them if they would be willing to come out and do an installation for you and make sure things are set up properly.

At this point I don't think you have anything to lose.

Good luck with this, please keep us posted on how things are going.

 

I've tried the direct connection and it works fine. That's how I'm accessing this message board.

Which says to me that the internet connection itself must be okay. I'm not measuring it scientifically, but website loading speeds seem absolutely fine with the direction connection. That happens whether I connect directly to the cable modem or via a wired connection to the router. So the signal is clearly travelling between the two devices without any problems.

The issue only arises when I try to achieve a wireless connection to the internet. I say 'only' but that's the main thing I want to do, so it's quite important to me. I'm able to pick up the wireless router in my list of available networks and I'm able to connect each computer to the router network - only there's no internet when I do. It's just a local access signal without net access.

What sort of things could interfere with the wireless internet signal? There are no new electrical products in our house. What type of item might a neighbour have bought that could cause this?

 

A question concerning the wireless NICs on the computers. Are they N compatible? Or, if they are G only, is the new WAP backwards compatible?

Any number of things could be causing interferance. Micro-wave ovens, cordless phones, radar detection units, speed measuring units used by the police. Have heard of auto-matic door openers doing it as well. Have no experience with N but here is some info and comparisons.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/802.11

Also the fact that you can see\connect to the Router, if I understand correctly, but not see the modem leads me to think it is a configuration problem between the WAP and modem.

I`m assuming the modem is set as the DHCP server. Have you disabled DHCP in the WAP? If you run the repair wizard from within Windows what does it say on completion?

 

have you contacted belkin?
im guessing a configaration issue with the router.

can you reconnect the router connect so it has local access and then do the following:
on windows xp:
open up start menu click on run.
type in cmd and click on ok

type in ipconfig

on vista
type cmd in to the search box and click on it when it appears.
type in ip config

can you take a screenshot of both save that to disc and then put connection back so it works then post screenshots here?

I would think its just a setting wrong for the wireless router.

 

Thanks for that, lodore.

However, I was screenprinting the information you requested and also screenprinting various stages of the process of accessing the network when internet access suddenly came online. That's not the end of the story, though, as it disappeared again shortly afterwards so I'm back where I started out. This does, however, suggest to me that the problem is likely to be caused by some sort of interference. What do you think?

That said, the computer that achieved a wireless connection to the router was standing right next to the router, about as close as possible. But then it still lost that connection so it can't be a matter of the distance being too great.

One thing I wondered, because it may present a partial solution, is whether it's possible to have two modems using the same cable broadband internet connection at the same time? One of the rooms where I've been using a computer connected via the wireless router also has a cable box on the wall. We have one downstairs and one upstairs.

Both cable boxes, originally ready fitted by NTL who are now part of Virgin Media, have two sockets, one for broadband internet and the other for cable TV. The one downstairs has been used for the modem and we'd want to keep it that way as our kid needs a wired connection for his Xbox gaming. But the one upstairs has only been used for TV.

Would it be possible to access the internet via a modem, if I bought one, connected to the upstairs cable box while at the same time having a modem connected to the downstairs cable box? I know that our ISP won't provide domestic customers with more than one modem, saying that we should use a router, but would it work if we did use two? They are, after all, easily available from shops these days.

 

Hello,
have you tryed changing the wireless channel in the router settings to see if it makes any difference?

 

Hey, hey! I think you may have solved this for me. Thanks very much.

I'd thought about changing the channel before after seeing it mentioned in the PDF user manual provided by Belkin, but a search for the word 'channel' failed to produce any results apart from that first mention.

Looking through each page one-by-one, however, I found the relevant details on page 39 and have adjusted the channel to number 4.

Bingo! It seems to have done the trick as even the computer upstairs is now able to access the internet via the router. The signal seems great.

I wonder what could have caused the previous channel to stop working? I'd try out the router I was using before to see if the channel made a difference on that too, but I'd rather not risk upsetting things now they're working okay. Could it be that someone else in the neighbourhood was using their router or another device on the same channel and causing interference?

Anyway, whatever the cause, I'm very grateful to you and others who have offered advice in this forum. Nice one, matey.

 

I was using the older WEP protocol anyway. The N router is compatible with G receivers. There's an option within the setup menu to enable or disable backwards compatibility with earlier standards such as G.

 

Hello,
glad it works now.

a neighbour could of got a device that conflicts with the default channel.
the main thing is now it works.

 

Most routers are channel specific = you choose. 1 - 11 in the US. Above that, not sure of exact range, in the UK.

Some NICs cover a range, others need to be assigned a specific channel to match either the singular channel or with in the range the router is set to. Sounds like you stumbled on the right combo.