Auto connect to wireless

[Fred S *****]

Hi,

My neighbor and I are tying to fix a problem on his laptop. His LT will
not automatically log on to the wireless connection.

We are using the WinXP wireless tool (wizard?) and it is set to auto
connect yet the LT just fails to "acquire an address."

If we shut down the firewall AND then hit REPAIR it will connect manually.

The firewall can then be restarted and everything works fine until the
next re-boot.

Any suggestions are welcome and appreciated.

Thanks, Fred

 

[Bob]

Add the laptop's IP address to the firewall's trusted zone.

 

[Fred S *****]

Hi Bob,

Thanks, but isn't it added when we finally log on and turn the firewall
back on?

Fred

 

[RalfG]

If he ever manually disconnected the wireless adapter the autoconnect
function stops working. Fix it by first removing his router connection from
the wireless adapter's preferred connections list and then re-enter the
settings for it. Turn on SSID in the router if it isn't already. Setting
'only connect to infrastructure networks' might also help if there are other
strong wireless signals nearby.

 

[Bob]

I doubt it because when you shut down the firewall and connect you have
bypassed the firewall.
Activating the firewall after you connect is like closing the barn door
after the horse got out.

 

[Fred S *****]

Bob,

I mentioned that because the IP address is present after he turns the
firewall on - what would be different if we entered it into the trusted
zone manually.