Laptop Lan Question

[jw]

This question will clearly show that I am a novice in regards to
laptops. Anyway, I am having difficulty connecting this Compaq 30D3
to my router which allows both CAT5 and wireless. The router has the
label:

MAC ID 001F900F214B
WEP KEY 1F900F214B
EESID VV9LO

I have the laptop connected to the web okay now, using CAT5. I would
prefer to go wireless, but I am not sure this laptop provides that,
although I would suppose it should. Do all laptops have wireless net
capability even though I see no antenna sticking out of the sucker?
And if it does, where in XP do I set that up? What numbers of the
above do I specify? I have made some attempts. but have failed
miserably. So either I am doing something wrong, or this XP has
wireless blocked somehow.

Any help would be appreciated.

Duke

03
8

 

[Paul]

Best not to post your WEP key. If I was your neighbour I could use this
to connect wireless to your router. That said, its good to know that you
know your WEP key. WEP is an old standard and has been superseeded by
WAP, so is it an old router? (That won't stop it from working.)


I would expect any modern laptop to have wifi (but its possible that
some might not). If you are using XP then that's sufficiently old that
it might not have wifi.

If it had wifi then I'd normally expect to see an application in the
notification area (bottom right of the task-bar) indicating whether it
can detect any networks. This might possibly be hidden (given XP's
ability to show/hide icons in the notification area). Alternatively, if
you can open "Device Manager" (easiest might be Start > Control Panel >
Computer Management and "Device Manager is one of the items in the tree
view), then under "Network adapters" do you have an adapter listed which
looks from the name like it might be a wireless adapter? If you do have
a wireless adapter then its likely you don't have the necessary drivers
installed, but my guess at this point is that you might not have a
wireless adapter.

The drivers on the HP site (in the Vista section, but looks to contain
WinXP support too), should be showing something like this in Device Manager,
if the low level drivers have been installed.

BCM430G_DeviceDesc = "Broadcom 802.11b/g WLAN"
BCM430M_DeviceDesc = "Broadcom 802.11a/b/g WLAN"

The antennas for Wifi, are routed inside the laptop. For example, they
have a mini-PCI card, with two tiny coax connectors on it. Thin coax cables
may snake from those connectors. The coax carries the signal, to where they
can place antennas, without it conflicting with adjacent objects. And it's
all hidden from view.

Paul

 

[jw]

Best not to post your WEP key. If I was your neighbour I could use this to
connect wireless to your router. That said, its good to know that you know
your WEP key. WEP is an old standard and has been superseeded by WAP, so is
it an old router? (That won't stop it from working.)

I agree. The above is not the true key. I changed it. It is not an
old router I don't think. It belongs to Verizon. Maybe I should
demand a new one.

I would expect any modern laptop to have wifi (but its possible that some
might not). If you are using XP then that's sufficiently old that it might
not have wifi.

If it had wifi then I'd normally expect to see an application in the
notification area (bottom right of the task-bar) indicating whether it can
detect any networks. This might possibly be hidden (given XP's ability to
show/hide icons in the notification area). Alternatively, if you can open
"Device Manager" (easiest might be Start > Control Panel > Computer
Management and "Device Manager is one of the items in the tree view), then
under "Network adapters" do you have an adapter listed which looks from the
name like it might be a wireless adapter? If you do have a wireless adapter
then its likely you don't have the necessary drivers installed, but my guess
at this point is that you might not have a wireless adapter.

I am sure I do not. Device Manager has network controller flagged
yellow.

 

[jw]

Brian Cryer wrote:

The drivers on the HP site (in the Vista section, but looks to contain
WinXP support too), should be showing something like this in Device Manager,
if the low level drivers have been installed.

Network Controller is flagged yellow. When I disconnect CAT5. I lose
the internet. I will not have the portability of the laptop if I
can't use wireless.

BCM430G_DeviceDesc = "Broadcom 802.11b/g WLAN"
BCM430M_DeviceDesc = "Broadcom 802.11a/b/g WLAN"

The antennas for Wifi, are routed inside the laptop. For example, they
have a mini-PCI card, with two tiny coax connectors on it. Thin coax cables
may snake from those connectors. The coax carries the signal, to where they
can place antennas, without it conflicting with adjacent objects. And it's
all hidden from view.

Paul

I thought as much Paul. Thanks