Just a quick query in case someone has any ideas...

I have my sisters laptop with me at the moment because she cannot connect to
her own network at home, despite both her sons being able to connect to the
very same system from their laptops using wifi.  To ease the situation of
connecting to my wifi (when she visits) I have set the same WEP key on both
herwireless router and on mine (both routers are Netgear DG834G) and so when
she comes here, her laptop instantly connects to my network without any
issues.   Despite both setups being identical, she cannot connect to her own
router to access the internet (web pages http), but she can access her email
(pop3) using her own connection.

This morning she went to McDonalds (who aparently have free wifi access) but
again she could only receive email but couldn't get any web pages up with
internet explorer.    Last night I went round to a friends place and took
her laptop with me.  He again uses the same WEP key because I use his
network when I am working there, and the laptop connected fine and allowed
full access to http and pop/smtp, no issues.

Despite all this proof that the laptop appears to be working here, she still
connect access web pages either at home or and McDs, using their free wifi
(both locations say she is connected and have good signals, but she can only
access pop, but no http web pages.

Does anyone know of a reason why this is happening, and why some places are
giving limited access to just pop and no http access?

Could it be something sinister going on in the laptop?

Thanks for your advice....
John

"John Parry"  wrote in message 
news:7et03rF2gu5beU1@mid.individual.net...
> Just a quick query in case someone has any ideas...
>
> Despite all this proof that the laptop appears to be working here, she 
> still
> connect access web pages either at home or and McDs, using their free wifi
> (both locations say she is connected and have good signals, but she can 
> only
> access pop, but no http web pages.
>
> Does anyone know of a reason why this is happening, and why some places 
> are
> giving limited access to just pop and no http access?

This doesn't sound as if it's a wireless problem, in that a wireless 
connection is evidently being made because she can access POP.

Is it possible for her to temporarily turn off the wireless adaptor and 
connect the laptop to her router (or yours) by Ethernet cable. If that 
displays the same symptoms, we've eliminated wireless as a cause.

I'd check the proxy settings of the browser: for IE 7, Tools | Internet 
Options Connections | LAN settings - there should normally be no ticks in 
any box on that page.

You don't say whether there is any error message when she tries to access a 
web page. If there is, that might give further clues.

Mortimer wrote:
> "John Parry"  wrote in message 
> news:7et03rF2gu5beU1@mid.individual.net...
>> Just a quick query in case someone has any ideas...
>>
>> Despite all this proof that the laptop appears to be working here, she 
>> still
>> connect access web pages either at home or and McDs, using their free 
>> wifi
>> (both locations say she is connected and have good signals, but she 
>> can only
>> access pop, but no http web pages.
>>
>> Does anyone know of a reason why this is happening, and why some 
>> places are
>> giving limited access to just pop and no http access?
> 
> This doesn't sound as if it's a wireless problem, in that a wireless 
> connection is evidently being made because she can access POP.
> 
> Is it possible for her to temporarily turn off the wireless adaptor and 
> connect the laptop to her router (or yours) by Ethernet cable. If that 
> displays the same symptoms, we've eliminated wireless as a cause.
> 
> I'd check the proxy settings of the browser: for IE 7, Tools | Internet 
> Options Connections | LAN settings - there should normally be no ticks 
> in any box on that page.
> 
> You don't say whether there is any error message when she tries to 
> access a web page. If there is, that might give further clues.
You could try a temporary disable of any firewall  or anti-virus 
software and see if that makes any difference.

A system restore back to a date before there were any problems would 
also be a route to take.

On Mon, 17 Aug 2009 13:18:02 +0100, "John Parry"  wrote:

> Despite all this proof that the laptop appears to be working here, she still
> connect access web pages either at home or and McDs, using their free wifi
> (both locations say she is connected and have good signals, but she can only
> access pop, but no http web pages.
>
> Does anyone know of a reason why this is happening, and why some places are
> giving limited access to just pop and no http access?

Maybe that browser changed to Offline after some difficulty to connect.

Tony

"John Parry" wrote in message news:7et03rF2gu5beU1@mid.individual.net...
> Just a quick query in case someone has any ideas...
>
> I have my sisters laptop with me at the moment because she cannot connect
to
> her own network at home, despite both her sons being able to connect to
the
> very same system from their laptops using wifi.  To ease the situation of
> connecting to my wifi (when she visits) I have set the same WEP key on
both
> herwireless router and on mine (both routers are Netgear DG834G) and so
when
> she comes here, her laptop instantly connects to my network without any
> issues.   Despite both setups being identical, she cannot connect to her
own
> router to access the internet (web pages http), but she can access her
email
> (pop3) using her own connection.
>
> This morning she went to McDonalds (who aparently have free wifi access)
but
> again she could only receive email but couldn't get any web pages up with
> internet explorer.    Last night I went round to a friends place and took
> her laptop with me.  He again uses the same WEP key because I use his
> network when I am working there, and the laptop connected fine and allowed
> full access to http and pop/smtp, no issues.
>
> Despite all this proof that the laptop appears to be working here, she
still
> connect access web pages either at home or and McDs, using their free wifi
> (both locations say she is connected and have good signals, but she can
only
> access pop, but no http web pages.
>
> Does anyone know of a reason why this is happening, and why some places
are
> giving limited access to just pop and no http access?
>
> Could it be something sinister going on in the laptop?
>
> Thanks for your advice....
> John

Further to my first post, I have been doing some tests.  It seems that my
sisters laptop always ends up with 192.168.1.2 as the IP address, even when
the router is set up to start its DHCP assignment at 192.168.1.3

Further checking, it says in the connection properties that 192.168.1.2 has
been assigned by DHCP.  How can the laptop end up with 192.168.1.2, when the
range starts at 192.168.1.3  ???

Another test was to assign the MAC address of the laptop an IP address of
192.168.1.9, but the laptop still ended up with 192.168.1.2

Does this help with what is causing the problems?

Thanks again
John

"John Parry"  wrote in message 
news:7eu7ahF2fdhc1U1@mid.individual.net...
>
> "John Parry" wrote in message news:7et03rF2gu5beU1@mid.individual.net...
>> Just a quick query in case someone has any ideas...
>>
>> I have my sisters laptop with me at the moment because she cannot connect
> to
>> her own network at home, despite both her sons being able to connect to
> the
>> very same system from their laptops using wifi.

> Further to my first post, I have been doing some tests.  It seems that my
> sisters laptop always ends up with 192.168.1.2 as the IP address, even 
> when
> the router is set up to start its DHCP assignment at 192.168.1.3
>
> Further checking, it says in the connection properties that 192.168.1.2 
> has
> been assigned by DHCP.  How can the laptop end up with 192.168.1.2, when 
> the
> range starts at 192.168.1.3  ???
>
> Another test was to assign the MAC address of the laptop an IP address of
> 192.168.1.9, but the laptop still ended up with 192.168.1.2
>
> Does this help with what is causing the problems?

Hmm. Sounds very bizarre. How sure are you that the IP address is being 
allocated by DHCP? Could it be that the IP address and/or DNS servers are 
being set statically rather than by DHCP? Does the same thing happen if you 
connect the laptop by Ethernet rather than using wireless? What's the error 
message when the laptop fails to access web pages? Open up a DOS prompt by 
running the command "cmd" and within that DOS prompt run "ipconfig /all" - 
compare that output with the same command run on another laptop (one which 
works OK) on the same network. The DNS servers and gateway address should be 
those of the router (probably 192.168.1.1) in both cases.

John Parry wrote:
> "John Parry" wrote in message news:7et03rF2gu5beU1@mid.individual.net...
>> Just a quick query in case someone has any ideas...
>>
>> I have my sisters laptop with me at the moment because she cannot connect
> to
>> her own network at home, despite both her sons being able to connect to
> the
>> very same system from their laptops using wifi.  To ease the situation of
>> connecting to my wifi (when she visits) I have set the same WEP key on
> both
>> herwireless router and on mine (both routers are Netgear DG834G) and so
> when
>> she comes here, her laptop instantly connects to my network without any
>> issues.   Despite both setups being identical, she cannot connect to her
> own
>> router to access the internet (web pages http), but she can access her
> email
>> (pop3) using her own connection.
>>
>> This morning she went to McDonalds (who aparently have free wifi access)
> but
>> again she could only receive email but couldn't get any web pages up with
>> internet explorer.    Last night I went round to a friends place and took
>> her laptop with me.  He again uses the same WEP key because I use his
>> network when I am working there, and the laptop connected fine and allowed
>> full access to http and pop/smtp, no issues.
>>
>> Despite all this proof that the laptop appears to be working here, she
> still
>> connect access web pages either at home or and McDs, using their free wifi
>> (both locations say she is connected and have good signals, but she can
> only
>> access pop, but no http web pages.
>>
>> Does anyone know of a reason why this is happening, and why some places
> are
>> giving limited access to just pop and no http access?
>>
>> Could it be something sinister going on in the laptop?
>>
>> Thanks for your advice....
>> John
> 
> Further to my first post, I have been doing some tests.  It seems that my
> sisters laptop always ends up with 192.168.1.2 as the IP address, even when
> the router is set up to start its DHCP assignment at 192.168.1.3
> 
> Further checking, it says in the connection properties that 192.168.1.2 has
> been assigned by DHCP.  How can the laptop end up with 192.168.1.2, when the
> range starts at 192.168.1.3  ???
> 
> Another test was to assign the MAC address of the laptop an IP address of
> 192.168.1.9, but the laptop still ended up with 192.168.1.2
> 
> Does this help with what is causing the problems?
> 
> Thanks again
> John
> 
> 
> 

Try: ipconfig /release
  and then: ipconfig /renew

What IP address does the machine have now?

Phil, London

On Tue, 18 Aug 2009 00:27:12 +0100, "John Parry"  wrote:


>Further to my first post, I have been doing some tests.  It seems that my
>sisters laptop always ends up with 192.168.1.2 as the IP address, even when
>the router is set up to start its DHCP assignment at 192.168.1.3
>
>Further checking, it says in the connection properties that 192.168.1.2 has
>been assigned by DHCP.  How can the laptop end up with 192.168.1.2, when the
>range starts at 192.168.1.3  ???
>
>Another test was to assign the MAC address of the laptop an IP address of
>192.168.1.9, but the laptop still ended up with 192.168.1.2
>

Is she connecting to next-door's router then?
Switch off the router then start the laptop.

-- 
Geo

Geo wrote:
> On Tue, 18 Aug 2009 00:27:12 +0100, "John Parry"  wrote:
> 
> 
>> Further to my first post, I have been doing some tests.  It seems that my
>> sisters laptop always ends up with 192.168.1.2 as the IP address, even when
>> the router is set up to start its DHCP assignment at 192.168.1.3
>>
>> Further checking, it says in the connection properties that 192.168.1.2 has
>> been assigned by DHCP.  How can the laptop end up with 192.168.1.2, when the
>> range starts at 192.168.1.3  ???
>>
>> Another test was to assign the MAC address of the laptop an IP address of
>> 192.168.1.9, but the laptop still ended up with 192.168.1.2
>>
> 
> Is she connecting to next-door's router then?
> Switch off the router then start the laptop.
> 
Although the IP address and DHCP issues need investigating, are they 
stopping access to webpages ?
The laptop is connecting to a network and POP is working, therefore 
there must be a working network connection from laptop to email provider 
which suggests that DNS is also working.
Or am I missing something ?
I like the "working offline" suggestion.

"Geo"  wrote in message
news:hdnl85923qh2v043f2t0utjg0omln6pbql@4ax.com...
> On Tue, 18 Aug 2009 00:27:12 +0100, "John Parry"  wrote:
>
>
> >Further to my first post, I have been doing some tests.  It seems that my
> >sisters laptop always ends up with 192.168.1.2 as the IP address, even
when
> >the router is set up to start its DHCP assignment at 192.168.1.3
> >
> >Further checking, it says in the connection properties that 192.168.1.2
has
> >been assigned by DHCP.  How can the laptop end up with 192.168.1.2, when
the
> >range starts at 192.168.1.3  ???
> >
> >Another test was to assign the MAC address of the laptop an IP address of
> >192.168.1.9, but the laptop still ended up with 192.168.1.2
> >
>
> Is she connecting to next-door's router then?
> Switch off the router then start the laptop.
>
> --
> Geo

Thanks Geo,

No shes not connecting to next doors router, because I have connected
remotely to her router and it actually lists her laptop MAC as being online
as an 'Attached Device'
If she switches the laptop off, she disappears out of the Attached Devices
list.

A quick check with Netstumbler, shows no other Wifi in range.  Her nearest
neighbour is about half a mile away.

On Wed, 19 Aug 2009 00:59:11 +0100, "John Parry"  wrote:


>No shes not connecting to next doors router, because I have connected
>remotely to her router and it actually lists her laptop MAC as being online
>as an 'Attached Device'
>If she switches the laptop off, she disappears out of the Attached Devices
>list.
>
>A quick check with Netstumbler, shows no other Wifi in range.  Her nearest
>neighbour is about half a mile away.

There have been some other suggestions to try so I will leave you to test those.
If you are both using the same router it might be worth taking yours to try in
her location?

-- 
Geo