Problems Using Wireless LAN

[John8248]

Help! I just purchased a Tungsten C because I was planning on integrating it with my home wireless LAN based on a LINKSYS wireless router connected to a cable modem. The PDA has no problems finding the router IP address and connecting to it with max signal strength, but I am unable to browse the internet or get e-mail. I signed up for a yahoo account because it is one of the defaults in the versamail program, but I get the error "Unable to resolve name pop.mail.yahoo.com. Check your DNS settings or enter the IP address for your mail server." The WIFI Info under preferences all matches my router info. The advanced network settings for both IP Address and DNS Server are "Automatic". When I attempt to browse the web, it gives me a "Browser Error: Your handheld could not connect to the server. Wait a few minutes and try again. URL: http://www.yahoo.com/". I know that my wireless network works, because my laptop's e-mail and web browsing work fine over its wireless connection. I must be missing something simple, but I have no idea what it is!

[tcarolla]

This sounds like the same problem I was having. Luckily, I found out how to fix it on handango forums. What was happening to my T|C is this: upon DHCP response, I was receiving an IP address from my router (which was a 2Wire brand), and also a DNS address. The DNS address was the same one that other wire-attached PCs were using, but for some reason, no DNS resolution would take place. To test if this is the problem, find out the IP of a web site (cmd line, ping the site, get the IP address from the results). Then, on your T|C, go to the IP address. If this works, then the DNS resolution is the problem.

To fix it, I had to log in to my Router, and find out what DNS address it was using -- not the one it was handing out from it's DHCP daemon, but the DNS address it was using itself. I don't know specifically how you log into a Linksys router, as I have a 2Wire router, but I trust you can do this. Once you find out what primary and secondary DNS servers your router is using, plug these into the T|C as a manual override on your Wi-Fi preferences to the DNS address field. (Leave the IP address to automatic).

This should solve it. I'm not sure why the DNS 'passthru' address doesn't work on the T|C, because on my network, other PCs seem to use DNS just fine, but the T|C is different.

[John8248]

Thanks for the quick reply! I accessed my router, but the only DNS addresses I could find matched the PDA's settings it had determined automatically. My router status screen looked like this:
Host Name:
Firmware Version: 1.37.9b, Jun 21 2001

Login:
Disable

LAN:
(MAC Address: 00-04-5A-EB-A1-F7)
IP Address: 192.168.1.1
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
DHCP server: Enabled


WAN:
(MAC Address: 00-04-5A-EB-A1-F8)
IP Address: 68.13.213.88
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway: 68.13.213.1
DNS: 68.10.16.30
68.10.16.25
68.9.16.30
DHCP Remaining Time: 14:23:17

I tried manually inputting the WAN default gateway and IP address in the PDA's DNS settings, but still received the same error messages. Would any of the above show me the router's actual DNS address?

The PDA's WIFI Info Screen shows (after returning DNS to auto):
Network SSID: linksys
Channel: 6
MAC Address: 00:07:E0:26:E4:C0
IP Address: 192.168.1.102
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Router: 192.168.1.1
Pref DNS: 68.10.16.30
Alt DNS: 68.10.16.25

I was not sure how to do the command line ping you were referring to.

I will be out today, but I will resume troubleshooting Sunday night. Thanks!

[tcarolla]

To get the IP address of a web site, do the following: open up the command prompt, and simply type the following:

ping www.google.com

your pc will send four "test" packets to google, and while it is doing this, it will show you the actual IP address of google. Tell your palm pilot to go to that address as the URL, and it should work. If it does, your problem is with the DNS server address.

Unfortunately, I don't own a Linksys router, and it doesn't look like it is showing you it's own DNS address above. You can try mine (64.169.140.6). I use SBC but I believe the DNS address is public.

Hope this helps.

[John8248]

I must have a different problem. I pinged yahoo.com and obtained its URL: 66.218.71.198, and tried connecting to it from my PDA, but I received the same "Browser Error: Your handheld could not connect to the server" message. Could this be a firmware issue with my router? I have no other settings to modify on my PDA to try to make it work. When I check my router, the PDA's MAC address is on the DHCP Active table, it just does not have a "Client Hostname", as shown below:

DHCP Active IP Table
DHCP Server IP Address: 192.168.1.1
Client Hostname IP Address MAC Address
cx2092922-a 192.168.1.100 00-E0-18-4D-7E-CF
192.168.1.102 00-07-E0-26-E4-C0

Is there any settings or procedures on the router itself to troubleshoot the problem?

[John8248]

I updated the firmware on the linksys router, and now I can receive e-mail and browse the web on my Tungsten-C! Thanks for the help!

[Otosan guma]

Your LinkSys may also have been set up to filter MAC addresses. When you reloaded it, that feature was likely lost. Unless you are planning to provide ISP services for the neighborhood, you should put MAC filtering back in place. FYI