A number of issues that need to be dealt with.

If one computer is connected to the router/internet then it won't let another computer connect.

The only solution to this is for the person connected is to reboot the router which is connected to the internet. Which is annoying if that person is in the middle of something. Some advice on what the problem is here would be good please? I have checked that the router has the latest firmware update.

The two computers both have a Wireless Belkin PCI network cars.

The security on the router is WSA-PSK and Mac filtering (just to be safe as WSA can be cracked)

The router also disconnects itself from the internet when its not being used, is this normal, as I didn' think it was. I have to manually go into the router and connect.

Even more annoyingly last night it locked both the computers out when it was rebooted to let one in, and the only way to get it to work again was to physically disconnect the router from the mains for a few minutes.

If one computer is connected to the router/internet then it won't let another computer connect.



If the second pc gets an IP address from DHCP has it been assigned one? (ipconfig should tell you).

If it has an ip address can you ping the router and the other pc?

If you can ping the ip address of the router can you ping an internet ip? (ping www.google.com or something from the other pc then ping the ip address from the other pc)

If it doesnt ping an internet ip address but does ping the router ip address try running a traceroute and see where it fails. If it does ping an internet ip address try pinging the domain name and see if you have dns. Please post what you find.

Will have to wait till I get home tonight to give it a try.

When it tries to connect it hangs on 'acquiring ip/network address' then fails

When it tries to connect it hangs on 'acquiring ip/network address' then fails



It's either not connecting to the access point or its not getting the the ip stuff from DHCP then.

Possible causes:

You have the wrong Pre-Shared Key, SSID, security mode or the chhannel is entered incorrectly in the wireless profile or windows zero config

Your out of range (whats the signal like?)

Your clashing channels with another access point (you can check this and the signal range by downloading netstubler from here: http://www.netstumbler.com/)

The mac address isn't in the filters allow list (also make sure they are unique - they definaly shouldn't be the same as each other!)

The DHCP server isn't turned on (should be in LAN settings) or doesn't have a correct start and end pool address.

Incorrect network settings.

Faulty/clashing hardware.

Originally posted by punk
You have the wrong Pre-Shared Key, SSID, security mode or the chhannel is entered incorrectly in the wireless profile or windows zero config

This is a likely contender. I would suggest turning off all your encrpytion and security for a VERY short period to see that you can get a basic connection.

Then, one by one, activate the security settings - such as WEP and then MAC address authentication.

It does work when I reboot the router, it just won't let someone on if there hasd been another computer using it for a while.

The WPA-PSK key is correct, and so are the MAC addresses otherwise it wouldn't work full stop.

There is no firmware upgrade for the router, and I am still pulling my hair out on what the problem could be.

PS:- Don't use WEP its worse than WPA-PSK for poor encryption

Really daft question but do you have the ability to limit the number of DHCP connections you can have... If so, is it set to 1 or is something else tying up the other possible addresses (or trying to?)

I know our linksys router does this and it might explain what's going on here..

Not that I have noticed, but surely also then it would only let one on at once all of the time rather than just some of the time?

When you look under DHCP it just gives the two computers that are connected (as normally when I look both are connected)

I tried to assign IP numbers to the computers rather than them be obtained them each time, but unfortunately the firmware doesn't seem to have that option.

I think I have found the problem about it going totally mental the other night tho and locking both out. We had a police car outside, blocked the road off (car accident further down the road) so that was probably affecting. But this doesn't resolved the main problem...

Just to re-iterate on what the problem is, as perhaps I haven't explained it too well.

Two Computers - User 1 and User 2.

User 1 switches computer on and surfs for over an hour.

User 2 decides to join User 1 to surf as well. However the router won't let User 2 on. Now if User 1 reboots the router it will then let 'both' User 1 and User 2 on for some apparent reason.

It will also kick User 1 or User 2 off for no apparent reason, which can again only be resolved by rebooting the router.

Also when the router isn't used for several hours it disconnects itself from the broadband connection, and you have to physically reconnect it in the firmware.

Hmm.. in all honesty given that you're having sooo many problems with it my advice would be to bite the bullet and ebay the thing or send it back and go get a new router.

Crass I know but from the sounds of it the therapy required if you continue to bang your head on this problem is going to be a whole other order of expense ;)

Well the partner would quite like to throw it out the window and watch it break into a million pieces. But I'd rather not waste money that way.

Unless someelse can shed any light, looks like sending it back maybe the only option :( hassle hassle hassle, can't afford to be without the internet at this precise moment in time. Sometimes 56k sounds so appealing it just worked.

I tried to assign IP numbers to the computers rather than them be obtained them each time, but unfortunately the firmware doesn't seem to have that option.



You don't need to specify this on the router at all so the firmware isn't an issue. Just manually assign them some numbers on the same subnet outside of the DHCP pool with the correct gateway, dns (usually the gateway IP again) and a correct subnet mask.

Incidently, I'm not sure this is really relevant to your situation but I too have a belkin router and for a few months it would seem to "randomly" lock up requireing a reboot to get it working again. I finally figured out that it happened everytime my partner turned on her laptop. It had an old cheapo wireless B card in it (the rest of the stuff here is all G), I replaced the wireless card with a linksys G card and it hasn't been turned off or rebooted since.

If you have the same model as me (I can't be bothered to go downstairs to tell you which model I have :) ), then it has an option on the second page of "connection type" for the amount of idle time before disconnection. Setting that to some stupidly high number might solve your problem with it disconnectiing.

Will have a play tonight and see how I get on again.

The Wireless PCI cards are both Belkin 11g ones,

This is the one we bought http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=52384

Same model I have. Since replacing the aforementioned card I'm very happy with it. Perhaps you got a dodgy one :(

i have same problem up to 3 times a day.
tried to configure the idle time out option, with no results.
why do belkin make a broadband modem with a time out option anyway??? .
sods law everytime i get worked up and try ring belkin customer services it starts working again.
i wont be buying belkin hardware after my experience.
if you do a google search for "belkin wireless router stops working"
you will see lots of people have this problem.,
DONT BUY BELKIN! (in my opinion)

Originally posted by GWorkshop
DONT BUY BELKIN! (in my opinion)

I would agree with that, in all the Belkin products I have bought in the past, hubs, routers etc, most have not worked properly or even worked at all.

Ok still having problems,

I have tried assigning ip addresses to the computers rather than the router assigning them (the theory being that somehow a computer is losing its identitiy, the router still thinks it is connected and won't let the computer reconnect).

However it works perfect for one machine but not the other.

If I give an ipaddress to one computer it connects to the network spot on everytime but the internet doesn't work?

Any ideas?

Originally posted by Skatiechik
Will have a play tonight and see how I get on again.

The Wireless PCI cards are both Belkin 11g ones,

This is the one we bought http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=52384

I haven't had any issues with the Belkin WLAN cards - they're pretty reasonable.

Not NTL working hand-in hand with my Netgear router - different story!

Alex

From just scanning the other posts it looks like the router is struggling with DHCP, well, it is a Belkin.

Try setting addresses manually on the PC's. It doesn't matter about changing anything on the router for this. XP, wireless networking..... never got my XP to work on wireless, but 2000 on the same PC does, perfectly.

On the disconnection issue, somewhere in the router pages is an option for 'idle time disconnect' or similar. I think, from memory of others, setting it to 0 is never disconnect.

Originally posted by Lurch
[BTry setting addresses manually on the PC's. It doesn't matter about changing anything on the router for this. XP, wireless networking..... never got my XP to work on wireless, but 2000 on the same PC does, perfectly.[/B]

Read my last post ^^^^ I was saying if I do that my PC can't connect to the internet.

You've either got your gateway set incorrectly, (IP address of your router), or the DNS server addresses are wrong, (either IP address of the router again or IP address of your ISP's DNS server which should be on their help pages somewhere).

Hello

I have exactly the same issue with my Belkin router (model #7632-4).

I have just spent a very frustrating 40 mins on the phone to them, and we ended up basically dropping all the security then turning stuff back on until the issue happened again.

The problem seems to lie with the MAC filtering. With the it turned on, I get the 'acqueiring network address' message, with it off it works fine.

I still have the encryption turned on mind.

Hope the helps.

Cheers

Matthew

Is the MAC address of the wireless card in the routers allowed MAC addresses list?

Have you tried contacting Belkin support to see what they say?
http://www.belkin.com/uk/support/tech/index.html

You never know they might be able to fix / replace it... - best thing about Belkin is that you have a free 'lifetime' warranty + tech support...

Might be worth a try if you haven't already!

Originally posted by GWorkshop
DONT BUY BELKIN! (in my opinion)

Now I would say give Netgear and Linksys a DONT BUY after all the hassle I've had. I now have a Belkin ADLS Modem with Wireless router and it's so far been problem free (touch wood). Set up straight from the box on day 1, about 10 months ago.

Some y' win, some y' loose.