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Guru Mask Problem connecting to home network.? I'm asking on behalf of a friend. He has a Vaio and Compaq notebook. The Vaio running on Vista Home has no problems connecting to the WPA protected ...

Guru Mask

Problem connecting to home network.?

I'm asking on behalf of a friend. He has a Vaio and Compaq notebook. The Vaio running on Vista Home has no problems connecting to the WPA protected home network running on a Linksys 802.11G. Problem is, the Compaq running on XP Pro sees the home network, connects to it, but can't go online.

It states "aquiring network address". So the Compaq doesn't get the IP address given by the router's auto DHCP configuration. Ok then I asked him to change the IP manually and ensure the subnet mask & gateway remains the same as the Vaio. Done that, still the same. He can't go through the wired way of connecting directly the Compaq to the router as he is unsure of doing so .

He ensures the Compaq is free of malware. And doesn't want to go through a full re-install of the OS. Plus I'm out of ideas. So network gurus out there, need suggestions yea. Thank you.

To plug in VIA ethernet plug it in with a cable and make sure the adapter is enabled in the network properties.
Also is he using the windows wireless setup or is he using the setup that came with the adapter? And when it says he's connected can he see that comp on the network from the sony. If your trying to enter manual address then do like you did and for the IP address just manually enter a differant one than the sony has like if the sony is 192.168.1.100 then enter
192.168.1.105 on the compaq just make sure that what you enter is differant but yet on the same IP Block.
I would try the ethernet first if he has a cable and set the ether adapter to optain address automatic and the same for the DNS server set that to auto if he gets on the network but still no internet then he needs to go into his IE properties go to connections then LAN settings and make sure nothing is checked except the top box for detect settings if its checked already then try it with the auto detect unchecked.
either way its not a problem that requires a reinstall of the OS.