Misery Connecting iPAQ to Livebox (Wanadoo/Orange) PLEASE PLEASE HELP!

[Guest arinemore]

Hello!

I have an iPAQ 3715 and for 3 years I've had a little ritual every few months of taking it out of its box, charging it and trying to get it connected to the internet. Now I have a bit of time off I'm not going to give in this time and so far it's been 3 full days (of pure frustrated torture!)

I read a fantastic guide from a Modaco member, Tilum - http://www.modaco.com/WiFi-WLAN-SPV-M3100-and-t245461.html, detailing how he set up his wireless connection between his PDA and his Livebox and for me it worked!! :D (but for all of 5 minutes, last night). Now it 'connects' but won't display web pages. :D

I'll list everything I know and have put in to my PDA and hopefully someone may spot where it's all going wrong! Please forgive any glaringly obvious techie mistakes with lingo or descriptions, I'm a total novice AND I'm a girl! :wub:

I have an HP iPAQ 3715. Until yesterday it was running on the software it was already loaded with when I bought it (2004). Today I updated the ROM software via the hp support website to the 1.01.11B edition. (The connection did stop working last night, before I updated it, so I don't necessarily think that updating was the cause?)

I have an Orange / Wanadoo Livebox (Inventel) with a laptop connected via an ethernet cable and a PC connected via a wireless adapter. Strange setup I know, but both work fine.

The PDA is showing up in the Livebox's 'Associated Devices'. The PDA picks up on the network and 'connects'. But when trying to show a web page it always says 'The page you are looking for cannot be found'.

When I do a self test the message 'The Wi-Fi has a valid IP. You may attempt to ping for connectivity.' comes up. I then 'ping' (with 192.198.1.1) in the 'Ping IP Address or Host Name' box and it lists 4 or 5 'Request timed out' messages. I tried this yesterday and it worked fine (for those very few minutes when the connection worked) but now I presume timed out means 'I'm not playing'.

When I updated the software today I followed the above guide to put back all of the settings. I know the Tilum has a different PDA but the instructions followed almost the same. The only thing I did differently was in the NETWORK CARDS > NETWORK ADAPTERS I chose 'HP iPAQ Wi-Fi Adapter' and under 'Name Servers' I put 195.92.195.94 and 95 into the DNS boxes (as it said so on the Wanadoo / Orange website). So my settings are:

In Network Adapters -

My network card connects to: 'Work'

HP iPAQ Wi-Fi Adapter

Use specific IP address (selected)

IP Address: 192.168.1.202

Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0

Default gateway: 192.168.1.1

DNS: 195.92.195.94

Alt DNS: 195.92.195.95

WINS: (blank)

Alt WINS: (blank)

In wireless network -

(My network name): Connected

Network name: (my network name)

Connects to: The Internet (tried it with Work too)

Authentication: Open

Data Encyption: WEP

(Unticked key is provided box)

Network Key: 3D51 (etc. etc. checked many times over)

Key index: 4 (don't know why but I put my Livebox on channel 4 too last night and it worked - coincidence?)

Use IEEE 802.1x network access control box (unticked)

In Connections -

Clicked on 'Set up my proxy server'

In My Work Network

This network connects to the Internet (ticked)

And I think that is it. If anyone out there can see a problem with my set up and has a spare minute PLEASE let me know what I'm doing wrong! Or if there are any ideas, I'm willing to try anything to make it work.

Thanks guys! You would make me a very happy bunny! ;)

[Guest mr_end]

Try reducing the encryption level of the wireless network. I used to be on orange and my sp5 never used to connect. I changed it from WPA to WEP on the livebox and my sp5 would connect every time. The livebox has the built in mac filtering so it is still secure even on WEP encryption.

[Guest arinemore]

Try reducing the encryption level of the wireless network. I used to be on orange and my sp5 never used to connect. I changed it from WPA to WEP on the livebox and my sp5 would connect every time. The livebox has the built in mac filtering so it is still secure even on WEP encryption.

Thanks Mr_End for your reply, but I've already set the Livebox to WEP only and still no joy ;) . Any more thoughts?

[Guest Neil5459]

How many characters do you have in the WEP key? For 128bit encryption, there should be 26 Hex characters. If that's the case, then the Key Index should be 1 (or greyed out); Key Indices are only used in 64bit WEP, which I don't think the Livebox uses. They are independent of the WiFi Channel, which just sets the broadcastr frequency.

The WEP key is usally printed somewhere on the Livebox casing, or its packaging, and in the older models at least, is not editable. I'm not sure if later models have switchable WEP/WPA or editable Encryption Keys.

Have you tried turning encryption off altogether on the Livebox (if it's possible) and Ipaq?

[Guest arinemore]

How many characters do you have in the WEP key? For 128bit encryption, there should be 26 Hex characters. If that's the case, then the Key Index should be 1 (or greyed out); Key Indices are only used in 64bit WEP, which I don't think the Livebox uses. They are independent of the WiFi Channel, which just sets the broadcastr frequency.

The WEP key is usally printed some; -- on the Livebox casing, or its packaging, and in the older models at least, is not editable. I'm not sure if later models have switchable WEP/WPA or editable Encryption Keys.

Have you tried turning encryption off altogether on the Livebox (if it's possible) and Ipaq?

Thanks very much Neil for your answer! It is working!! ;)

The WEP key was indeed 26 hex characters and I changed the Livebox Key Index setting to 1. It's not possible to turn off encryption altogether on my Livebox, it just doesn't give me the option, either WEP or WPA or both.

Thank you both for the advice on connecting my iPAQ but I think I may now have worked out why it didn't work. (Cue smily face with red cheeks)

I have been trying to connect my PDA to the network whilst sat at my office chair, in front of my PC. My PC is connected to the network via a wireless connection, which had been having problems whilst I was trying to connect. I didn't even consider that this would be an issue. Last week I took my PDA into the lounge and played a game of solitare. Up popped the connection notification and I poked at the Internet Explorer icon with my usual frustration. It worked and quickly connected me to google. Then msn. Then played a trailer for a new film. I was overjoyed!

Next day I took it into the office and tried to connect. No connection. In the lounge there was a connection. So I realised that the wireless for the computer and the PDA must be fighting for Livebox reception and now I have tested my theory, it seems to be right.

I'm not sure if it is supposed to be like that or if it is obvious and I should have known that would happen but now it works and I'm very happy!

Thanks again guys x

[Guest Neil5459]

Glad its working; there's usually a simple solution we miss ;)