56

Troubleshooting

3. Cordless phone placement

If the performance of your wireless network is impaired after attending to the above issues,

and you have a cordless phone:

•

Try moving cordless phones away from your router and your wireless-enabled

computers.

•

Unplug and remove the battery from any cordless phone that operates on the 2.4 GHz

band (check manufacturer’s information). If this fixes the problem, your phone may be

interfering.

•

If your phone supports channel selection, change the channel on the phone to the

farthest channel from your wireless network as possible. For example, change the

phone to channel 1 and move your router to channel 11. (Your channel selection will

vary depending on your region.) See your phone’s user guide for detailed instructions.

•

If necessary, consider switching to a 900 MHz or 5 GHz cordless phone.

4. Choose the “quietest” channel for your wireless network

In locations where homes or offices are close together, such as apartment buildings or office

complexes, there may be wireless networks nearby that can conflict with yours. Use the Site

Survey capabilities of your Wireless Networking Utility to locate any other wireless networks,

and move your router and computers to a channel as far away from other networks as

possible.

Experiment with more than one of the available channels, in order to find the clearest

connection and avoid interference from neighboring cordless phones or other wireless

devices.

For more wireless networking products from

Dynex, use the detailed Site Survey and wireless

channel information included in your User Guide.

These guidelines should let you cover the maximum possible area with your router. If you

need to cover an even wider area, we suggest the Dynex Wireless G Range Extender/Access

Point.

5. Secure connections, VPNs, and AOL

Secure connections typically require a user name and password, and are used where security

is important. Secure connections include:

•

Virtual Private Network (VPN) connections, often used to connect remotely to an office

network

•

The “Bring Your Own Access” program from America Online (AOL), which lets you use

AOL through broadband provided by another DSL or cable service

•

Most online banking Web sites

•

Many commercial Web sites that require a user name and password to access your

account Secure connections can be interrupted by a computer’s power management

setting, which causes it to “go to sleep.” The simplest solution to avoid this is to simply

reconnect by re-running the VPN or AOL software, or by re-logging into the secure

Web site.

A second alternative is to change your computer’s power management settings so it does not

go to sleep. However, this may not be appropriate for portable computers. To change your

power management setting in Windows, see the

Power Options

item in the

Control

Panel

.

Troubleshooting

57

If you continue to have difficulty with Secure Connections, VPNs, and AOL, review the items

above to be sure you have addressed these issues.

Problem: Setup Assistant CD does not automatically start.

Solution:

If the CD does not start the Setup Assistant automatically, it could be that the

computer is running other applications that are interfering with the CD drive.

To solve the problem:

1

If the Setup Assistant screen does not appear within 15-20 seconds, open your CD

drive by double-clicking the

My Computer

icon located on your desktop.

2

Double-click the CD drive containing the Setup Assistant Software CD.

3

The Setup Assistant should start within a few seconds. If a window opens showing the

files on the CD, double-click the icon labeled SetupAssistant.

4

If the Setup Assistant still does not start, see “Manually configuring network settings”

on page 46 for an alternate setup method.

Problem: The Setup Assistant cannot find my router.

Solution:

If the Setup Assistant is not able to find your router during the installation process,

check the following items:

To solve the problem:

1

If the Setup Assistant is not able to find your router during the installation process,

there may be third-party firewall software installed on the computer attempting to

access the Internet. Examples of third-party firewall software are ZoneAlarm, BlackICE

PC Protection, McAfee Personal Firewall, and Norton Personal Firewall.

If you do have firewall software installed on your computer, make sure that you

properly configure it. You can determine if the firewall software is preventing Internet

access by temporarily turning it off. If, while the firewall is disabled, Internet access

works properly, you will need to change the firewall settings to function properly

when it is turned on.

Refer to the instructions provided by the publisher of your firewall software for

instructions on configuring the firewall to allow Internet access.

2

Unplug the AC adapter from your router for 10 seconds, and then plug the adapter

back into your router. Make sure that your router’s LED is on and solid blue. If not, make

sure that the AC adapter is correctly connected to your router and plugged into a

power outlet.

3

Make sure that you have a cable (use the cable included with your router) connected

between the network (Ethernet) port on the back of the computer and one of the LAN

ports, labeled “1” through “4,” on the back of your router.

Note

: The computer should NOT be connected to the port labeled “to Modem” on the back of

your router.

4

Try shutting down and restarting your computer, then rerunning the Setup Assistant.

If the Setup Assistant is still unable to find your router, see “Manually configuring network

settings” on page 46 for an alternate setup method.

58

Troubleshooting

Problem: The Setup Assistant cannot connect my router to the

Internet.

Solution:

If the Setup Assistant is not able to connect your router to the Internet, check the

following items:

To solve the problem:

1

Use the troubleshooting suggestions within the Setup Assistant.

2

If your ISP requires a user name and password, make sure that you have typed in your

user name and password correctly. Some user names require that the ISP’s domain be

at the end of the name. For example:

. The

@myisp.com

part of the user name may need to be typed as well as your user

name.

If you continue to have no Internet connection, see “Manually configuring network

settings” on page 46 for an alternate setup method.

Problem: The Setup Assistant completed installation, but my Web

browser doesn't work.

I am unable to connect to the Internet. My router’s modem LED is off

and the internet LED is blinking.

Solution:

If you cannot connect to the Internet, the MODEM led is off, and the internet LED is

blinking, the problem may be that your modem and router are not connected properly.

To solve the problem:

1

Make sure that the network cable between the modem and your router is connected.

The cable should be connected to your router’s modem port and to the network port

on your modem.

2

Unplug the cable or DSL modem from its power outlet for three minutes. After three

minutes, plug the modem back into its power outlet. This may force the modem to

properly recognize your router.

3

Unplug the power to your router, wait 10 seconds, and then reconnect the power. This

will cause your router to reattempt communication with the modem. If the modem

LED on your router is not lit after completing these steps, contact Dynex Technical

Support.

4

Try shutting down and restarting your computer.

Troubleshooting

59

Problem: The Setup Assistant completed installation, but my Web

browser doesn’t work.

I am unable to connect to the Internet. The router’s modem led is on

and the internet LED is blinking.

Solution:

If you cannot connect to the Internet, the modem LED is on, and the internet LED

is blinking, the problem may be that your connection type may not match the ISP’s

connection.

To solve the problem:

1

If you have a

static IP address

connection, your ISP must assign you the IP address,

subnet mask, and gateway address. See “Alternative setup method” on page 16 for

details on changing this setting.

2

If you have a PPPoE connection, your ISP will assign you a user name and password

and sometimes a service name. Make sure that your router’s connection type is

configured to PPPoE and the settings are entered properly. Refer to “Alternative setup

method” on page 16 for details on changing this setting. You may need to configure

your router to meet the specific requirements of your ISP.

If you are still unable to access the Internet after verifying these settings, contact Dynex

Technical Support.

Problem: The Setup Assistant completed, but my Web browser

doesn’t work.

I am unable to connect to the Internet. The modem LED on my router

is blinking and the internet LED is solid.

Solution:

If the modem LED is blinking and the internet LED is solid, but you are unable to

access the Internet, there may be third-party firewall software installed on the computer

attempting to access the Internet. Examples of third-party firewall software are ZoneAlarm,

BlackICE PC Protection, McAfee Personal Firewall, and Norton Personal Firewall.

If you do have firewall software installed on your computer, make sure that you properly

configure it. You can determine if the firewall software is preventing Internet access by

temporarily turning it off. If, while the firewall is disabled and Internet access works properly,

you will need to change the firewall settings to function properly when it is turned on.

Refer to the instructions provided by the publisher of your firewall software for instructions

on configuring the firewall to allow Internet access.

If you are still unable to access the Internet after disabling any firewall software, please

contact Dynex Technical Support.

60

Troubleshooting

Problem: I can’t connect to the Internet wirelessly.

Solution:

If you are unable to connect to the Internet from a wireless computer, do the

following.

To solve the problem:

1

Look at the lights on your router. They should be as follows:

•

The “router” LED should be on.

•

The “modem” light should be on, and not blinking.

•

The “internet” LED should be on, and not blinking.

•

The “Wireless” light should be on, and not blinking.

2

Open your wireless utility software by clicking the icon in the system tray at the

bottom, right-hand corner of the screen.

The exact window that opens will vary depending on the model of wireless card you

have; however, any of the utilities should have a list of

Available Networks

—those

wireless networks it can connect to.

3

Does the name of your wireless network appear in the results?

•

Yes, my network name is listed—Go to the troubleshooting solution titled “I can't

connect to the Internet wirelessly, but my network name is listed.”

•

No, my network name is not listed—Go to the troubleshooting solution titled

“I can't connect to the Internet wirelessly, and my network name is not listed.”

Problem: I can't connect to the Internet wirelessly, but my network

name is listed.

Solution:

If the name of your network is listed in the

Available Networks

list, follow the

steps below to connect wirelessly.

To solve the problem:

1

Click the correct network name in the

Available Networks

list.

2

If the network has security (encryption) enabled, you will need to enter the network

key. For more information regarding security, see “Changing system settings” on page

44.

Within a few seconds, the tray icon in the lower, right corner of your screen should turn

green, indicating a successful connection to the network.

Problem: I can't connect to the Internet wirelessly, and my network

name is not listed.

Solution:

If the correct network name is not listed under

Available Networks

in the

wireless configuration utility, attempt the following troubleshooting steps:

To solve the problem:

1

Temporarily move your computer, if possible, 5 to 10 feet away from your router. Close

the wireless configuration utility, and reopen it. If the correct network name now

appears under

Available Networks

, you may have a range or interference problem.

See the suggestions discussed in “Placement of your router for optimal performance”

on page 55.