Anyway to connect to a wireless router without the CD?

[santo]

Alright... so we just got the internet and I'm trying to connect a laptop to a wireless linksys router I just bought, BUT whenever I put the CD to install the router on the laptop an error comes up just a few steps in and I have to close the installation program. Is there anyway to bypass the CD to get this installed? For the life of me I can't figure this out.

Some info:

OS: Windows XP
Browser: IE
Router: Linksys Wireless G

The laptop in question does NOT have WiFi.
In Network Connections the only one that appears is 1394, which says "enabled" but that's about it.

I also have an adapter: http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Sate...827032&pagename=Linksys/Common/VisitorWrapper which was used previously to work with a DSL connection at a different house and worked just fine.

Is there any easy way to do this without the software Linksys packaged with it?

 

[BASSMASTER]

Don't use the CD that came with the router, it's useless and not necessary by any means, it usually just confuses people more than anything.

So basically you have a laptop with an IEEE1394 (firewire) PCMCI card and that's it. You need to buy a wireless PCMCIA network card for your laptop, you can pick one up at any computer or office supply store. Put it in your laptop, run the wizard again and you should be good to go.

 

[santo]

Yeah, I have a wireless network card (a linksys). I put that in the laptop and even tried plugging the ethernet directly from the modem into the laptop and it didn't work out..

When I click on device manager in my computer > properties > hardware I get:

Other devices
- Ethernet controller
- Ethernet controller
- Multimedia Audio controller
- PCI Modem
- SM bus controller

all have yellow question marks to the left of them in device manager

when I ping 192.168.1.1 says:
Destination host unreachable.
x3

Ping stats for "":
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost =4 <100% loss>

 

[BASSMASTER]

Yeah, I have a wireless network card (a linksys). I put that in the laptop and even tried plugging the ethernet directly from the modem into the laptop and it didn't work out..

When I click on device manager in my computer > properties > hardware I get:

Other devices
- Ethernet controller
- Ethernet controller
- Multimedia Audio controller
- PCI Modem
- SM bus controller

all have yellow question marks to the left of them in device manager

when I ping 192.168.1.1 says:
Destination host unreachable.
x3

Ping stats for "":
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost =4 <100% loss>

Something's conflicting with something. In your device manager, disable the mm audio controller and the pci modem, leave the sm bus contoller alone.

Reboot and see if you're still getting the yellow exclamation marks, then try to ping again.

 

[santo]

Still getting the yellow question marks and does not detect the router.

 

[BASSMASTER]

Take out the PCMCIA card, reboot, and see if you still get the errors on the other devices.

 

[Win2kpatcher]

That means the drivers arent isntalled for those devices. The wireless card will not be PnP. Put the CD in, but dont run the installer (I had the installer crash on a client as well). Right click on one of those ethernet controllers in the device manager and click re-install driver. There is an option that says advanced rather than detect the driver for you. From there you must "speicify location" then browse to the cd. You will see a drivers folder on the CD somwhere then browse to the XP folder until you see the .INI file. Select it and it should install the driver for you. If it doesnt work try it on the 2nd Ethernet adapter that is being detected in "Other Devices". Seems like your laptop may have an onboard NIC, which also has no driver installed for it.

 

[santo]

Hmm... what if I don't have the software for the network adapter card? I have the software for the router, but we've had the network adapter for some time now and was previously used on the computer for the DSL... but the drivers that were installed probably aren't there because the computer was reformatted.

Can I download the drivers from Linksys's website, burn to a CD, then put on the laptop?

 

[Win2kpatcher]

Yep.

 

[santo]

Take out the PCMCIA card, reboot, and see if you still get the errors on the other devices.

The errors still remain.. they are yellow question marks with a ! over them for everything in "other devices" including:
Ethernet Controller
MM Audio Controller
PCI Modem
SM Bus Controller
Video Controller (VGA Compatible)