Anyone good with wireless routers?

[Young Gun]

I just bought myself a laptop.  I got it off of ShopNBC and it came with a Belkin wireless router.  I hooked it up and the internet works, but it wont stream music/videos/etc...  Is there a setting I can change to make it stream or do wireless routers not stream things?  Its a Acer Aspire 3680 laptop and a Belkin 802.11g Wireless Cable/DSL Gateway Router.  The internet works fine, im posting from the laptop right now, but I dont know why a video will buffer only about 15%.  Any help is appreciated and a link to the computer is below.

http://www.shopnbc.com/product/?familyid=V47330&storeid=1&track=-20112&page=LIST&category=Computers%20%26%20Electronics|t321&prop=Notebooks|240&catprop=240&track=237&cm_re=TS-_-N-_-V47330

[Ida_Mann]

sure, I'm good with em, but I charge $110 an hour for laptop/networking issues ;-)

ummmmm, a few thoughts, basics first, what kind of internet connection do you have?

if you plug the laptop in to the router using a wired connection, then disable the wireless,,,,do you have the same issue?

Id@

[Young Gun]

sure, I'm good with em, but I charge $110 an hour for laptop/networking issues ;-)

ummmmm, a few thoughts, basics first, what kind of internet connection do you have?

if you plug the laptop in to the router using a wired connection, then disable the wireless,,,,do you have the same issue?

Id@

We have Bellsouth's DSL "Xtreme".  I will unplug the laptop right now, I'll edit this when I have.

EDIT: I plugged it directly into the modem and video/music will stream completely.  The wireless is definetly the problem

[Young Gun]

God, now the regular PC that the modem is hooked up to keeps disconnecting, but the laptop with wireless works fine.  I HATE ELECTRONICS!

[zin]

I've got some experince with linksys routers... and tons with bellsouth..

I'd suggest plugging into the router and checking if DHCP is enabled (in internet explorer type 192.168.1.1) setting should be on the front page usually.
Then Plug directly into the Bellsouth router/modem and type launch modem in internet explorer. And check if it enabled on that device as well. In 90% of the cases I work on, the DHCP server is turned on at both devices, thus causing strange network problems.

before doing this you can turn your modem from bellsouth over and see if it even has router abilitys.. it will say DSL ROUTER or DSL MODEM on the bottom. if it says router..check if both have DHCP on, and if so disable on the Belkin, and let the Bellsouth Device handle DHCP.
If you do disable the DHCP on the Belkin, then you will have to plug the Bellsouth modem into one of the PC Jacks on the Belkin and not the "internet" port.

and as always... you could be infected! I seen some viruses do some strange sh*t latly..they are getting pretty creative.

[Young Gun]

I've got some experince with linksys routers... and tons with bellsouth..

I'd suggest plugging into the router and checking if DHCP is enabled (in internet explorer type 192.168.1.1) setting should be on the front page usually.
Then Plug directly into the Bellsouth router/modem and type launch modem in internet explorer. And check if it enabled on that device as well. In 90% of the cases I work on, the DHCP server is turned on at both devices, thus causing strange network problems.

before doing this you can turn your modem from bellsouth over and see if it even has router abilitys.. it will say DSL ROUTER or DSL MODEM on the bottom. if it says router..check if both have DHCP on, and if so disable on the Belkin, and let the Bellsouth Device handle DHCP.
If you do disable the DHCP on the Belkin, then you will have to plug the Bellsouth modem into one of the PC Jacks on the Belkin and not the "internet" port.

and as always... you could be infected! I seen some viruses do some strange sh*t latly..they are getting pretty creative.

Well, unless I unplug the wireless router and just have the Bellsouth router plugged in I cant access launchmodem.  I just checked with the bellsouth one plugged in and the DHCP is enabled.  Should I turn that off?

EDIT: I cant access the Belkin at all?  I tried just plugging it in, plugging it in with the bellsouth router... nothing.

[Ida_Mann]

nothing is "definite" when dealing with computers ;-)

most likely, your wireless is the issue.

I would suspect that your wireless connection is dropping briefly enough to stop the streaming, but not noticable when posting messages here.

lots of factors can be a problem here,,,,,distance to the router with the laptop, if there is any kind of security set up on the router, bad router, and DHCP issues are typical with Bellsouth,,,,I can't stand Bellsouth routers for this reason.

Id@

ps: I just sat back down at the computer after leaving it for a couple hours and realized I had not sent this yet. oh well.

[Young Gun]

nothing is "definite" when dealing with computers ;-)

most likely, your wireless is the issue.

I would suspect that your wireless connection is dropping briefly enough to stop the streaming, but not noticable when posting messages here.


lots of factors can be a problem here,,,,,distance to the router with the laptop, if there is any kind of security set up on the router, bad router, and DHCP issues are typical with Bellsouth,,,,I can't stand Bellsouth routers for this reason.

Id@

ps: I just sat back down at the computer after leaving it for a couple hours and realized I had not sent this yet. oh well.

Well the laptop doesnt go more than 50ft from the router tops.  Its range is 400FT so I dont see that as the problem.  Would turning off the DHCP on the bellsouth modem hurt?  Since I cant access the belkins settings?  I cant figure out their address for access

[Ida_Mann]

good thinking with the DHCP,,,,,,,but just disabling the DHCP on the Belkin would only be a temporary patch job,,,,if that is the problem, then what you have would be basically two firewalls working against each other,,,,,,,Bellsouth equipment is very picky and likes to be the only one in control.

This is probably easily fixed in person, but tough to handle over the phone or through posts.

if you were in Orlando, I'd offer to come over without charge, but sorry dude.

Id@

[Ida_Mann]

nope, leave the Bellsouth stuff like it is,,,,,bad idea to mess with it's settings.

some other addresses to try would be 192.168.0.1, 192.168.1.1, 192.168.0.254, 192.168.1.254 <---this might be the bellsouth router/modem

sometimes the IP address is printed into the case of the router(at least Linksys does this), try looking in the documentation of the Belkin router.

Id@

[Young Gun]

good thinking with the DHCP,,,,,,,but just disabling the DHCP on the Belkin would only be a temporary patch job,,,,if that is the problem, then what you have would be basically two firewalls working against each other,,,,,,,Bellsouth equipment is very picky and likes to be the only one in control.

This is probably easily fixed in person, but tough to handle over the phone or through posts.

if you were in Orlando, I'd offer to come over without charge, but sorry dude.

Id@

I just figured out the address for the belkin router.. its 192.168.2.1 lmao.  I just messed around and presto the menu came up.  Just turned off the DHCP via the belkin.  Lets see if this works.  Gonna go back to the laptop right now.

[MadMudder]

yea dsl/wireless is a absloute pain to get going. Im not sure what exaticly is going on but i know when i got my laptop and we switched to a wireless router it took the guy about 2 hours to get it working right. So this more then likeley is a common problem so dont feel bad

[Ida_Mann]

yea dsl/wireless is a absloute pain to get going. Im not sure what exaticly is going on but i know when i got my laptop and we switched to a wireless router it took the guy about 2 hours to get it working right. So this more then likeley is a common problem so dont feel bad

it's the reason people like me get $110 an hour to figure these things out.

I tell ya, Earthlink/Embarq switchover has given me lots of business ;-)

I had a customer a couple weeks ago spend literally 5 hours on the phone with Embarq trying to figure out why one particular computer was not connecting to the internet,,,,couldn't figure it out so they called me and I got it going in about 15 minutes,,,,,,his bill from me was $145, but he was happy because it was either the possibility of spending another 5 hours on the phone, or me spending about 15 minutes there and getting it done right.

Id@

[Ida_Mann]

the easiest way of doing this setup would be to set up PPPoE on the Bellsouth router so that the Belkin router acts like an extension of the Bellsouth router and all is well,,,,but this is tricky and can be screwed up easily.

Id@

[Young Gun]

Ok, I disabled the DHCP on the belkin and still no luck.  I even changed it from Dynamic to PPoE (or w.e) since thats how the bellsouth is setup.  I'm on AIM right now and it keeps having to sign back on cause of the connection.  It lasts for maybe 3minutes before it drops.

[Young Gun]

Ok after pressing some more buttons making it look like I know what im doing I think I did something right.  The connection is holding up now, videos are streaming and music is playing.  This is only on the main computer that has the router.  Didnt try the laptop yet... gonna do that now.  I will edit this if it works.

EDIT: Ok, the connection has been up for 15minutes, no dropping.  AIM is now working perfectly.  Movies and videos buffer on the desktop and notebook.  Everything seems to be AY-OK.  Then again good things never last

Thanks for all the help Id@ and Zin, I owe you guys because otherwise... both routers would be smashed and in the trash

[Ida_Mann]

awesome, now give yerself a big pat on the back and call youreself a computer tech,,,,,that's how I learned 80% of what I know is trying to fix something that was broken.

been doing this for 8 years professionally and I still learn new things.

Id@

[barr151]

If you find yourself having the same problem, look at the online settings (IP address in the www line). Belkin comes with a static channel (changes channels automatically), change it to one channel and leave it.