Wireless connection to server

[chalkwellstu]

Ok, i have 15 laptops all hooked into my wireless network. The issue is that on some of them they connect to network fine and have a good signal strength but ..... they cant see the server. they have the pc icon in the bottom right which i use to re-sync the offline files and this fails saying that it cant see the server. every now and then the laptopn will sync and all is fine untill it drops out again. they dont seem to loose connection to the network just access to the server.

 

i am not a network buff by any means and am completely and utterly stumped by this.

 

any help would be most gratefully recieved.

 

thanks all

 

Stu

[marco84]

have you checked to see if you can ping the server from the laptops?

[chalkwellstu]

ah ha, i hadn't and have just checked. i CAN ping the server but when i types ipconfig -all it showed that the default gateway and dns server were a completely different ip range. they were on a 192.168 range. we use a 10.132 range. ?????

 

really confused now

[plexer]

What are the ip addresses on the wireless cards?

 

ipconfig /all from a command prompt will show all the interfaces then look for one corresponding to the wifi card.

 

I think you'll find they don't have a valid ip address.

 

Ben

[Domino]

I imagine the wireless network is giving those out.

 

What equipment are you using?

[plexer]

Make sure dhcp is disabled on all of your wireless access points.

 

If one of them has it enabled it good be dishing out wrong information.

 

Ben

[chalkwellstu]

i am using sonicwall's. i think they must be the problem as i cant access them. it is probably just one or two of them as some laptops are ok.

 

i am going to try resetting all of them and see what that does.

thanks guys, really appreciate your help on this one.

 

Stu.

[mullet_man]

We find using set IP addresses on the laptops helps.

[Michael]

Make sure the laptops are connected to your network. You'd be surprised what wireless networks are available, especially with houses close by...

 

This would make sense as pretty much all wireless networks use a class C 192.168.x.x

[Domino]

unlikely, as then he wouldn't be able to ping the internal ips of his servers

[marco84]

Its more likley that one of the access points is acting as DHCP and giving out IP addresses to any laptop thats connected to it.

[Michael]

unlikely, as then he wouldn't be able to ping the internal ips of his servers

 

If the laptop IP, DNS and the gateway are all 192.168.x.x how is it possible to ping a server on 10.x.x.x?

[chalkwellstu]

unlikely, as then he wouldn't be able to ping the internal ips of his servers

 

ok powered off/on all routers and re-connected to the school network re-entering the wep key. still have the same issue. however, i mislead you before i cant see the server (my dyslexia kicked in again!) i can only ping a 192.168.11.1 which i cant find either!

[marco84]

you need to find out which DHCP server is issuing these IP addresses to your laptops and make sure your access points have the right IP address.

[Michael]

ok powered off/on all routers and re-connected to the school network re-entering the wep key. still have the same issue. however, i mislead you before i cant see the server (my dyslexia kicked in again!) i can only ping a 192.168.11.1 which i cant find either!

 

This is making more sense now. What you need to do, is reset the router to factory default and follow the user manual. By default it will use a 192.168.x.x address. Once you're logged in to your access point (via a browser), you need to specify a static IP in your 10.x.x.x range, disable DHCP, then reboot.

 

At this point, the access point will get IPs from your DHCP server within school. If you can get this working and can successfully ping your server, you then need to secure your network and repeat the process.

[chalkwellstu]

you need to find out which DHCP server is issuing these IP addresses to your laptops and make sure your access points have the right IP address.

 

i see where your coming from now. we only have one dhcp and as far as i can see its only issueing our 10.132.16 range. thats all that is in the address pool anyway.

 

i am wondering if one of the sonicwalls is acting as a dhcp but i cant access them to find out. i am gona switch them off one at a time and see whether that range stops getting transmitted.

 

i'll keep you posted.

[Domino]

It will be one of them that transmits it...do they not have a web-based config page?

[chalkwellstu]

It will be one of them that transmits it...do they not have a web-based config page?

 

yeah they do but i cant access them via the assigned ip and on the odd occasion when i have got through the supplied username and password dont work. (hence the rather heated phone call this week to the supplier)

 

i thought i had sussed it as by switching off one of the routers i was getting evryone back online. i have two left that it doesn't work for though which is kinda blowing my theory out the water.

[Dos_Box]

Were they all working fine before?

[chalkwellstu]

Were they all working fine before?

 

 

yeah, as far as i know. i have located the dodgy router (by a process of elimination) and switched it off. the two laps that were left were just hanging onto the addresses i think. i recycled the card which did the trick.

 

i am now jumping on the phone to the supplier to get someone in to sort this.

 

thanks everyone for all your input.

 

Stu