Can't Connect to any Access Points

Relsos · 01-09-2005

In my town, there are a large number of public, free wireless access points, so connecting to them is not only legal, but encouraged.

First I bought a Realtek PCMCIA card, and was able to connect to a public AP with no problem. Subsequent attempts at AP's where I had previously connected were unsuccessful. I would try to go to a website (I tried both Mozilla and IE) and it wouldn't connect to any websites.

I then bought an Avaya Silver (Orinoco re-branded) card, installed NetStumbler, and made a tin can antenna, and I still can't connect to anything (again, using Mozilla and IE).

NetStumbler seems to indicate a strong-enough signal, but I can send the saved sessions for a more experienced user to verify.

I am using a laptop with Windows ME. I have tried shutting down ZoneAlarm, making sure my proxy settings are at "direct connection", and playing with Java settings (in Mozilla). No luck.

A search of this forum mentions enabling / disabling TCP/IP--could this be related to my problem? If so, how do I enable / disable TCP/IP?

Any help is very much appreciated!

Thorn · 01-09-2005

To use a public AP, you will need TCP/IP enabled. To enable or disable TCP/IP under WindowsME, you should search the Microsoft Knowledge Base.

Every public AP/hotspot I've every seen has had detailed information posted at the location in how to connect. Our policy here is to refer you to those instructions.

Relsos · 01-09-2005

Thanks for the response! I found out how to enable TCP/IP, but I'll have to check it when I'm actually trying to connect to an AP.

I don't usually go inside any of the places that offer the public AP's. My laptop has to be plugged in, and there's not usually anywhere to do that near a chair, so I just stay in my car where I can plug it in. The couple of places I have been inside, I didn't see any instructions, and the staff has no idea how to operate anything.

Is there any other suggestion possible? The only thing I can think to do is reinstall the operating system, and considering how many programs I will have to reinstall, I SOOOO don't want to do that!

wrzwaldo · 01-09-2005

Well I hate to start this but...

Generally a business that offers free access does so for customers within the premises of said business. Unless you have permission to connect from your car you probably shouldn't do it. There is a bunch more I want to add but I'm tired and have a Debian install to finish.

streaker69 · 01-09-2005

Best thing you can do is get rid of WinME it sucks, has since the day it was released.

Anyone here that M$ is coming out with a new OS next year? It's a combination of all the best features of several of their current systems.

It's called WinCEMENT.

Guarenteed not to lock up.

nashr · 01-09-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by streaker69

Best thing you can do is get rid of WinME it sucks, has since the day it was released.

Anyone here that M$ is coming out with a new OS next year? It's a combination of all the best features of several of their current systems.

It's called WinCEMENT.

Guarenteed not to lock up.

If you want some statistics on how bad WinME is, go to this link. It shows the statistics of all people that have visited my website. Now, I don't get a huge amount of traffic, but it is steady and consistent, and mostly made up of geeks. You will see that out of 22150 total visits, I've been hit by exactly 2 WinME users. That should give you some idea of how the general IT community feels about it.

For a good chuckle, I've been hit by 5 Win 3.1 users in that same timeframe (the last 3 years or so).

wrzwaldo · 01-09-2005

Whats your website? I want to give you another ME and SunOS...

Nevermind I think I foud it...

Thorn · 01-09-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by nashr

If you want some statistics on how bad WinME is, go to this link. It shows the statistics of all people that have visited my website. Now, I don't get a huge amount of traffic, but it is steady and consistent, and mostly made up of geeks. You will see that out of 22150 total visits, I've been hit by exactly 2 WinME users. That should give you some idea of how the general IT community feels about it.

For a good chuckle, I've been hit by 5 Win 3.1 users in that same timeframe (the last 3 years or so).

Yeah, ME definately falls under "What were they thinking?"

You can almost hear the meeting at MS: "Let's see, we'll take the worst elements of the last 2 OS versions and combine them with the worst features of the next OS. Did we mention that they are alpha versions of the new features? But it will have LOTS of eye candy, and hey, since it's the new millennium, we'l name it after that."

I refuse to work on it now. My clients are told that it is so unstable that anything I do to it, will probably cause something else to fail. Fortunately, most have already figured out how bad it is, and have already gotten rid of it.

Barry · 01-09-2005

I'm pretty sure that's the only OS Micro$oft has said "I'm sorry" for.....

streaker69 · 01-09-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barry

I'm pretty sure that's the only OS Micro$oft has said "I'm sorry" for.....

Getting rich is not about saying you're sorry. If they apologized for it, It didn't make it to the papers..

beakmyn · 01-10-2005

I'll trade you a copy of Microsoft BoB for a copy of Win Me.

nashr · 01-10-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by beakmyn

I'll trade you a copy of Microsoft BoB for a copy of Win Me.

A few years back I came across a site that claimed to have tons of old GUI software available for download. One of these, of course, was MS BOB. There was also old versions of Windows, back through Win 1.0. I'll see if I can dig it up.

Anyone know what the copyright laws are for "non-existant", end-of-life software???
-----
Found it! Before going there, let me say I DO NOT SUPPORT WAREZ DISTRIBUTION! Please read the legal disclaimer on this site before you consider downloading any software!

That said, here's the site. Scroll down to "Downloadable GUI programs".

Thorn · 01-10-2005

Ugh, Bob. His bastard children live on in that freaking paper clip, various and sundry animals, robots and other 'Assistant' characters in the Office Help system. Bob and the rest of them should have been stuffed into a virtual woodchipper.

It has always amazed me how well the Office Help search engine works with natural English, and how MS choose to hide it under moronic, worthless and stupid cartoons. Of course, 'different strokes' and all that. I know a sysadmin who loves her dog Assistant, as she's always telling me how "cute" he is. But then again, she's into 'cutesy' stuff.

It's probably not worth the effort or the potential lawsuits from MS, but I've always been suprised that no one has ever made mildly nasty animations to replace the standard Office Assistants. I'd think that dogs that would pee on the memo to the boss would be a real popular addon.

nashr · 01-10-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thorn

Ugh, Bob. His bastard children live on in that freaking paper clip, various and sundry animals, robots and other 'Assistant' characters in the Office Help system. Bob and the rest of them should have been stuffed into a virtual woodchipper.

It has always amazed me how well the Office Help search engine works with natural English, and how MS choose to hide it under moronic, worthless and stupid cartoons. Of course, 'different strokes' and all that. I know a sysadmin who loves her dog Assistant, as she's always telling me how "cute" he is. But then again, she's into 'cutesy' stuff.

It's probably not worth the effort or the potential lawsuits from MS, but I've always been suprised that no one has ever made mildly nasty animations to replace the standard Office Assistants. I'd think that dogs that would pee on the memo to the boss would be a real popular addon.

Sweet! What an awesome idea! Now, how can we get the open-source community to go after this "market"? I'd love it, and use it.

Hmm, then there's the virtual desktop strippers... integrate that into an MS Help character... Raowr!!!!!!!!!

Dutch · 01-10-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thorn

It's probably not worth the effort or the potential lawsuits from MS, but I've always been suprised that no one has ever made mildly nasty animations to replace the standard Office Assistants. I'd think that dogs that would pee on the memo to the boss would be a real popular addon.

I'd even pay for a baseballbat wielding, tardbashing animation of G8t...

Dutch

01-09-2005	#1 (permalink)
Relsos Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 3	Can't Connect to any Access Points In my town, there are a large number of public, free wireless access points, so connecting to them is not only legal, but encouraged. First I bought a Realtek PCMCIA card, and was able to connect to a public AP with no problem. Subsequent attempts at AP's where I had previously connected were unsuccessful. I would try to go to a website (I tried both Mozilla and IE) and it wouldn't connect to any websites. I then bought an Avaya Silver (Orinoco re-branded) card, installed NetStumbler, and made a tin can antenna, and I still can't connect to anything (again, using Mozilla and IE). NetStumbler seems to indicate a strong-enough signal, but I can send the saved sessions for a more experienced user to verify. I am using a laptop with Windows ME. I have tried shutting down ZoneAlarm, making sure my proxy settings are at "direct connection", and playing with Java settings (in Mozilla). No luck. A search of this forum mentions enabling / disabling TCP/IP--could this be related to my problem? If so, how do I enable / disable TCP/IP? Any help is very much appreciated!

01-09-2005	#2 (permalink)
Thorn Did you do the math? Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Villa Straylight Posts: 10,098	To use a public AP, you will need TCP/IP enabled. To enable or disable TCP/IP under WindowsME, you should search the Microsoft Knowledge Base. Every public AP/hotspot I've every seen has had detailed information posted at the location in how to connect. Our policy here is to refer you to those instructions. __________________ Thorn "I'm The Doctor. I'm a Time Lord. I am from the planet Gallifrey in the constellation Kasterborous. I'm 903 years old and I am the man who is going to save your lives and all 6 billion people on the planet below... You got a problem with that?" Last edited by Thorn : 01-09-2005 at 02:05 PM.

01-09-2005	#5 (permalink)
streaker69 Psychic Amish Stumbler Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Virginville, BlueBall, Bird In Hand, Intercourse, Paradise, PA Posts: 11,839	Best thing you can do is get rid of WinME it sucks, has since the day it was released. Anyone here that M$ is coming out with a new OS next year? It's a combination of all the best features of several of their current systems. It's called WinCEMENT. Guarenteed not to lock up. __________________ "One of these days, I'm going to cut you to pieces." If you're offended by this post, please feel free to report it to one of the many helpful moderators of this forum. Thank you.

01-09-2005	#9 (permalink)
Barry Managing the iTards. Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Ohio Posts: 5,383	I'm pretty sure that's the only OS Micro$oft has said "I'm sorry" for..... __________________ Atheism is a non-prophet organization.

01-10-2005	#11 (permalink)
beakmyn root\.workspace\.garbage. Join Date: Aug 2003 Posts: 4,805	I'll trade you a copy of Microsoft BoB for a copy of Win Me. __________________ Daughter with arms inside shirt: "Daddy I'm not Armish" ┌──────────────────────────────┐ ╞ NS Icons Explained\|et hoc genus omne ╡ └──────────────────────────────┘

01-09-2005	#3 (permalink)
Relsos Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 3	Thanks for the response! I found out how to enable TCP/IP, but I'll have to check it when I'm actually trying to connect to an AP. I don't usually go inside any of the places that offer the public AP's. My laptop has to be plugged in, and there's not usually anywhere to do that near a chair, so I just stay in my car where I can plug it in. The couple of places I have been inside, I didn't see any instructions, and the staff has no idea how to operate anything. Is there any other suggestion possible? The only thing I can think to do is reinstall the operating system, and considering how many programs I will have to reinstall, I SOOOO don't want to do that!

01-09-2005	#4 (permalink)
wrzwaldo I amuse you? Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 9,127	Well I hate to start this but... Generally a business that offers free access does so for customers within the premises of said business. Unless you have permission to connect from your car you probably shouldn't do it. There is a bunch more I want to add but I'm tired and have a Debian install to finish.

01-09-2005	#7 (permalink)
wrzwaldo I amuse you? Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 9,127	Whats your website? I want to give you another ME and SunOS... Nevermind I think I foud it...

01-10-2005	#13 (permalink)
Thorn Did you do the math? Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Villa Straylight Posts: 10,098	Ugh, Bob. His bastard children live on in that freaking paper clip, various and sundry animals, robots and other 'Assistant' characters in the Office Help system. Bob and the rest of them should have been stuffed into a virtual woodchipper. It has always amazed me how well the Office Help search engine works with natural English, and how MS choose to hide it under moronic, worthless and stupid cartoons. Of course, 'different strokes' and all that. I know a sysadmin who loves her dog Assistant, as she's always telling me how "cute" he is. But then again, she's into 'cutesy' stuff. It's probably not worth the effort or the potential lawsuits from MS, but I've always been suprised that no one has ever made mildly nasty animations to replace the standard Office Assistants. I'd think that dogs that would pee on the memo to the boss would be a real popular addon. __________________ Thorn "I'm The Doctor. I'm a Time Lord. I am from the planet Gallifrey in the constellation Kasterborous. I'm 903 years old and I am the man who is going to save your lives and all 6 billion people on the planet below... You got a problem with that?"

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