Wireless connection via Sky router

Just received a phone call from a friend who is at a relative�s house on holiday and is trying to connect to the internet via Sky router. The Network and Sharing window shows he has successfully connected to the router (correct password) but there is a red cross between the network and the internet indicating that the router is not connected to the internet. He has reset the router by powering off and powering it back on. The light on the router says it is connected to the internet. Is there anything else he should do to get a connection to the internet with his laptop? By the way his OS is Vista HP.
I�m sorry I have no other information as I am at another location from where my friend is.

Edited by deleted (Tue 07-Aug-12 15:18:41)

On the sky router there are 3 lights

If the bottom one is green then the internet is connected

If it's solid orange / red or not lit at all then there's a problem with the internet.

In reply to a post by ukhardy07:

On the sky router there are 3 lights

If the bottom one is green then the internet is connected

If it's solid orange / red or not lit at all then there's a problem with the internet.

My freind confirms that the three lights are showing green, but still no connection using his laptop!

Is his laptop set to obtain IP address and DNS servers automatically?

I let it try and sort it's self out by clicking on the wireless thing at the bottom right (is on mine) and right click the wifi of theirs and status then diagnose.

Sorts out problem of mine when computer is having funny turn.

on details when doing the right click, status thing, is the ipV4 address something like 192.168.*.*
Guessing is as you say connected to router.

is the default gateway DHCP and DNS server the same sort of address but the last digits.

The diagnose normally sorts out for me.

Like Batboy says.

right click the wifi connection and in properties there is internet protocol v4, is the things in there on auto.

Have they double checked using an Ethernet cable, and navigated to the routers web interface. All advice in the leaflets given out by Sky

My freind confirms that the three lights are showing green, but still no connection using his laptop!

Only goes green when it's completely and utterly connected. This means the router has internet connection and the sky username and password has been accepted. The router has it's IP etc...

It can go solid orange when sky isn't accepting you onto the network.

When it's not lit what-so-ever it means that there's no internet connection to speak of. So e.g. not connected or line fault.

It looks like an issue with his laptop. Try using a different device and see if it works for starters. E.g. an iPhone etc

ALSO if the routers internet connection fails a message appears saying 'no internet connection has been detected.' or 'error 404'

Edited by ukhardy07 (Tue 07-Aug-12 18:07:42)

In reply to a post by Daniel_g:

Like Batboy says.

right click the wifi connection and in properties there is internet protocol v4, is the things in there on auto.

ALSO do this for the ethernet card. If this has a static IP often it stops things working.

Also go into internet explorer - internet options - connections - LAN settings - Ensure 'auto detect settings' is ticked

Thanks for everyone�s reply, as my friend is on holiday at a relative�s house I�m having to contact him over the mobile phone, so I may take a long time to post anything else until he gives me answers to your posts. So please bear with me.
I do think it is a problem with his laptop as he had a similar problem at someone else�s house two weeks ago.

Check firewall and other security settings. Try Safe Mode With Networking.

In reply to a post by BatBoy:

Is his laptop set to obtain IP address and DNS servers automatically?

Yes the laptop is set to obtain IP address and DNS servers automatically in IPV4 and Internet explorer> connection > LAN settings is also set to 'auto detect settings' but still the red cross between network and internet!

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

Have they double checked using an Ethernet cable, and navigated to the routers web interface. All advice in the leaflets given out by Sky

Unable to try Ethernet cable etc. as he is in a relative's house whilst they are away.
Being that his laptop is set to obtain IP address and DNS servers automatically in IPV4 and he has been able to connect to the internet at his own house via BT Home hub for years without any problems, that this issue could be with a security feature in the Sky router at his relative�s house? Should he check IPV6 settings if Sky uses IPV6? It�s just odd that he�s had no issues at home for years and now trying to connect via Sky router at someone else�s house his laptop connects to the router but the router won�t give him access to the internet!

In reply to a post by scopio:

Unable to try Ethernet cable etc. as he is in a relative's house whilst they are away.

Sorry, I don't follow why he can't use an ethernet cable?

Maybe his laptop doesn't support the wireless encryption method used by the router. Can he login to the routers web interface and have a look at the settings?

What are the results of an IPConfig command?

ipconfig /all

In reply to a post by BatBoy:

In reply to a post by scopio:

Unable to try Ethernet cable etc. as he is in a relative's house whilst they are away.

Sorry, I don't follow why he can't use an ethernet cable?

Maybe his laptop doesn't support the wireless encryption method used by the router. Can he login to the routers web interface and have a look at the settings?

Being that he is not at his own house, but at a relative's whose also away, he does not have an ethernet cable to try or intefere with the router settings as if it was his own. In any case he is not computer savy and login to the router web interface would be a step too far for him!
So it may be, as you say that his laptop doesn't support the wireless encryption method used by the router, in which case he will have to do without internet whilst he is away!

It's far simpler to get an ethernet cable and plug it in rather than try and figure out what the exact problem is with the wireless.

In reply to a post by Deadbeat:

What are the results of an IPConfig command?

ipconfig /all

Thanks for trying to help, but the situation is that I am only able to communicate with my friend via phone or text as he is in an other part of the country and without him having internet he could not email me any stats for me to post here.
If it was me I would have followed all your requests. Like I said in my previous post, I think he will just have to do without internet until he gets back to his own house.

Thanks to all.

In reply to a post by BatBoy:

It's far simpler to get an ethernet cable and plug it in rather than try and figure out what the exact problem is with the wireless.

Agree, if it was me I would have done that by now.

If he doesn't get a 192.168.x.x IP then either the encryption passphrase is incorrect... eg zero instaed of "O" or his wireless card cannot use the encryption that the router is set to... eg WPA2 or the router is MAC locked or similar.

Edited by Deadbeat (Wed 08-Aug-12 12:07:02)

In reply to a post by BatBoy:

It's far simpler to get an ethernet cable and plug it in rather than try and figure out what the exact problem is with the wireless.

I finally got in touch with my friend, he did try to connect to the internet via Safe Mode With Networking, but to no avail. He is now going to purchase an ethernet cable and try that as you suggest. We will just have to wait for his response I'm afraid. Thanks for your patience.

In reply to a post by scopio:

..... He is now going to purchase an ethernet cable and try that as you suggest. We will just have to wait for his response I'm afraid. ...

If it fails then it's probably a firewall setting on the laptop.

In reply to a post by Deadbeat:

If he doesn't get a 192.168.x.x IP then either the encryption passphrase is incorrect... eg zero instaed of "O" or his wireless card cannot use the encryption that the router is set to... eg WPA2 or the router is MAC locked or similar.

Being that he has had his laptop for several years (Vista HP) and although Windows Updates are up to date but the hardware has never been updated his wireless card may need updating or/and as you say "his wireless card cannot use the encryption that the router is set to... eg WPA2 or the router is MAC locked or similar." Because he has just told me that he did get internet connection at an other location last week via an insecure router somewhere else two weeks ago!

In reply to a post by Deadbeat:

If he doesn't get a 192.168.x.x IP then either the encryption passphrase is incorrect... eg zero instaed of "O" or his wireless card cannot use the encryption that the router is set to... eg WPA2 or the router is MAC locked or similar.

But either of these circumstances would prevent the wireless from connecting which it has done.

I would use the wizard in network and sharing to diagnose the problem - probably that Windows or a Anti Virus / Firewall is blocking it. Setting of the network type in network and sharing is crucial - should be a "home" network.

If a useable IP cannot be obtained, The laptop will give itself an "APIPA" address of 169.254.x.x. It can look as if it's fully connected to the router but won't be. The output from an IPConfig command will verify this.
Whether the network is set to Home or Private should be irrelevant if it's merely internet access that's wanted.

I will give my friend time to get the ethernet cable and connect it, then I will ask him to ipconfig and forward me via phone the results for Physical Address, DHCP Enabled, IPv4 Address, Default Gateway, DHCP Server if that is any help.

All you need is the local IP that is dished out...... Or not.
If it's in the 169.254.x.x range, then it's not getting an IP via DHCP and he has a problem.

Edited by Deadbeat (Wed 08-Aug-12 14:35:34)

In reply to a post by Deadbeat:

All you need is the local IP that is dished out...... Or not.
If it's in the 169.254.x.x range, then it's not getting an IP via DHCP and he has a problem.

Will do as soon as he has bought the ethernet cable, connected it and I'll give him instructions how to go into Command Prompt and ipconfig /all to get the local IP.
Thanks.

In reply to a post by Deadbeat:

All you need is the local IP that is dished out...... Or not.
If it's in the 169.254.x.x range, then it's not getting an IP via DHCP and he has a problem.

Sorry for taking this long to get back.
My friend is now back from holiday and at his own house and was able to connect to the internet as he usually does at home, via wireless, confirming that the local ip address is correct.
Tomorrow we are going to try and connect via wireless to my home router to see if he can get an internet connection.
His question today has been, "could his laptop, somehow be locked to connect only through his home wireless connection?" I suppose the answer to this we will find out tomorrow.

In reply to a post by scopio:

Tomorrow we are going to try and connect via wireless to my home router to see if he can get an internet connection.

What#s the point? The offending router is still on holiday!

"could his laptop, somehow be locked to connect only through his home wireless connection?"

He already showed it connected to holiday wireless connection; it just did not connect thereafter to Net.

What#s the point? The offending router is still on holiday!

The point being to find out if he can connect with other routers, not just Sky routers, other than his own or hotspots, to eliminate the cause, be it his wireless card or possibly firewall settings and for when he goes away in the future.

Bit pointless really

Every routers different. Need to find why it's not working with that specific router

What's the point in knowing hey it works with a homehub & a virgin superhub. No further forward

One of the best things to do is to try & connect eg an iPhone, ipad or something to the sky router. If that works you can point fingers at the laptop directly

I'm not suggesting another laptop because chances are that whatever's blocking the connection is also installed on another laptop he might have. People generally install similar software on their machines.

Edited by ukhardy07 (Tue 14-Aug-12 01:24:34)