Have you ever got that error when connecting your pc wirelessly? John just set up a new WinXP machine and wanted to connect it wirelessly to the net using a Linksys Wireless-G PCI Card to the WRT54GS - Wireless-G Broadband Router with SpeedBooster. I tried connecting several times but that message keep popping up. I searched the net and look at the router config to no avail. I even read this:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;884787
but it didn’t help. A few people had this problem in some forums but there wasn’t a positive response. Without much luck, I proceeded to www.linksys.com to speak to their technical support. I spoke to two persons, and both were girls. The first girl I spoke to was Imelda:
Hi, my name is Imelda A(10756). How may I help you?
leona: hi
leona: im using a WMP54GS Wireless-G PCI Adapter with SpeedBooster connecting to a WRT54GS router
leona: but when i try to connect it says
leona: somethin like the network is out of range
leona: Windows is unable to connect to the selected network. The network may no longer be in range. Please refresh the list of available networks and try to connect again.
Imelda A(10756): How many wireless computers do you have there?
leona: 2
leona: one is a mac which can connect without a problem
leona: i have 4 others connected via cable
Imelda A(10756): How far is the computer from the router?
leona: it’s just 3 steps away
Imelda A(10756): Do you have the linksys utility installed on the computer?
leona: i brought this pc to the office to connect to the office wireless without problems
leona: yea
leona: the linksys utility too cannot connect….it just becomes static
leona: is it to do with some router config
Imelda A(10756): If you have another wireless computer that is working fine with the router then it is not the router that is having a problem
leona: ok
Imelda A(10756): Do you have the windows utility enabled as well?
leona: but the other wireless computer is apple, so could there be difference in OS
leona: when i use linksys utility it says cannot associate with access point
Imelda A(10756): I see
Imelda A(10756): So you use the wireless configuration utility builtin to XP right?
leona: yes
leona: i tried both
leona: so what can i do?
Imelda A(10756): I suggest you use the wireless configuration utlity of XP alone
Imelda A(10756): Uninstall the Linksys utility
leona: are you there?
Imelda A(10756): Yes I am
Imelda A(10756): Please confirm if you are able to see my response
leona: helo??
Imelda A(10756): I am here
Imelda A(10756): I apologize but you cannot seem to see my response.
At the end, it seems I couldn’t see her replies. So I had to disconnect. Streamyx got real slow then. I did what Imelda asked me to do to no avail. When the net was ok again, I tried to chat with another customer support. This time it was Catherine.
Hi, my name is Catherine (20260). How may I help you?
leona: hi i was chatting with imelda but got cut off. Incident:050915-002121
Catherine (20260): Ok, let me continue with your concern, hold on please.
leona: ok
Catherine (20260): Thanks.
Catherine (20260): Ok, Leona it seems your session got cut off, i’m sorry for the inconveience, let’s continue with your concern,
leona: ya
leona: so do you still have my questions?
leona: should i repeat them
Catherine (20260): Have you receive her message when she suugested to use the XP utility?
leona: i’ve just done that, but it’s still the same
Catherine (20260): Ok, do you see the little green icon for your adapter? The square one? Please right click on that and choose “Use Windows XP Wireless Configuration”
leona: ya i am now using the windows xp wireless config. i’ve uninstalled that green icon utility
Catherine (20260): Ok, please go to the device manager and check if the card is working properly.
Catherine (20260): Right click on the My Computer icon > Properties > Hardware > Device Manager
On that list, look for Network adapters, click the plus sign and look for the
Linksys card.
Right click on that and go to Properties, and tell me what does it say on device
status.
leona: when i click to connect, it shows the linksys network then i type in the key then it tries to connect but then just stop after a while
leona: yes the card is properly installed, because i can connect to another wireless network in a different location
Catherine (20260): Ok, is the name of you network not linksys anymore?
leona: it is still linksys
leona: coz i have another apple computer and that one can connect to the linksys network
Catherine (20260): Ok, have you tried changing channel on the router? I understand that one of your wireless PC is working fine wirelessly. But don’t worry, chaging some settings on the router will not disconnect the other wireless. It will just refresh your internet connection.
leona: ok now im on channel 6 which channel should i change to?
Catherine (20260): Please choose either 1 or 11, they’re the stronger ones aside from 6.
leona: ok
Catherine (20260): Thanks, and please connect again.
leona: do i change anything on the pc settin side?
Catherine (20260): No, it will automatically be refreshed.
leona: hey its connected now!
Catherine (20260): That’s great!
leona: thanks catherine. it took me 2 hours sitting here 😛
leona: it will not affect the other wireless computer rite
Catherine (20260): No, chaging channels ae safe, just like changing your network name. Just make sure that you’re connecting to you router and not to someone else’s
leona: thanks ya. byes
Catherine (20260): You’re welcome. Is there anything else that I can help you with?
leona: you’ve helped me enough. nothing for now
Catherine (20260): Ok, Also, for more information regarding your network setup, try to visit our
knowledge base site, http://www.linksys.com/kb. It contains
information regarding the common concerns that you experience on your network
and contains basic troubleshooting tips for your devices.
Catherine (20260): Once again my name is Cat, badge ID 20260. Thank you for logging in to our Chat
Support and feel free to chat with us again.
May you have a great day!
leona: you 2
leona: disconnected
Catherine (20260): disconnected
Catherine was a life saver! I had no idea the channel 1 and 11 were the strongest before this. And upon changing it to 11, the wifi immediately connected. Kudos to Linksys’s customer support. I think all companies should have live 24 hours chat support. 😛
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which is why u need a geek as a bf!
But I do, and yet I’m the one that settled the prob hehe
Thanks for posting that conversation with technical support…I just got the same adapter and couldn’t connect with their tools…but once I switched to using XP’s utilities and changing the channel to 1, no more issues!
How do you switch to using XP’s utilities to configure the wireless network? I am having the same problem; I connect wirelessly and effortlessly at work to a Linksys but get that same error message when trying to a D-Link at home. It used to work before for almost a year!
I think to use WinXP’s utilities alone you gotta uninstall whatever utility that came with the Dlink Router. Do you have other PC on the Dlink network that works fine with wired?
Hey thanks for publishing this I had the same issue with the channel selection. I never thought to change that heh. Thanks again!
hey thanks. I got the same issue and I got it fixed by changing the channel
thanks for posting this solution. changing router channel resolved my wireless issues as well!
I’d like to add my voice to the chorus of appreciation for posting this solution. I also had the exact same problem, and changing from channel 6 to channel 11 fixed it. In my case it was particularly frustrating because it used to work, and then it decided to quit. I wonder if there’s something about the interaction of the Mac’s AirPort with the WRT54GS access point that causes the WMP54GS network card to have issues?
Really Good Stuff
Thankyou
Srinivas
Awesome, solved something that’s been completely perplexing me for like months. And I consider myself pretty technical! Thanks. Does anyone know if this is a “feature” of Linksys specifically or all wireless access points?
That neyworking punk,annoys every time.
I am a tech-support for wireless networking products such as wireless routers and adapters
I’d like to comment on changing wireless channels…
Sure, changing the wireless channel to 1 or 11 are harmless but it does not mean that either channel are the strongest and channel 6 is weaker
What this mean is that the wireless access point can broadcast signal in 11 different channels (Channel 1 through 11) with separated frequencies and not different frequencies
Example:
Wireless G routers operating under 2.4GHz wireless frequency
Channel # (Frequency)
1 (2.412 GHz)
2 (2.417 GHz)
3 (2.422 Ghz)
4 (2.427 Ghz)
5 (2.432 Ghz)
6 (2.437 GHz)
7 (2.442 GHz)
8 (2.447 Ghz)
9 (2.452 Ghz)
10 (2.457 Ghz)
11 (2.462 Ghz)
And if you get what I mean you’ll notice that all these channels operates under 2.4GHz wireless frequency with only a very small fraction of difference
But what does changing the wireless channel on a wireless access point do?
Normally, majority of access points or router have the same channels (Set to 6 by factory defaults) and if by chance you have a wireless rouetr and your neighbor has one to, chances are both of your routers have the same channels and if these routers are very close to each other (around the specified perimeter of the routers) then their channel’s signals overlaps on each other causing “wireless Interference” now by changing the other router’s channel, the other router no longer overlaps the signal of the other so making the routers avoid each other’s signal and fixing the wireless interference issue that prevents a computer from connecting to the wireless network or having limited or no connectivity issues on the wireless computers 🙂
HaZaRDuS
Hi,
I found this web page while googling and subsequently managed to figure out how to connect windows to mac. See below:
Connecting Windows PC to Apple Airport
On Mac Leopard:
1) Go to the Airport Utilities
2) Select the base station you want to connect
3) Click on Manual Set Up
4) On the Top Tool bar menu, from the base station drop down menu on the tool bar, select “Equivalent Network Password”
5) Copy the Hex Password
On Windows XP PC-
1) Start
2) Control Panel
3) Network and Internet Connections
4) Network Connections
5) Right Click on Wireless Connection Icon
6) Click on Wireless Network
7) Click on Add (Network)
8) On the add form:
8a) Type the network name
8b) Choose Shared for Network Authentication
8c) Choose WEP for Data Encryption
8d) For the Network Key, type in the Hex equivalent Password of the web key
Good one it helps me he solve the issue after changing the channel. Thanks very much
I have one more fix for you
if we are getting this error possible cause are
1. Firewall or Antivirus Progs
2. Wireless signals are Not good
3. Card has some Issues
4. Security Issues
Ans. Disable the Security Softwares for the time of Enabling the connection once the connection is done you can go ahead and enable them
Ans2. Changed the wLess Channels and SSID
Ans3.Assigned the Static IP address in the wLess Connection in the Range of your Modem or wLess Router
Ans4.Change the Security to WEP 64 Bit or WEP 128 Bit
Because some times Your Os will Not have the Latest Security Updates for WPA from Microsoft
http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com
that will help you a Lot
If you have some prob mail me i will get back to you
Thanks for this posting. It was very convenient for me especially for posting the technical support conversation. My boys are new in this that is why I was searching around and found your post. Thanks again
I LOVE CATHERINE wooooot, just as ur day was saved man, mine was too i thank you both
Hi, I am at service appartment and the have proveded me wirless connection but when i am tried to connect thet wireless i am getting below error please suggest me how to slove this …...
error message:”’Windows is unable to connect to the selected network. Network may no longer be in range.Please refresh and try connect again”
Hi… that was great stuff.. I really like reading on this subject Could you tell me more on that… I love to explore
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Yeah we had the same Problem! But this solution worked for us!
Thanx very much
Hello, I had same problem I tried to change channel as well on WiFi AP but it didn’t help. After long time it found my AP was set to WPA2 and my old make Compaq Presario laptop had only support for WPA. After changing authentication to mixed WPA + WPA2 it fixed the problem.
Thanks All.
[...] for the desktop than the laptop.This funny article suggests to change the Wireless channel to 11:Windows is unable to connect to the selected networkas apparently the (surprising) fact is that the default channel 6 isn’t as strong as 1 or 11 [...]
[…] ÑÑ‚Ð°Ñ‚ÑŒÑ Ð¿Ñ€ÐµÐ´Ð»Ð°Ð³Ð°ÐµÑ‚ изменить беÑпроводной канал на 11: Windows не может подключитьÑÑ Ðº выбранной Ñети очевидно (удивительно), что канал 6 по умолчанию не так […]
[…] for the desktop than the laptop. This funny article suggests to change the Wireless channel to 11: Windows is unable to connect to the selected network as apparently the (surprising) fact is that the default channel 6 isn’t as strong as 1 or 11 […]