"Connection Established: Acquiring IP Address"

The mini PCI Wi-Fi card onboard my Sager 9750 is identified by Windows simply as an IEEE 802.11a/b/g adapter card. The drivers are provided by MSI. I have used both the Windows wireless connection utility and the MSI utility to attempt connections with my Linksys 54G router. Either way I get the popups from the task bar indicating a connection is establish, usually at level "Excellent," but an ongoing indicator of "acquiring IP address." A minute or so of this, then the connection is lost. I reset the parameters on the router, and downloaded fresh MSI drivers to the notebook and get the same result. The router is maybe 5 feet away from the notebook, albeit through a standard sheetrock bedroom wall. A previous computer with an internal Atheros wi-fi card regularly connected at the highest level without a glitch. Is this an issue with the router settings or with the wi-fi card or with the wi-fi drivers? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

 

Sounds like a driver issue to me. You might want to look for updated drivers. Also, do you use WEP or WPA? This has been known to cause some problems on certain router/card combinations.

 

It is difficult to tell from the MSI websites, but I believe I did download the most recent drivers they provide. Also, I downloaded the most recent Ralink 2500 drivers, because somewhere I read that card is a Ralink, or some such. The outcome is the same with either set of drivers. Prior to resetting parameters on the router it was set to WEP. I changed it to WPA-PSK.

 

Try running with no encrpytion and see what you get. Just to see if it works that way. At least you could narrow down the problem.

 

Not a bad idea! Will try it this weekend. Thanks! If it works, I might just leave it open, as we're in a house, not a dorm or apartment.

 

You might also want to make sure that your router assigns IP address automatically. That could also be the problem.

 

Would that be the difference in fixed and dynamic IP addresses on the router? I believe I have it set as fixed.

 

You are going to want to change that to Dynamic IP...that way your router will assign the IP's.

 

It doesn't matter what the router's IP is (dynamic vs. static). What USAFdud02 meant to say is that if your PC is set to acquire an IP automatically, you need to ensure that the DHCP server on the router is enabled.

 

That is what I meant.

 

And that's the way I took it.

 

hey I have the same problem as robasteward,

I have an MSI router and when activating the Intel Wireless Pro the connection is established and the signal is usually "Exellent" but on the Connection Status it keeps on saying "Acquiring IP address". And on the "Support" tab it says "Invalid Ip address"

I did 3 months using the wireless with no particular problem...

I'm using WEP data encryption....

Any help please!!!???

Regards

 

Well, last night I got the wireless connection to work. I followed instructions for resetting the parameters on my Linksys WRT54G wireless and ethernet router. A desktop computer serves as the primary gateway computer for setting up the router, directly wired via ethernet cable. The reset procedure was fairly straightforward. One caveat was to disable all security functions so the wireless network is open. I thought that later on when everything seemed to be running smoothly I would go back in and set up WAP security. After the reset I verified having Internet access from the desktop, then went to the other room to check on the wireless connection for my Sager 9750 (the whole point of this exercise). Wah-lah! Connection status indicated "Excellent" with no limitations. I opened Firefox and the Internet was accessible. All seemed well. So I went back to the desktop to update the firmware on the router, having seen that recommended somewhere in this forum. I figured it would also mean resetting the router paramters again, but having just done that I anticipated no problem. The firmware update seemed to go smoothly. Resetting the router again seemed to go well, also.

Then disaster struck. The local network connections remained, but with no Internet access from either the desktop or the DTR. I did a full power-off/power-on sequence of the cable telphony modem, the router, and the computers. Still no Internet connection. I ran through the router reset procedure again. Still no ICS. All LED indicators on both the modem and the router indicated connectivity. Once again I tried power-downs and router resets, to no avail. I thought, well, if I can't have wireless maybe I can have wired somehow. So I disconnected the router from the modem and plugged in the desktop computer ethernet cable directly to the modem. The beautiful Firefox start page presented itself upon first click. ICS was established by by-passing the router. Next, I tried the same thing--a direct ethernet connection--to the DTR computer. No dice. Back to where this thread begain--"Connection establish: Acquiring IP address." Only this was the wired version instead of the wireless.

By now I'm a cranky middle-ager, knowing I'm out of my techno league and at a loss what to do. A search of the telephony modem company's website (Arris) provides no documentation of any assistance. A search of the Linksys website, which actually provides a great deal of user-friendly information, suggests nothing new about this problem. I'm probably just overlooking something simple. Suggestions are most welcome. Meanwhile, I'll try again tonight, and hope to stear clear of the temptations to ditch the Linksys router and buy something new. We must have wireless in the house!

 

This just occurred to me, and it's only a hunch. Clearly, the router is not communicating with the modem. Could the problem be that updating firmware to the router made it incompatible with settings in the modem? And if that is so, perhaps all that is needed is to reinstall drivers and settings on the modem for router setup. Any thoughts? (I won't be able to tinker with it until tonight at the earliest.)

 

try pluggin you desktop ethernet cable directly into the modem. then renew(repair) your IP on the desktop, make sure you get connectivity without any problems and that its not the modem that is ****ping out. I've seen quite a few modem go bad. There is also the chance that a week signal from the ISP can cause signal drop and disconnects from the internet. while your network will stay connected, you would lose internet connectivity. The ISP can boost the signal to your house or trace the problem in the chain if that was the case.

May or may not be any of those but I'm just giving you some situations I've seen.

 

Thanks for the feedback. Actually, I already did plug in the dekstop computer directly to the modem, and there is Internet connectivity that way. The loss of connectivity is through the router, when either the desktop or the notebook are ethernet linked to the router, which, of course, is ethernet linked to the modem. A direct ethernet link between desktop and modem works; a direct ethernet link between notebook and modem does not work. The latter is probably an IP problem--the notebook doesn't have the IP address needed for the modem, but the desktop does have it (I guess that's the difference).

 

Huge thread!!! I am not sure...but with some questions...too long to read through (being lazy! ) What internet access do you have?

If you have DSL you will have to setup the username and password in the router. This could be the reason why the modem and router don't work with the modem. Also try power cycling the modem.

If it is a cable modem, most of the time you will need to power cycle it to recognize a new connection like the laptop or router.

Let me know if that helps.

 

ok

one thing that happened to me that was quite weird was that my dad bought a router and the default IP addy was the same as the router's default IP addy thereby creating a conflict on the LAN.

try reassigning the IP addy on your router to something different but still in the same subnet.

that was the specific problem i had setting up my parents' wireless LAN at their house.

 

Thanks much for the great feedback so far. My ISP is via cable (Cox). The modem is a telephony modem, so it carries both the Intenet data line and the VoIP lines. It also has battery back up, so when power-cycling the data connection goes down but the voice connection stays up. I would think this should be sufficient for it to recognize the new settings on the router, but that hasn't worked. Maybe it will require removing the battery to power down the entire modem unit, in which case I'll be delving further into the land of inexperience and uncertainty (rebooting the telephony modem from zero power).

Reassigning the IP addy in the router might make sense, but I don't know what "addy" is. Is it "address?" I don't think it is different from what it was before the upgrade of firmware and the connection to modem was lost, but maybe it is. Something else to check, anyway.

Thanks again.

 

Resetting the VoIP modem won't do anything. At least it didn't when I installed them. Cox will just allow the traffic via MAC address of the modem. So you shouldn't have a problem powercycling it.

 

Thanks for the encouraging tip.

 

If you're still having trouble, try connecting the PC directly to the cablemodem and ensuring you can connect that way, then put the router back in. Go to the router's configuration from the PC, and click the 'Clone MAC address' button.

Then, shut down all the PCs and the Router. Cycle the power on the Cable Modem, and once it's up, bring up the Router, then finally the PCs.

And yes, 'addy'=address.

 

I have already connected the desktop via ethernet directly to the modem, and the Internet connection works fine that way. But I need to get the modem communicating with the router.

What does cloning MAC address do? I've seen it in the documentation, but what effect will it have in this case? I have tried the power cycle, but not after cloning MAC address. Also, previous attempts at power cycle were done without completely shutting down the modem (the telephony connection remained on batter back-up), nor did I reset the modem. Should I completely power down the modem (remove the battery) and use its reset button? And in what sequence?

Thanks for the helpful insights.

 

When I first set up my account (w/ Comcast cable), I think the MAC address of the PC was somehow 'linked' to the account (did you have to go to a certain website, or run a setup CD from the cable provider?). Cloning the MAC address will copy the MAC address of the PC that your sitting at to the Router, and the Router will 'spoof' it, meaning that it will make itself look like the PC to the external connection (the one to the modem). If your cable provider is limiting access to a single or specific MAC address, that MAC address will now be the Router. The modem sees the right MAC address trying to access the internet, and allows traffic through. The router will still handle all internal traffic, so it's really not a big deal to try it.

I wouldn't remove the battery from the modem. The power up sequence should be modem, router, PCs.

 

Your recommendation is certainly worth a try. It doesn't sound like harmful medicine. My ISP is Cox Cable, who provided a startup CD for the modem, an Arris telephony modem. Thanks for noting not to remove the modem battery; I feel better about that, especially since disconnecting AC does seem to disconnect Internet data access even though voice access remains.

I will try your recs tonight or tomorrow and report the results. Thanks again!

 

Problem SOLVED! Thanks to some great advice given on this thread, my router is now functioning as it should, connecting a Ethernet wired PC and a wireless (and sometimes wired) notebook PC. The solution was to clone the MAC address of the PC to the router. Easily done, and it worked immediately. So many thanks and props to USAFdude02 and lmychajluk!

The problem arose when first trying to establish wireless connectivity on my new notebook PC. Thankfully, that problem is also now resolved. I am writing this post from that machine, while listening to smooth jazz on streaming radio.

"Look Ma! No wires!"