Wifi Router Question


Recommended Posts

First off, this is not my router; I don't know all the details, except it is a Cisco, and the computers accessing it run Windows 7.

My question is, what would cause the signal to be excellent/good, the router connects, but the wifi box says limited access, and the more detailed window says 'no internet access' ?

Yes, they did unplug and restart the router.

If that does not work, does this mean the router is bad and needs replaced ?

Could the ethernet cable be bad ?

Thanks for any insight.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok by usable in the daytime are u meaning that the users are accessing at night?

could be schedules on the router for times of access

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What IP does the client get? Does it start with 169.254? If so that APIPA and means the dhcp client did not get a IP from the dhcp server. This would cause limited or no internet access to be shown. Also if dns is not working, then again same no internet would be shown as problem with connection.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

First off, how is your connection to the ISP setup? Is the cisco router connected to a separate modem? Or does it all go straight through the cisco router?

What does the windows troubleshooter say if you right click on the wireless icon and hit "troubleshoot problems"? Sometimes the error message it gives can be helpful.

In my experience this usually means one of 3 things:

1. You are getting an ip address from your router, but you are getting a "local only" connection to your cisco router, and your cisco router isn't getting a WAN connection to your ISP. Meaning you can connect to/ping your router fine, but the router itself isn't getting online.

2. You aren't getting an ip address from your cisco router at all.

3. You can get a local connection to your router, but windows can't connect to the ISP's DNS servers. If thats the issue it can be a bit tricky to troubleshoot because it could be an issue on your ISP's end, the router, or with the computer (I've occasionally seen firewall software like McAfee cause issues like that)

Try going to the network and sharing center > change adapter settings > right click on the wireless adapter and hit "status". from there hit "details". Look at the IP address it gives you next to "ipv4 default gateway". If you are getting a local connection to your cisco you should see the cisco's ip address there (usually 192.168.1.1) if you get an address starting with 169, then that means you aren't even getting an IP address from your router.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

^ Thanks for the info.

This is a local library's computer system.

The directly connected computers work, using the ethernet cables.

The wireless net shows 'limited access'.

As far as I know, the ISP signal is split off to a wifi router.

I believe this is the company they use:

http://www.pa.net/

The Windows troubleshooter says to unplug and restart the router, which had no effect.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And what is the IP on one of these boxes? You can point to what company you think they use from now until dooms day, until we have some info on what the client is showing. It is impossible to tell you what is not working.

I would guess that the clients are not getting IPs - this is a GUESS!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

NOTE: Whatever the problem was, it is now fixed.

I can't be sure what the router IP address is/was. Going to 192.168.1.1 did nothing. Could be that I am blocked out of snooping.

Here is the details box that I did find:

post-37120-0-16573000-1347029137.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Why would you have tried to go to 192.168.1.1 ????

Is that a box that is working, or one that is not working?

As you can see the router is at 192.168.33.1, so why would you try to go to 192.168.1.1???

Your using 2 outside dns hosted by Cumberland Technologies International, and or the local router as dns. I would of said those are you isp dns servers, but they are allowing recursive queries from me.. So they are open to the public, odd for most isp dns. Either way, that is the info you wanted to see on a machine that was not working.. Then we could of known if was not getting an IP, you could of checked if it could ping its gateway, query dns, etc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

^ No -- a tech guy came in and fixed whatever the problem was -- patrons are not going to be happy about the wi-fi being down -- a big part of the draw.

Why would you have tried to go to 192.168.1.1 ????

I went there because of Viper's comments:

If you are getting a local connection to your cisco you should see the cisco's ip address there (usually 192.168.1.1) if you get an address starting with 169, then that means you aren't even getting an IP address from your router.

I do not know what the Net details would have been, while the network was broken.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah that was used as an example -- did you actually LOOK at a machine that was working? Yes that is a common IP for routers, but so is 192.168.2 and or 192.168.0 -- depending.

It could of also been 10.232.43.254 or 172.31.131.126

Without looking at the details of a working machine you can not just guess what the gateway is going to be. There is nothing saying it has to be .1 or .254, I run mine at .253 just because if I fire up devices to test with many of them default to .1 or .254 on my yes very common 192.168.1.0/24 network so I don't want anything stepping on my gateway.

He made a comment that after looking!!! "you should see the cisco's ip address there" he could of well as used 1.2.3.4 as an example.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This topic is now closed to further replies.