Okay, this may not help but...

I was able to connect in USA, Amsterdam, Paris, and random places in Madrid. The only time I had problems was at my first school and in my flat now.

We called tech support, etc but no help. I had a roommate who could go online and download stuff to his USB pendrive which I then used to get the Dell T1300 driver. I was going to test his wifi USB modem but after the install of his Dell drivers, my Belkin card worked with that driver WITHOUT HAVING TO GO INTO CHANGE ANY FANCY SETTINGS, phew!

(FYI - I have a Belkin "Wireless G Notebook Network Card with HSM - model number - F5D7011")

I later took the chance and downloaded the Belkin appropriate driver and still no problems. Just need to make sure you have your Network ID correct if you need one.

More info than you probably need but it worked for me! Good Luck!

Ciao,
Rebecca

PS - don't trash the PC!! If I can keep this 7+ year old dinosaur up and running (got it for free when my friend gave up on it) we can keep yours alive, too. Of course, a new hard drive via Fabrizio made a world of difference ;-)

Yeah that could been an issue.

In Europe there are to standards 802.11b and 802.11g, b being 11mbps and g 54mbps. In US they have a third one 802.11a, which we don't use here. It is weird though that it would have worked at her office in Paris, though not entirely impossible, since companies that support international travelers will often have a/b/g wifi access points.

Ok, went to visit Jer this afternoon in his office and connected via his wifi with NO PROBLEM AT ALL. He looked over my computer and found no issue-so we are thinking the problem is the hostal-he´s going to go check it out tonight on his laptop. So that may be the answer-their signal is just pathetic and they are trying to blame it on me. Still frustrating because I chose this hostal specifically for the internet access and am having a hard time finding another that has it.
The best laid plans.....ARRGGGHHHHH Will report back from Jer tomorrow (most likely from an internet cafe, just like now). Thanks so much for your help!

hey.

i just walked in the door. went to the hostel in question and tried to connect with my laptop, no go. schwendy, i did not pop up to see you since it was getting late and i had to head home for dindin.

i had the same exact problem schwendy had, connected ok but could not use the internet. signal strength was full as i was at reception right next to the wap.

in his defense, the owner of the hostel (hostal madrid) was there and i have known him for a long time. he honestly had no idea until now that his equipment was not up-to-date (if that is the case). he said that clients never have trouble using it.

Fabrizio, thanks but the question is... if the wap is 11mbps and the laptop trying to connect is a newer one (with 54mbps internal wifi), will it cause the laptop not to be able to use the connection?

they had an older laptop in the hostel with a pcmcia wifi adapter that was 11mbps and it worked perfectly with their wap.

Fabrizio, thanks but the question is... if the wap is 11mbps and the laptop trying to connect is a newer one (with 54mbps internal wifi), will it cause the laptop not to be able to use the connection?

i think the wap they have that i tried to connect to was the one at http://www.dlink.com/products/?sec=0&pid=292 but the hostel owner said it was a few years old so it may have been the 802.11b model. i could only get the make and model, could not see if it was 11 or 54 mbps.

when did 802.11g come onto the market? if it was bought a few years ago, would it have to be 802.11b?

is there something we are overlooking, maybe like a setting on laptops to change from 11mbps to 54, depending on the router or wap that is being used?

saludos,
jer...

your computer is a b/g I am sure. So yours should have scaled down to b and connected. Some older US computers, might just be a or a/g which could have caused a problem.

I really think however it might be a DNS issue from a poorly configured access point. One more thing to try would be to stick the telefonica DNS servers on the TCP/IP configuration. A couple of them to try are:
194.224.52.36
194.224.52.37

Did the owner tell you anything regarding a specific configuration?

Where would I put that DNS configuration? And is there a way for me to check this a/b/g configuration? My computer is a couple of years old-a Dell inspiron 8500-so I guess it could be a. The hostal owner is going to talk to his technician today.

Please God, let this be resolved today. I have spent four days in Madrid now trying to solve this problem, when I am supposed to be out looking for an apartment!

Fab, the owner of the hostel has no ideas as far as technology goes.

schwendy, your pc is not "a", if it were it would not have worked in paris (as far as i know, when Fabrizio says that a is not used "here" means it is not used in europe).

the dns config is in your network setting, remember where you looked the other day and where we looked again yesterday. it was properly set to "obtain dns server addresses automatically". it is in "control panel" -- "network connections" -- right click on "wireless network connection" and open "properties" -- select "internet protocol (tcp/ip)" and check the properties. what Fab is saying is to change the 2 ("preferred dns server" and "alternate dns server" to the telefonica ones he provided above, click "ok" to save the changes and try to connect.

at any rate, the owner said his technician should be able to go by the hostel today to have a look at your laptop.

saludos,
jer...

Ya, I tried all that and it's NOT WORKING! And the hostal owner helpfully called to tell me he had consulted TWO technicians who basically said it was a personal problem. According to them, there is a "button" in my computer you can push to switch from 54 mbps to 11 mbps. Where is this button, I asked, oh, they're not sure.

What did work, however, was Jer hooking me up with a SWEET mobile data card from Vodafone that will pretty much give me broadband anywhere in Madrid. I had no idea such a thing existed!!!!! Did you know he rents these things out?!?!?!? Advice: to those coming to Madrid who NEED an mobile internet connection-SEE JER!!!!!!!!!!!

Just as I was starting to stress about how long it was going to take to get a ADSL line in an apartment once I actually found one (a process that has been delayed by this whole NIGHTMARE-why focus on the stress at hand, when you can focus on the next one?!?!?)- he comes through with the solution! I did a happy dance behind his desk until he made me stop. In one fell swoop he hooked me up with a mobile phone and a mobile internet connection-thus rendering me a real person (his words). Can I recommend him highly enough???? ROCK ON!

quote:

Can I recommend him highly enough????

probably not but you did a damn good job above

ok, i was on my way out of the office but for some reason my head will not fit through the door

going to have to wait for the swell to go down

glad i could help Wendy

saludos,
jer...

oh and re that "54/11 mbps switch", according to those tech guys, mine must have one too but as they would say here "ni puta idea" ("no f$%@ing clue")

glad i could help you close that chapter and move onm to your next step in getting settled.

saludos,
jer...

Ya, ok, and they just called me down to reception to tell me that the technician had arrived. I told them I had resolved the problem, but he just wanted to take a look-BECAUSE NO ONE ELSE HAS EVER HAD THIS PROBLEM-other than Jer, yesterday.

And let me tell you, this technician was an idiot. He spent about twenty minutes looking at all the same stuff we talked about and doing nothing-finally complaining he couldn't even tell what kind of card I had (though he had been looking at its specs with the name and description for about ten minutes). I tried to point this out to him. In the middle of all this, another girl arrived have the exact same problem (it was only me, remember?)

He got all interested in my Zagat's software and my Parker in your Palm (a wine database for the Palm Pilot) and kept changing settings for my programs (which worried me, since he so clearly didn't seem to know what he was doing). Finally, after 30 minutes of running between his computer, my computer and the girl's computer, he asked me if I had called Dell. That's it, I said, I have my solution already. Good luck figuring this one out. Again, thanks Jer!

ooooh yeeeeaaahhhh, you can get on your fancy new cell phone and call a premium rate dell technical support hotline and spend hours not fixing anything.

yeah, that's the ticket!!!

hahahahahahah!!!

i'm laughing to keep the tears away

saludos,
jer...

p.d. by the way Wendy, not sure if you use skype or not but don't use it with the vodafone card you have, it will eat up the data transfer BIGTIME!!!

hey Wendy, ok, don't attack him or anything but the owner of your hostel just called (as i was posting my last message) to tell me that, after an exhaustive checkup of his equipment, his technician has confirmed that his technology is fine and that your computer has the problem

i told him i had nothing to do with it and he should tell it to you.

he said he was just letting me know that all is ok on their end.

guess ya can't blame him for trying.

said nothing about the girl who came in after you and is having trouble.

will just chalk this all up to a wifi mystery. really is a nice hostel, too bad it did not work for ya re the internet there

case closed.

saludos,
jer...

ok, did anyone actually ask the technician (using that term losely here) what the proper configuration should have been? Does anyone actually have it working? Maybe just look into their TCP/IP settings.

FYI, there is no botton on any laptop (as far as I know) that will switch between 11/54mbps. What there is, is a botton that will turn all wifi and bluetooth (if you have it) off, for when you are in airplanes, or just not needing any wireless and want to save battery. There is a configuration on the wifi software, that will allow you tp set different speeds and channels, but if you are connecting to the access point, that is not an issue, proper IP configuration on your computer and access rights at the WAP are the issue...

I would like to swing by this place and check it out, I can't believe it is taking so much effort to get one computer running...

quote:

I would like to swing by this place and check it out

hey Fab, you can but it is not worth it at this point since Wendy has one of my mobile connect cards to cover her until she gets an apt. and adsl installed.

saludos,
jer...