Help me with WI-FI set up on Toshiba E805

[Shaun Stuart]

Just received my E805 today but I have a problem with getting the WI-FI to work. The E805 detects my network and says it is connected but everytime I type an URL in PIE I get an immediate "the page you are looking for cannot be found" error message. I have tried several websites but no luck with any of them.

I am using a Linksys wireless router (802.11b) - I know this works because my desktops and laptop are all getting access.


The "search for wireless" utility shows that I am connected and the signal strength is very good.

Any ideas ?

[Kevin C. Tofel]

I had the same problem. There could be multiple ways to solve this, but I'll present the one I used that will only take a few minutes to try.

I added proxy software to my main desktop. There is a free Proxy application from analogx (http://www.analogx.com/welcome.htm) that you can download. It's a very small footprint on your desktop. On the AnalogX site, look for the Network section under Software. There are one or two port settings to set once you install, but the readme file walks you through that.

I then went into my connection settings in my Tosh and added the Proxy IP address (i.e.: the IP address of the desktop where the proxy software is running). Once I did that, no problem....I can surf on my Tosh, use MSN Messenger, etc.....

Hope this helps....let me know!

KCT

[Fishie]

In network connections specify that the connection connects to the Internet instead of To Work.

[Kevin C. Tofel]

You can change your settings to ''Internet" but then you can't use ActiveSync via WiFi. I think you need to use the "Work" setting.

KCT

[Shaun Stuart]

I had the same problem. There could be multiple ways to solve this, but I'll present the one I used that will only take a few minutes to try.

I added proxy software to my main desktop. There is a free Proxy application from analogx (http://www.analogx.com/welcome.htm) that you can download. It's a very small footprint on your desktop. On the AnalogX site, look for the Network section under Software. There are one or two port settings to set once you install, but the readme file walks you through that.

I then went into my connection settings in my Tosh and added the Proxy IP address (i.e.: the IP address of the desktop where the proxy software is running). Once I did that, no problem....I can surf on my Tosh, use MSN Messenger, etc.....

Hope this helps....let me know!

KCT

Kevin - do you know if this will effect the other PCs that use the Linksys wireless router ? (they connect wirelessly directly to the router not through my main PC) They work fine at the moment and I dont want to mess them up.

[Kevin C. Tofel]

That's the beauty of it....there is no effect on the rest of the network. They are not configured to go through a proxy....they go right through the router directly just as they do without the proxy software running.

I have this set up and it works flawlessly:

Netgear Wireless router set up as a DHCP server (assigning IP's)
Main desktop wired to the router & running as a proxy server
2nd desktop configured to wirelessly connect to the router
Laptop configured to wirelessly connect to the router
XBox configured to wirelessly connect to the router
Toshiba e805 configured to wirelessly connect through the proxy address on the main PC.

Since you are not changing the configuration of your other machines, they should not be impacted at all. There will be a little overhead on the machine running as a proxy, but I would think it is negligible.

KCT

[Janak Parekh]

Before you go this far, though, first make sure you're getting a good IP address and can ping the router. If you can't, the proxy is not going to help. If you don't have a tool to do this on your Pocket PC, try vxUtil (http://www.cam.com/vxutil_pers.html) -- it's free.

--janak

[Kevin C. Tofel]

Janak,

Do you want to ping the router or the proxy server? I'm thinking proxy server since that can already "see" the router....

KCT

[Janak Parekh]

I'm thinking proxy server since that can already "see" the router....
Actually, we don't have enough data to conclude that. For example, you can "see" a router even with incorrect/incompatible WEP encryption settings, but you'll get a 169.* address and won't be able to ping the router (as opposed to, say, a 192.168.* address). I suspect that's much more likely to be the case, actually...

--janak

[Kevin C. Tofel]

Good point.....my WLAN is set up on the 192.168.0.xxx scheme so I just assumed the same.....

Your vxUtil comment is right on the money....

Thanks!
KCT

[Shaun Stuart]

Ok - I downloaded the vxUtil Pocket PC Software and am able to ping the router address (192.168.xx.xx) without a problem. I will try the proxy server software later and let you know if it works.

Thanks for your help

[senfeng]

I just had this problem a couple of days ago. I got a new wifi printer and added it to the list of attached devices. I moved my Notebook and PPCs further down on the list Unfortunately, I forget that I also set up schedule restrictions for an IP range that included my e805. I just changed the range and I'm connecting fine. Anywayz... check your Router settings and make sure that you're not blocking services.

[Shaun Stuart]

Well the good news is I got connected so thanks for everyones advice. I still think there could be another problem though.

I didnt have time this week to load and configure the server software but I discovered if I disable WEP settings it works.

Initially I thought I must have typed an incorrect key password on the E805 but I have double checked this and made sure they match. Despite having matching keys whenever I enable WEP I cant get internet access.

[Kevin C. Tofel]

Good that you got connected, but not sure about the WEP issue. I use my e805 to connect to 2 different WLAN's....one is WEP enabled, the other is not. I have no issues connected to the WEP enabled one....

I've got the WEP Enabled checkbox checked. I've got the network key entered also. In your e805 Wireless Network settings, do you also have the correct Key Index? This needs to be the same index that the wireless router is using. Probably not the problem, but thought to ask...

KCT

[Shaun Stuart]

Yes the key index is the same - I have also tried changing my password on both router and E805 and changing the key index - it still didnt work with WEP enabled.

My E805 is a reconditioned unit could there be a fault ?

[Kevin C. Tofel]

My E805 is a reconditioned unit could there be a fault ?

Possible, but I wouldn't think so. I would expect wireless to work or not.....if it works without WEP, it should work with WEP in my opinion.

You could test your theory though. Do you know anyone else with a wireless PPC and WM2003? I would create a temporary WEP key, have them try to connect to your network with WEP on and see what happens. Obviously, I'd change the WEP key later also..... :wink:

If it works for them using the exact same settings, it could be some type of problem with the unit. The hardware would be the only variable in the test......

KCT

[full-auto]

Guys, this is a problem with every Toshiba I've owned. The fix is simple.

Go to your wireless router and reserve an IP address that's within your allocated wireless IP pool. You will need your PDA's MAC address to do this.

Once you've reserved an IP for your PDA using the PDA's MAC ID, then you need to update your PDA's settings. Give the PDA the static IP but leave it with DHCP for your DNS.

When you turn your PDA on, it will get on the network with amazing speed every time.

Tim