Where did he buy it, Kristen? Sometimes the retailers have a little more guilt....

a Dell Latitude D600, whatever that may mean

I have that same computer (and I'm typing on it right now AIFG); the "n" key in particular is a weak point in the keyboard constructure; we have no less than 1000 of them here on campus, and that's a constant wear-and-tear fix. Luckily keyboards are under general wear and tear, and can be replaced quite easily; you do have to replace the whole keyboard, though, not simply one letter.

Wireless router question: I just got my parents a Linksys Compact Wireless-G router for their new house, and I'm running into some problems with the thing. Everything's connected, and my wireless card is picking it up and getting an IP; however, nothing is actually connecting. I can't get anything on the web to ping, and I've reset the router a couple times. There's nothing wrong with the internet service, and I can't get fucking linksys on the phone. My battery died waiting for someone to pick up. And the chat people are useless. Help?

SA, is it working if you connect to it with a cable?

Also, some providers have websies on how to hook up a router, wat provider do they have?

Some broadband setups need special settings.

wow. lots of pics of the possible settings, here: [link]

This might help us to agree on settings.

No; if I put an ethernet cord in the extra wireless router ports and connect it to my computer, I get the same thing as if I connect it with my wireless card--an IP address, but no real connection.

Service provider is Bell South.

ETA: The other problem is that I can't get the setup program to install on my computer; it keeps asking for a password in the install utility, which should be the default "admin" but every time I enter admin, it asks me to re-enter a password.

I think this thing may be going back to the store.

SA, there should be manual instructions on how to setup the router on the internet. I know exactly the problem you had. The older routers are A LOT better than the newer Linksys ones.

BTW, one thing that really made a difference for my router setup is changing the wireless channel. I was having pervasive problems with the signal dropping and changing the wireless channel helped. Our cellphones were fucking with the wireless connection.

Well, I found another setup assistant on the linksys website; but that one too is cockblocking me for a password. I do not have a password, as I just bought this ridiculous little machine. I've told the support techs this twice, and they still sent me to the setup utility. Rargh.

Have you unplugged the cable modem completely for a minute or two and then reconected everything? I've needed to do that whenever I've gotten a new router.

No; I'll try that next. Though I just reset the wireless router, and now the little program can't detect it at all (through my computer). I suspect that doing all this shouldn't actually be this difficult.

Some early morning thoughts.

Hmmm. I'm assuming you can get into the router itself, right?

Try setting the local IP for the router to 192.168.2.1, it may be going craxy between it and the DSL/Cable modem box.

Have you tried the setup assistant on more than one computer?

Is parental blocking on?

SA -- Now that I'm more awake, here's some more detailed thoughts.

It's very likely you don't need the setup program at all. Power down and disconnect everything (power cords, cable modem cable and ethernet cables). Wait a minute and then reconnect and power up. Make sure you can connect with a wire before you try wireless. Open a browser window and see if you get anything. Try to connect to IP address 192.168.0.1. This should get you into the router's setup utility. From there, you can change the userid and password to the router and also set up the wireless network name and encryption.