Home Forums Networks & Cross-Platform Networking Connecting PC laptop to iMac network

Hi all,

I'm running an iMac on 10.5.8 (3.06 GHz, 4G RAM), high-speed cable through a linksys router. I got an older Sony Vaio laptop on an early XP version and connected initially to my wireless, but it didn't stick. Sometimes it will say connected with no signal, sometimes connected with excellent signal, but I still can't connect to the internet.

I brought it to a public wifi and it initially didn't connect, but once the wireless network thingy (sorry, it's been a long time for PCs!) off the bridge it connected fine. (Right-clicked on the wireless network connection and selected remove from bridge.)

I brought it back home and it again initially connected but didn't hold and couldn't access internet after a very short period. I hooked it up to the cable and restarted but it wasn't recognizing that either.

I'd tell you what the Vaio has in it but there's no way I can find to get any info out of the goofy piece of crap.

Sigh.

Sorry, I'm flummoxed.

Any takers?

Thanks in advance.

Several things come to mind.
1. Distance from the router to the Vaio, and what's between them (ie walls, microwave, brick fireplace, etc. Mine are about 70 feet with seven walls one of which is stone. I needed a repeater to boost my signal enough to make a reliable connection.
2 Have you tried restarting your router? One time my acer showed connected with a strong signal, but said it wasn't connected to the internet. Restarting the router corrected the problem.
3. Anything else connected to the wireless? Iphone? If not, try to connect something else to see if it has the same problem from the same place.
4. Try changing the wifi channel to see if connectivity improves.
5. If your router is set to mixed mode and you are only connecting with a g mode device, try setting the mode to g only.

I'm not an expert, and that is about the extent of my limited knowledge.

if you are having problems accessing with the ethernet cable, you should set aside your wireless problems until you have that figured out - probably the same cause and the wired will be much more straightforward to troubleshoot.

Consider doing the usual drab maintenance for a windows machine... virus, spyware, malware removal. Dunno, maybe you're the lucky winner of a botnet enrollment. That'd do it. AV software is well-known for going overboard when a nastyware is getting the better of them, and shutting down access to the internet entirely. Basically YOU are sometimes the collateral damage when the two fight.

Thanks for the responses. Well, Ironically, it's now working with the wireless network but not ethernet. I uninstalled the PC-Cillin stuff and good grief yaknow what? I used to work on PCs a lot. I forgot just how much I don't miss them.

Clunkity clunk clunk.