"Another" computer question!

[Fish]

I've all but given up with the lap top and my all-in-one which Fragger has helped no end :clap: but their far from right so I might find out how to strip them of everything and sell them.

So, with that I brought one of my Dell towers home and have assembled it and got it up and running with few issues. However, this used to go through a Dell server also but I'm using it just as a stand alone tower, monitor & keyboard.

Fired it up, put my network key in and its found my BT wireless so I'm on-line, sometimes!

It keeps kicking me out at times and I have to "repair" the connection which its saying is repairing or renewing the IP address!

So, this system obviously had an IP address at my business but by bringing it home does it need or does it have to be given a different one and do I have to change that somewhere?

Sometimes it will go a day without any issues but other times I'm in & out like yo-yo.

Its much slower as well and my "Speed" is saying its 14.5Mbps and the strength is "Low".

Does it need a bit of fine tuning?

 

[sawtooth]

Have you wiped your laptop and started over?

I've kept many Dell laptops over the years and repaired them myself when they've gone wrong. Usually nothing a complete OS rebuild wont sort and the odd HDD replacement. The latter are responsible for a whole host of problems, blue screens, freezing, hanging, sluggish performance, etc. They have moving parts and are a very common point of failure especially in laptops. Thankfully easy and cheap to replace.

Maybe best to send it to Fragger to look at or I dont mind taking a look at it for you.

With your tower the first thing I would do is to cable your PC to the router via the cat5 cable. Your PC will normally acquire an IP address from your router automatically via DHCP, this is the default behaviour of all SOHO routers. Verify that your machine can connect to the internet and that the performance is normal before looking trying to use wireless.

Next thing I would look at is the router config and WLAN settings. Assuming your PC is largely OK cabled, then the wireless problem is one (or combination) of the following:_

1. Faulty WLAN dongle
2. Old/wrong driver for it
3. PC too far from the router, towers are also normally on the floor buried away not ideal for wireless connectivity - weak signal. Also avoid placing router and other wireless devices close to metal objects (multipath interference)
4. Interference - You are probably using a 802.11 bgn dongle on 2.4ghz. The spectrum is unlicensed and many devices can use the same frequencies. eg. baby monitors, tv senders, wireless cameras, etc. Do you have any of these?
5. wireless configuration - You also have to compete with neighbouring networks. Unfortunately you have no control over what other people do but there are things you can do to help yourself. change output power, channel etc.

 

[PhilTheFragger]

Another can o worms fishy old fruit.
Agree with last post, it's possible that the old setup had a fixed IP address and you need a floating one.

And wireless doorbells are another major problem
You know where I be

 

[DappaDonDave]

So, three computers, three all slightly fooked. This stinks of a PEBKAC unfortunately.

If Fragger can't get to you I think you should just bite the bullet and get a PC person to fix it for you, as much as we can give guidance online etc theres only so much which can be typed and so much talent one person can have unfortunately.

All else, get yourself to PC world and buy a nice shiney new laptop all loaded with windows 8...THEN...don't touch any of the settings or download anything you are not 100% sure of.

 

[Fish]

And what exactly is pebkac

 

[Fish]

So, three computers, three all slightly fooked. This stinks of a PEBKAC unfortunately.

If Fragger can't get to you I think you should just bite the bullet and get a PC person to fix it for you, as much as we can give guidance online etc theres only so much which can be typed and so much talent one person can have unfortunately.

All else, get yourself to PC world and buy a nice shiney new laptop all loaded with windows 8...THEN...don't touch any of the settings or download anything you are not 100% sure of.

Ive looked it up and you can shove your PEBKAC mate and if you have nothing positive to add to my thread then I suggest you go annoy someone else.

My main tower was housed in my office and went through a server also in my office, my all-in-one was in my reception area and was wireless linked to my office, my laptop was also linked as they all ran Microsoft exchange and I used all three computers without issues for a few years.

All I have done is bring them home one by one and attempt to use them independently but its obvious the way they have been set-up in my business that its not that simple.

So you can shove your PEBKAC mate.

 

[G1BB0]

what version of windows is on the Dell? aslong as its not windows 8 as I aint got a clue with that lol

xp/vista/win7

control panel, network, internet options, connections - lan settings

check automatically detect settings

make sure proxy is not checked

that should do it

 

[Fish]

There all Dells Gibbo.

The lap top (intel core duo) came as Windows7
All-In-One (intel Pentium) came as Vista
Tower (intel core) came as Windows7
Server (intel Xeon)

All ran off XP though!

All were set up with Microsoft Exchange so they were all linked and I could access them from anywhere, which I did successfully for a few years but bringing them home individually and attempting to get them to work is proving impossible. Even trying to overwrite them with new OS disc's doesn't work.

I think someone needs to be sat in front of them to unravel it all so they can work on their own, which to be fair the tower is but for the odd occasion I lose my connection and have to repair the connection/IP address.

 

[G1BB0]

I have a feeling its something simple but also that needs someone to be sat there clicking this and that. Might be a case of spending a few quid for a decent IT tech to sort them.

Chances are they are set to connect to a domain and have static assigned IP addresses. A full wipe and clean install should work tbh unless there is something bios related (which I very much doubt)

If I was nearer I would pop by but alas I am not.

 

[Fish]

I think your right Gibbo about the domain and static address, that's why I think someone does need to be sat in front of all three of them so they can look in those particular settings and unravel it all.

 

[G1BB0]

have a look via my post above in the internet options/connections

it may take more than that though as it probably auto connects to the domain when you log onto the pc (will be user account via Active Directory on the microsoft exchange server) so as the domain no longer exists it will need to be removed from the pc/s


goto start menu, right click on computer and select properties

where the computer name/dmonain info is there should be the option to change settings, click on this and then select change tab on the rename etc etc

uncheck the domain option and select workgroup

heres a screen print of the windows open for you Robin



once done reboot machine and see if it works

 

[sawtooth]

Even trying to overwrite them with new OS disc's doesn't work.

.

Why didnt this work Fish?

If you dont need anything on the machines simply format them and start again.

 

[DappaDonDave]

Ive looked it up and you can shove your PEBKAC mate and if you have nothing positive to add to my thread then I suggest you go annoy someone else.

My main tower was housed in my office and went through a server also in my office, my all-in-one was in my reception area and was wireless linked to my office, my laptop was also linked as they all ran Microsoft exchange and I used all three computers without issues for a few years.

All I have done is bring them home one by one and attempt to use them independently but its obvious the way they have been set-up in my business that its not that simple.

So you can shove your PEBKAC mate.

You can not expect to take a networked computer home and run it off network without this happening. Wipe the drives get a new OS and as long as the internals are all present and they weren't running as slaves off a master server you should be fine.

If you need the info on the hdd, get a new hdd with OS and boot up the PC, get a sata or ide adaptor for the old hard drive and plug it in to the USB, you should get all your data available

My advice was to get an expert in to look at them if fragged wasn't able to get to you in person. This is the advice echoed by gibbo with you gracefully accepted but due to my light hearted insult you failed to ingest.

Calm down, you'll do your ticker damage getting all worked up my man!

 

[sawtooth]

Get someone you know to help you but dont go paying for an "expert". If you was local I'd pop in and do it for you.