Does anyone know how to set up a new dell inspirion with VISTA to a wireless connection with a lynxus router?

Question

I think I set it up wrong.....it seems to think it's a dialup, but it's a broadband cable, high speed.

By the way, don't buy from Best Buy: The Geek Squad won't honor their WRITTEN agreement to provide FREE tech support for a year, & if you call Dell, you get INDIA, who defers to Best Buy!!!

Answer 1

First, I'm going to assume that "lynxus" really is a horrible misspelling of Linksys.  I'm also assuming that you already tried to call The Geek Squad and Best Buy (they are different) to get support on how to do this, and they surmised (correctly) that this is not covered under any type of technical support because it's not an issue with the computer.

These are the basic steps to perform to set up an out of the box Linksys router correctly with a standard DOCSIS 2.0 cable modem.  Keep in mind, if you have already tried to set it up, you should hard reset it (push down reset pin for 30 seconds) and uninstall all software from your computer relating to the Linksys router, and proceed to use the CD as a coaster for your beverage of choice while you perform these tasks.

1) Use a CAT5 or CAT6 Ethernet cable to connect the WAN port on the router to your cable modem.

2) Use a CAT5 or CAT6 Ethernet cable to connect your laptop to one of the four LAN ports on the router.

3) Power cycle (unplug, wait 15 seconds, plug back in) your cable modem.

4) Open Internet Explorer on your computer and open the webpage http://192.168.1.1 and log in with either username "admin" and password "admin" or leave the username blank and use the password "admin" (this varies by model).

5) Change your time zone to the approipriate time zone.  Click on the Save Settings button on the bottom of the page.

6) Select the Wireless tab, and under the subheading Basic Settings change your "Network Name" or "SSID" to something other than "linksys" or the default network name.  Make it non-descript, such as "HomeNet" or similar.  Write this down.  Click on the Save Settings button on the bottom of the page.

7) Select the Wireless tab, and then select the Wireless Security subheading.  Select from the security type "WPA2-Personal" from the dropdown, ensure that "AES" is selected from the encryption method dropdown (the other option is TKIP), and then enter a random alphanumeric passkey at least 16 characters long in the passphrase box.  WRITE THIS PASSKEY DOWN!!!  Click on the Save Settings button on the bottom of the page.

8) Select the Administration tab, and enter a new password, once into each password box.  Write down this password as well.  Click on the Save Settings button on the bottom of the page.

9) Disconnect the CAT5 or CAT6 Ethernet cable from the computer.

10) Click on the network icon in your system tray.  The click on connect to network.

11) Select the network with the network name or SSID you assigned.  Click on the Connect button.

12) Enter the passphrase you wrote down earlier.  Click on the Connect button.

13) Make sure both the Save this network and Start this connection automatically boxes are both checked, and then click close.

14) When the popup asks you to select your location, choose "Home" or "Work".

15) In Internet Explorer, from the Tools menu select Internet Options.

16) In the Connections tab ensure that the "Never dial a connection" radio button is selected.  Click Apply.

17) Click on LAN settings.  In the window that pops up, ensure that all boxes are unchecked and then click "OK".  Then click "OK" again to get out of the Internet Options window.

And that, as they say is that.  You have sucessfully connected your laptop to the router properly, assuming all has gone well.

Now, the caveat is, if you don't understand this, or it gives you trouble, you should call a professional in.  Absolutely, positively, a bonded and insured professional from a large company who does this sort of thing all of the time.  Because honestly, if you're asking on here for setup instructions for a router, learning enough network theory to troubleshoot it properly is not worth your time or effort.