WNR2000 - Setup Problems (and Solutions!)..and a question

[blueberry]

So, I obtained the WNR2000 to set up a small home network. The network would include a desktop PC running XP and a laptop with Vista. Well, I set up the router according to instructions with the desktop PC. Worked fine having it wired up through the router. However, I could not for the life of me get the laptop to pick up the wireless signal. However if I plugged the laptop into the cat-5 cable I could get internet. So, no problems there. After lots of fiddling I called the tech support. He ran through several different settings changes on the desktop and several on the laptop. (Case # 7610293 if any NetGear people want to look it up.) Nothing worked, and he finally gave up and told me that there was a problem with my laptop. No I don't know, no maybe, no I'm sorry I couldn't help you, nope its your laptop's problem. And I had detected and used other networks with that laptop before, just not my personal network.

So as a last ditch effort I used the router's installer cd on the laptop, and followed the instructions like I had set up my desktop. Partially through the installation the laptop started to detect the wireless network. I did run into a problem with the 401 forbidden when I tried to login to 192.168.1.1 or routerlogin.net so I could not complete the setup. Either way, It started working and I could use the internet. I wired my desktop backup and I could use the login there to change settings.

Now I'm wondering why I could not login to the router setup from the laptop. The only reason I could fathom was that I had installed a fix to prevent a browser spoofing/redirect vulnerability. Anyone have thoughts or ideas on that one?

[fordem]

Are you sure it was a 401 "forbidden"??

The error numbers and messages have specific meanings and can be used to diagnose where the problem lies.

401 does not correspond with "forbidden" but rather with "unauthorized" (403 is forbidden) and although forbidden and unauthorized may appear to be related or synonymous, in fact they are not.

A 401 unauthorized message indicates that you did not provide the correct credentials when attempting to login and as such the web server has denied you access.