ad-hoc network connection

[phill]

hi there,

just got my wii, and having the usual internet connection problems - for me its error 51030 - "unable to find an access point. Please confirm SSID" - i have def typed the right WEP password in.

however, the wii can detect my network when it searches to it - im not a networking specialist, so my knowledge of how it all works is limited.

ive got an wireless ad-hoc connection from my wii to a computer downstairs running as an ad-hoc server - the reason why i dont have a router is that ive got a usb modem, which is a pain in the ass - however, from reading other threads it seems the wii should still connect.

ive tried putting the ip in manually - putting in the ip address of the adhoc computer and its subnet mask - i have no address for the default router.

not really sure what to do or whether what ive been doing is right...is there any other way of getting round this? do ad-hoc networks actually work with the wii? any comments would be appreciated as long as theyre useful

 

[vagrant]

1) Try switching to a 64 bit encryption if it isn't already.

2) Make sure the key you put in the wii is the key you have selected on the router.

3) If that doesn't work try disabling wep and see if it works then.

4) If you really need security, try using WPA instead.

 

[Goots]

When you say "ive tried putting the ip in manually - putting in the ip address of the adhoc computer and its subnet mask" then that sounds to me like you're typing in the same address as your ad-hoc computer. This is fine if you are talking about the default gateway ip (and the subnet masks should be identical too), but if you're talking about the Wii ip then it should be something different to your ad-hoc server.

eg, if your server is 192.168.1.2|255.255.255.255, then set the wii to 192.168.1.5|255.255.255.255, but check that the ip is free first by pinging it with the Dos ping command.

 

[vagrant]

When you say "ive tried putting the ip in manually - putting in the ip address of the adhoc computer and its subnet mask" then that sounds to me like you're typing in the same address as your ad-hoc computer. This is fine if you are talking about the default gateway ip (and the subnet masks should be identical too), but if you're talking about the Wii ip then it should be something different to your ad-hoc server.

eg, if your server is 192.168.1.2|255.255.255.255, then set the wii to 192.168.1.5|255.255.255.255, but check that the ip is free first by pinging it with the Dos ping command.

You mean 255.255.255.0

 

[Goots]

Ok mister fancy pants

 

[vagrant]

Ok mister fancy pants

Just saying, if you have a 255.255.255.255 mask it will assume you have 0 host addresses.

 

[Goots]

Yeah sorry, didn't mean to come across as being testy.

You are of course correct, the subnet mask for 192.168.1.2 should indeed be 255.255.255.0

It's been ages since I manually set anything up

 

[vagrant]

Yeah sorry, didn't mean to come across as being testy.

You are of course correct, the subnet mask for 192.168.1.2 should indeed be 255.255.255.0

It's been ages since I manually set anything up

I have it all pretty down pat, considering they drill it in you when you take Cisco classes.

subnetting is evil.

 

[phill]

ok cheers for the help people sofar...so:

my ad-hoc computer has an ip address of 192.168.0.1, with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0.

so what show i put in the wii settings for manual IP address - do i have to fill in the default router at all?

oh, and my WEP encryption is 128 bit (i think) - will this be a problem?

cheers

 

[vagrant]

ok cheers for the help people sofar...so:

my ad-hoc computer has an ip address of 192.168.0.1, with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0.

so what show i put in the wii settings for manual IP address - do i have to fill in the default router at all?

oh, and my WEP encryption is 128 bit (i think) - will this be a problem?

cheers

Make the ip for your Wii something like 192.168.0.2

Default Gateway: 192.168.0.1
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0

And the 128 bit wep has been a problem with some people. It is just a problem in general sometimes with wifi.

You should have first disabled WEP to make sure it is not your problem.

 

[Goots]

If that's the ip of your ad-hoc PC, I would put that as the default gateway in the Wii network settings. Your Wii ip needs to be something in the range 192.168.0.2 - 192.168.0.255 but be careful, because some of these ip's might be used by other equipment on your network.

Not exactly sure how you have your ad-hoc pc set up, but before you assign any ip to your Wii, use the Ping command to make sure it's not already in use.

(Start -> Run, type in CMD)
type 'ping 192.168.0.<whatever number you want the Wii ip to be>'
if you get no repsonse when all your network equipment is connected and powered up, then it's safe to assume that you can use that ip for your Wii.

Type 'exit' to close the dos box.

You might have to allow that ip in ur ad-hoc setup, depends how you have it set up.

If I were you, I'd buy a modem-router They are so much simpler, most have a decent firewall and you won't need to have your ad-hoc pc turned on in order to connect your Wii (or anything else) to the net.

 

[vagrant]

Don't use 192.168.0.255. That is broadcast.

 

[phill]

aarrrrggg - this is really beginning to annoy me!

ive tried turning off WEP, and using differing ip details as detailed above but it still doesnt connect due to an Error 51032 - Even tho it finds the wireless access point and has the 'unlocked' icon...

ive pinged the ip address to make sure no other network devices are on the same address, and that cant find anything...

beginning to lose hope, any suggestions welcome - is there any settings on the ad-hoc host which i need to tweak??

cheers

 

[Goots]

It's possible that your ad-hoc setup is using mac-filtering which is a security measure used alongside WEP encryption. Obviously your Wii can see your wireless network, an see that it isn't encrypted hence the open padlock.

A mac address is a unique code given to every piece of networkable hardware. It comes in the form xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx, where xx can be 00 to FF (hexadecimal notation). Basically, there is sometimes a list of "allowed mac codes" on the server, and it only allows a wireless device to connect if it matches one of these codes. So even if someone was to guess your WEP key which is highly unlikely, they still can't connect unless the mac address of their pc is in your mac filter list.

I use a combination of WEP and mac filtering on my system. Incidentally, I have connected the Wii using 128bit WEP encryption with no problem at all. There are so many things that could be blocking your access, it's hard to nail it down without actually being there

I'm wondering if the Wii actually *needs* WEP encryption, or could it work over an unencrypted wireless network. Not sure on that one.

Are you running any software on the ad-hoc pc to act as a wireless server ??

[update]: OK, I've since found out that the Wii can connect to unencrypted networks, so that's not your problem.

Might be worth you reading this...

HELPFILE

... which might help.

Another problem might be that even though you have manually assigned an ip for your Wii, your ad-hoc pc isn't assigning a DNS server. You should maybe point the Wii to the ad-hoc pc ip for the dns server too, worth a try.

And make sure the SSID that you entered into the Wii matches *exactly* the SSID of your wireless network. If you had "broadcast SSID" enabled on your server, you probably just selected it from a list when the Wii found all available networks. In this case, you won't have to type anything in, and the SSID setup field should already be filled in correctly. But it is important.

 

[vagrant]

aarrrrggg - this is really beginning to annoy me!

ive tried turning off WEP, and using differing ip details as detailed above but it still doesnt connect due to an Error 51032 - Even tho it finds the wireless access point and has the 'unlocked' icon...

ive pinged the ip address to make sure no other network devices are on the same address, and that cant find anything...

beginning to lose hope, any suggestions welcome - is there any settings on the ad-hoc host which i need to tweak??

cheers

It must be something with the USB modem. Do you have two connections listed on that computer? One for the wireless ad-hoc and one for the incoming from the modem?