The Wireless Connection- "Acquiring Network Address" Problem seems to be something that a lot of people experience when trying to connect a wireless laptop to their livebox.
I bought my wife a new laptop for Christmas, mainly to stop her pestering me so she could go on line.
I have a desktop PC with a wired connection to the Livebox which works fine.
However the new laptop would not connect to it. It would show it as one of the wireles connections available, but would not connect, stalling at "Acquiring Network Address" each time. However, I can use a wired connection to the laptop OK.
The Orange Customer Service desk were helpfull and spent best part of 2 hours going through various setting changes and channel changes to the Livebox without any sucess. They concluded it was a problem with the wireless device in the laptop and said I should contact the manufacturer as it was a 3rd party device (familar story). They said it looked like there was a setting which needed to be turned on/off for the wireless setup.
Searching various forums including this one, it seemed to be a regular problem.
Instead I called my brother who works for a well known computer retailer, as he had sold me the machine.
He brought his laptop over last night which connected to the Livebox straight away (though the Windows connections), along with some of my neighbours wireless connectors, which had no security settings. We were also able to connect the new laptop to the neighbours wireless devices too, but not to my Livebox.
Which in his opinion confirmed the Orange Customer Service conclusion. Why would his Centrino machine connect, but the new one not, which was also a Centrino ?
We followed advice on several threads about changing IP and DNS addresses but could not connect.
At 1.20 am this morning we called it a day, (5 and a half hours later).
My brother asked colleges in work today for a solution, but drew a blank, while I spent today going through various forums looking for a solution.
As a result of the answers I found and combining the soluitions I found, the laptop is now on line with a wireless connection.
This is what I did :-
1. Restored the laptop to factory settings. (Mainly to reset the varoius changes we had made to try and overcome the issue and because the laptop was new, we would not loose any data).
2. On the PC you need to click 'start', 'run' and type in "services.msc" without quotes.
3. Scroll down to wireless connection and right click it.
4. Click "stop" then "start"
5. Then right Click it again and click 'restart'
6. Close the window.
7. Using my desktop PC with a wired connection, I clicked on "Configure the Livebox" icon on the desk top.
Clicking on the link it brings up, I selected "admin" for both the user and password.
Then select "connfigutation" followed by "wireless" and "advanced".
Here you can change the security settings.
First of all I selected "No security".
Then I followed step 8 & 9 below.
8. Right click on the system tray icon for the adapter and click on 'view available connections'. This will pull up a window showing any available networks (and may list others in your area)
9. Choose the network you need to connect to and click connect, (i.e. the Livebox).
The result, I GOT A CONNECTION !
I then disconnected the connection.
10. I then repeated steps 7 to 9, this time selecting WEP security only in the Livebox configuration, typing in the WEP key when propmpted (no spaces, with capitols and 0 = zero not O's) and it worked again.
11. I then repeated steps 7 to 9, this time selecting WAP security only in the Livebox configuration, typing in the WEP key when propmpted (no spaces, with capitols and 0 = zero not O's) and and it worked again.
12. I then repeated steps 7 to 9, this time selecting WEP & WAP security in the Livebox configuration, (this was the original default seting when I first tried to connect), typing in the WEP key when propmpted (no spaces, with capitols and 0 = zero not O's) and and it failed, with the original problem of "acquiring network address".
13. I finally repeated steps 7 to 9, selecting WEP security only in the Livebox configurationa and it worked again.
I have restarted the laptop several times and can connect to the Livebox OK on each attempt and get an internet connection.
I hope this information saves alot of time for people who have experienced the same problems I have.
Please note that I have not used the software on the Orange CD to connect this adiditonal machine to the Livebox, I have done it all through Windows.
The only advantage of the Orange CD is it automaically installs passwords etc.
If your wireless PC is an additional machine connected to the Livebox, it is easy to export and then copy email accounts in outlook, or alternatively set them all up with a wired conncetion before connecting with a wireless one.
I hope this information is helpful.
Please post if it works for you to give others the confidence to follow the steps that I have taken.
Talked it through with my brother tonight and he believes it is down to new laptops that are wireless enabled having a higher security setting than the the Livebox or something silimilar causing a conflict, stopping the connection.
Regards
*Elhana - made thread sticky as a useful guide*
*** Update Note ***
Since posting this solution, I have repeated the steps above to select WPA security instead of WEP, as this gives greater security and is harder to crack. (See some of the posts below for details).
I would recommend that you select WPA security too.
Last edited by jw on Mon Jan 22, 2007 11:37 pm; edited 1 time in total
This is a fairly well known problem, it really comes down to a bunch of wireless devices having trouble with the double security system on the livebox. As it broadcasts it's using WEP and WPA it confuses some devices and so they have trouble connecting.
Man, I just followed what you did and it works perfectly. Whats more, I didnt have to use that crappy Orange installation disk, which is great. Thanks for all your help on this guys.
You are a legend - I hope you have forwarded that solution to Orange because they don't have a clue !!! They are telling everyone the same thing - that the problem is THE LAPTOP and not the livebox!!! LOL
You've saved me a big headache and lots of time on the phone - nice one
Hi There!
Just wanted to echo the other replies. We live in france, have waited 6 months to get a phone line and then they gave us a livebox. Whooppee!! Only thing was my usb adaptor equipped acer worked fine but nothing I tried would get my shiny new toshiba centrino to get past the famous 'acquiring network address'......... I was at the point of slinging the thing out of the window when I read your post today. Ten minutes later it was all working perfectly. So a huge [/b]MERCI from us for your patience, knowledge, and above all for sharing with all of us. This is a common problem in france and i will be pointing forum users here to your post.
Regards
GaryandKim
I also have a new Toshiba laptop and am having the same problem. However unfortunetely this has not worked for me. Everything went according to plan as far as turning the security totally off, my laptop recognised the change and knows it doens't need a password, yet still refuses to connect as per before. I'm really at the point where I want to throw the damn thing in the bin and forget all about it.
If anyone could advise me why my laptop is being so stubborn, I'd be etternally greatful!
I really dont know what to make of this. I've followed all the advice and still nothing. My laptop knows the Livebox 0068 is there and shows it as having a good signal but when I try and connect though the Toshiba Intel(R) Proset/Wireless program it tries and just says "Unable to connect to Livebox 0068".......however as I'm typing it has actually connected! I made sure my loading up the Orange home page, which came through, then the connection died and its reverted back to saying unable to load etc. I really can't understand this.
I did not, I used windows to connect to the Livebox. (I originally used the CD when having the problems but reset the laptop to factory settings as described in original post).
However, when first setting up the Livebox, I used the Orange CD in my desktop PC, which has a wired connection to the Livebox.
If your Livebox is set up and you have downloaded the software from the CD, try removing it and start again, this time using windows to connect with a wireless connection.
I did not, I used windows to connect to the Livebox. (I originally used the CD when having the problems but reset the laptop to factory settings as described in original post).
However, when first setting up the Livebox, I used the Orange CD in my desktop PC, which has a wired connection to the Livebox.
If your Livebox is set up and you have downloaded the software from the CD, try removing it and start again, this time using windows to connect with a wireless connection.
I had used the Orange CD on my laptop for both a wired (which works) and the wireless which did not. I just followed your instructions and un-installed the livebox software. Re-started the computer and it instantly connected to the net for about a minute, everything loaded fine, then it lost connection and now refuses to connect again.
Just to clarify, the actual signal being picked up by my wireless thingy is on the top bar so its not a signal problem.
I turned off my livebox for a minute or two, restarted my laptop and it connected to the net instantly....the signal strength was registering as "excellent" with the occasional sudden "poor" for some reason. It stayed connected whilst I didn't do anything, but as soon as I opened internet explorer it died its usual death and now won't reconnect again. I've had enough for one day, time for a few hours sleep.
This is a fairly well known problem, it really comes down to a bunch of wireless devices having trouble with the double security system on the livebox. As it broadcasts it's using WEP and WPA it confuses some devices and so they have trouble connecting.
Agree. Stupid thing is the configuration menu for setting this.
1 WPA or WEP
2 WPA only
3 WEP only
4 No security.
1 makes no sense. If you are going to use one or the other you would select that as per the second or third option. Certainly would not recommend mixing. Trust good old Orange to over complicate things.
This is a fairly well known problem, it really comes down to a bunch of wireless devices having trouble with the double security system on the livebox. As it broadcasts it's using WEP and WPA it confuses some devices and so they have trouble connecting.
Agree. Stupid thing is the configuration menu for setting this.
1 WPA or WEP
2 WPA only
3 WEP only
4 No security.
1 makes no sense. If you are going to use one or the other you would select that as per the second or third option. Certainly would not recommend mixing. Trust good old Orange to over complicate things.
Actually most routers defaul is both turned on.
Though the original sollution works, I would recommend simply entering the config pages and using WPA only instead. The reason been a WEP key can be cracked in a matter of second by the correct software, a WPA key cannot and is much more secure.
It has been a known issue with livebox's and third party adaptors for quite a while, but for some reason at Orange it was only communicated to Orange tech staff recently, even though the better agents have known about this fix for months.
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