I am at a relative's house. They already have a wireless network set-up. I find their network when I search for wireless networks in range. I click their network and type in their password which it confirms. Thereafter, when I go to actually connect it, the progress-bar screen opens-up which states: "waiting for network to be ready...". It stays at that state for awhile, and thereafter, gives-up and goes back to the "choose a wireless network" window. Please help. Thank you for your time and assistence.1 person got this answerI do too

It would seem that the password and/or encryption method (WEP, WPA, WPA2-PSK) you have for this network is incorrect.MS-MVP - Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!

Thank you for your quick reply. How would I ensure and correct the encryption method? (Sorry, I am not too familiar with all this.)

I would ask the person who owns the router.MS-MVP - Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!

K, well, it seems as though I have confirmed that and made sure all of that is correct as well. Anything else it could be? My netbook is XP while home notebook (along with other notebook which is connected wirelessly) is VISTA. Could that be an issue?

No, Vista machines connect perfectly well to wireless networks. Since you find the network, you know the wireless hardware on your computer works fine. Since I don't know what kind of wireless router is in use, anything else would just be a guess. Perhaps the router is an older one that doesn't work well with Vista. Perhaps the information the owner has about the encryption level/password is incorrect. Have them go into the router's configuration utility and confirm what is really being used.MS-MVP - Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!

Thanks again for all your help. They are using a CISCO Linksys router. As far as the encryption level and all, I personally went and did an ipconfig in run function and typed my IP Addy to the browser and went through the options and confirmed it all.

OK, Vista should certainly work with that router. You need to go into the router's configuration utility as I already said, not use ipconfig on the computer. Ipconfig will not show you anything about the encryption and passphrase used. And presumably you can connect to other wireless networks elsewhere, so you know your hardware and software (Windows) functions are OK, yes? Because if you can't, then we need to troubleshoot differently. I'll give you my standard "setting up a router" information, which includes how to access the router's configuration utility. After that, you're on your own. If you are really staying at a friend's house and have permission to access their wireless network, getting into the router's utility will be no problem for you. I don't say this to hurt your feelings, but this is what I'm comfortable doing. Worse comes to worse, just connect wired (ethernet cable) during your visit. ***** To configure the router: Have a computer connected to the router with an ethernet cable. Examples given are for a Linksys router. Refer to your router manual or the router mftr.'s website for default settings if you don't have a Linksys. Open a browser such as Internet Explorer or Firefox and in the addressbar type: http://192.168.1.1 [enter] (this is the router's default IP address, which varies from router to router so check your manual) This will bring you to router's login screen. The default username is left blank and the Linksys default password is "admin" without the quotes. Enter that information. You are now in the router's configuration utility. Your configuration utility may differ slightly from mine. The first thing to do is change the default password because *everyone* knows the default passwords for various routers. Click on the Administration link at the top of the page. Enter your new password. WRITE IT DOWN SOMEWHERE YOU WILL NOT LOSE IT. Re-enter the password to confirm it and click the Save Settings button at the bottom of the page. The router will restart and present you with the login box again. Leave the username blank and put in your new password to get back into the configuration utility. Now click on the Wireless link at the top of the page. Change the Wireless Network Name (SSID) from the default to something you will recognize. I suggest that my clients not use their family name as the SSID. For example, you might wish to name your wireless network "CastleAnthrax" or the like. ;-) Click the Save Settings and when you get the prompt that your changes were successful, click on the Wireless Security link which is right next to the Basic Wireless Settings link (where you changed your SSID). Most computers purchased within the last 4 years have wireless hardware that will support WPA2-Personal (also called WPA2-PSK). This is the encryption level you want. If your wireless hardware is older, use WPA. Do not use WEP as that is easily cracked within minutes. So go ahead and set the Security Mode to WPA2-Personal. Do that and enter a passphrase. For example, you might use the passphrase, "Here be dragons, beware you scurvy dogs!". The passphrase is what you will enter on any computers that are allowed to connect to the wireless network. WRITE IT DOWN SOMEWHERE YOU WILL NOT LOSE IT. At this point, your router is configured and if the computer you were using to configure the router is normally going to connect wirelessly, disconnect the ethernet cable and the computer's wireless feature should see your new network. Enter the passphrase you created (exactly as you wrote it with all capitalization and punctuation) to join the network and start surfing. ***** MS-MVP - Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!