Used Routers Can Create Whole New Problems

I just purchased a used D-Link DI-784 router from a guy on eBay. After I received the router, I connected it to my network. The router appears to have DHCP enabled because it assigned an IP address to my wired PC, and I was surfing the net in minutes. Configuring my wireless notebook, on the other hand, didn’t go as smoothly. For some reason, it just can’t communicate with the router. I’ve tired doing a release/renew on the notebook multiple times, but all I get is a 169 IP address.

So I looked at the router’s configuration using its built-in
Web-based management utility. According to the guy I bought it from, the default IP address was 192.169.0.1 with a username of “admin” and no password. When I tried accessing the router through my Web browser, I was prompted for my username and password, but after I entered it, I received a 401 unauthorized error.

I tried to access it multiple times, but it keeps happening. Even though it seems to work with my wired PCs, I think this unit might be defective. I tried contacting the guy I purchased it from on eBay, but he stopped returning my e-mails. Do you have any idea why this is happening and if there is anything I can do to fix it? Thanks!

The fact that your router is working with your wired machines I think is a pretty good indication that the unit is functioning OK, so I don’t think it’s defective. The more likely scenario is that the previous owner had originally configured it to use WEP encryption. Without those security settings, your wireless notebook can’t connect to the network.

Additionally, I think that the gentleman you purchased the router from simply forgot the actual username and password he had assigned to the router and was quoting you the default one found in the documentation. That would explain why you are receiving a 401 unauthorized error whenever you attempt to log into the router. The username and/or password you’re entering are wrong.

The easiest way to correct this problem is to reset the router back to the factory default settings. The following reset procedure will completely restore the default settings to your D-Link DI-784 router; including the username and password.

Step 1 – Locate the reset pinhole on the back of the unit.
Step 2 – With the unit powered on, press and hold the Reset button.
Step 3 – Hold the Reset button for about 10 seconds.
Step 4 – Release the Reset button.

Step 5 – The unit will reboot. Allow 20-to-30 seconds before reconnecting.

Step 6 – The device is now reset to factory defaults.

Note: Do not recycle power during the reset procedure.

The default user name for most D-Link devices is “admin” and the password is left blank. This should get you access to the router’s configuration menu. Once there, just reset WEP to your own preferences and you should be online in no time. Good Luck!

I’m a public relations manager and spend a great deal of time downloading files from the Internet. These files include mostly software, video footage and various other types of media formats (JPG, MP3, TIF and so on.). Our office is equipped with a T1 line that’s very fast, but for some reason I can never seem to download more then two items at a time. When I try to initiate a third download, it just sort of sits there waiting for one of the first two downloads to finish. Often the files I am downloading are very large, particularly when dealing with video. Being limited to only two downloads really hampers my productivity. Why can’t I download more then two files at a time, and is there anyway that I can get around this? Thanks!

I’m sure we’ve all come across this situation at one time or another, and you’re right — it can be quite a hindrance when you have time constraints. I’ve have run into this problem on a few occasions and was always thought that it was a limitation that a Web master implemented on a site to prevent people from consuming all of their bandwidth. Recently, though, I discovered that Microsoft designed this limitation as part of Internet Explorer, and it’s a normal function of the browser.

Microsoft did this to comply with the Internet Standards Committee’s mandate that people can download only two files simultaneously and queue a third. However, as connection speeds increase and the number of total connections that are allowed to Internet servers increase, the two-connection limit may be restrictive. Fortunately, there’s an easy way to circumvent this limitation, but doing so constitutes a violation of Internet standards and is not recommended by Microsoft, so use this information at your discretion.

All you need to do is make a small change to your system registry. Before making any changes to your system, though, I would highly recommend you make a backup of your system registry first. If the registry becomes damaged or corrupted, it could disable your system. I found a detailed description with step-by-step instructions for backing up your registry in multiple Windows operating systems. Take a minute and follow them before going any further.

Once you’ve backed up your PC’s registry, we can begin. Turn off any running applications, especially Internet Explorer. These instructions will let you increase the number of simultaneous connections from two to 10:

Step 1 – Click on the Start button and select Run.

Step 2 – On the Run line type Regedt32.exe and hit Enter. This will launch the Registry Editor
Step 3 – Locate the following key in the registry:
HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionInternet Settings
Step 4 – Click on the Internet Settings Key. Now go to the Edit menu, point to NEW click DWORD Value.
Step 5
Type MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server for the name of this DWORD Value.
Step
6
– Double-click on the MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server key you just created and enter the following information:

Value data: 10 Base: Decimal

When finished press OK
Step 7 – Repeat steps 4 and 5. This time name the key MaxConnectionsPerServer and assign it the same values as indicated in Step 6.
Step 8 – Close the Registry Editor.

That’s all there is to it! Now you can download up to 10 files simultaneously. Hope this helps you get out of the office a little earlier. Good
Luck!

Adapted from PracticallyNetworked.com, part of the EarthWeb.com Network.

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