LINKSYS WRT54G--HELP!

"getting through to the router" isn't a terribly useful error message. Kindly do not paraphrase or mutilate error messages. They're quite useful in decoding the cause.

My guess(tm) is that your thinkpad didn't get an IP address from the router. Run: Start -> Run -> cmd ipconfig If the IP address is 192.168.1.xxx, it's working. If the IP address is 169.254.xxx.xxx you didn't get an IP address from the routers DHCP server. IF the IP address is 0.0.0.0, wait a little while and try IPCONFIG again.

If you're getting 169.254.xxx.xxx, try this experiment. Turn off encryption for now. Try the thinkpad again. If it now obtains an IP address, you have a problem with the encryption. Most likely, it's the difference between the ASCII to Hex key conversion between the Netgear and Linksys. Switch the encryption key to hex, use a hex key, and it will work.

I figured out the problem. My portable telephone(s) were causing interference on the Thinkpad (but not the dell for some reason?). So, I changed the channel on the linksys router set up from 6, to 11, then finally to 1, where it seems to work now.

Being a bit ignorant about how this works, and having a similar problem in that my (only) PC can see the router with a 100% excellent signal, I don't follow how you can see the router but the channel setting will still have a bearing on whether you can view a website.

I would have thought that interference would also affect the signal.