Expert: Hrire Mikaelian - 11/5/2009

Question
QUESTION: Hello Hrire,

I can't seem to connect my Dell Axim x51v to my portable mi-fi mobile broadband modem.

I downloaded vxUtil to my PDA to try to ascertain IP address information, but there is none showing under my wireless card.  My Axim x51v is running Windows Mobile 6 (football), and it can clearly see the mi-fi modem on my desk, and I actually connected to it last night for a while.  I've tried pinging the laptop connected successfully to my mi-fi modem, and my PDA pings it successfully, but it never fully connects to the mi-fi modem itself.  It just lists "connecting" the whole time.

I'm not sure what else to do, so if you could provide me with any insight, I'd be really grateful.

Thanks,

Scott



ANSWER: Hi Scott.

I haven't worked too much with this specific product, but I have a feeling that an IP address is not properly being assigned to your Dell Axim device.  If you are using Windows Mobile, you should still be able to access a command prompt Start / Programs / Accessories / Command prompt and from there, type IPCONFIG then ENTER.

This will tell us your IP address.  Then, we will have to find a way to make it so that you can connect to the wi-fi modem itself.  If it is not connecting, there probably is a setting on your Wifi modem that will allow (enable) DHCP which will then assign an IP address to the Dell Axim unit.

Do you have another computer/pc that you can compare with so that you can troubleshoot this way on the same network?  

This is some very basic outlines for tips, but try a few things and get back to me if you have any further questions...

Hrire.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hello again Hrire,

Thank you very much for getting back to me on this.  It sure is frustrating!

I looked for an ipconfig utility (or even command prompt) in my Axim's OS, but there simply isn't one.  I downloaded that vxUtil freeware instead to ascertain IP address info.  Under my PDA's WLAN name, there is 0.0.0.0 for the IP address, and there are empty fields next to the subnet mask, default gateway, etc. fields that follow.

My PDA actually showed a little pop-up message that said it could not connect to my Mi-Fi because it couldn't retrieve a server-assigned IP address, so, as you stated, that's definitely the problem.

The trick thing with this Mi-Fi device (and it's brand new), there isn't a control panel that I can access to switch on DHCP somewhere.  Or, I don't know how to anyway...

Thanks again


Answer
Hi Scott.

From your computer (that's also attached to your mifi network), you should be able to see the HOST or DEFAULT GATEWAY when you type in IPCONFIG from the command promput.

From here, you will need to logon to your router's configuration page.  You would do this from a web browser.  So, for example, if your DEFAULT GATEWAY is 192.168.1.1 , you would go to a web browser and type in http://192.168.1.1  You will be then prompted with a userid/password (probably the default ones for this type of unit) and there are configuration pages where you can configure DHCP to be ON.  This will then allow your PDA to get DHCP IPs assigned to it.

I hope this takes you one step closer to resolving this issue, but again, feel free to contact me again if needed!