How do I get my second computer hooked up to the internet?

elizabeth_68

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Dec 29, 2011
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I have cable internet. Do I need a second modem for the second computer. I have a router and modem hooked up to the first computer, I have wirless for my laptop. Having trouble getting second computer hooked up.
 

cadder

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Nov 17, 2008
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The modem connects to the cable, the router connects to the modem, all of your computers connect to the router. It sounds like you already have everything that you need. If you have a wireless router it probably has a password protecting the wifi from unauthorized users, so you would have to enter that password into your laptop. There should be an item on the start menu tray that tells you if you are connected to the wifi or if your computer detects the wifi. Go through that, tell it to search for wifi connections, pick the one that belongs to you, tell it to connect, enter the password, and that should be all that it takes. If you have difficulty with this you could try connecting directly from the computer to the router with a network cable. If this works then you should be able to reach the network with wifi.
 

sardonicjester

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No you do not need a second modem. You should just have to connect the second computer to the router using an ethernet cable.

It should be fairly straight forward.


More details about your exact issue would help clarify. (how are you trying to connect to the internet with your second computer right now, that isnt working?, are you receiving errors?, did you setup your second computer with the correct security password to use the router?)
 
Is the second computer the laptop, or do you actually have three computers?
Assuming the router is set to provide DHCP services, any device attached to it should be assigned a separate internal IP address (probably a 192.168.xx.xx number) and should be able to connect to the Internet.
Is the router a wireless router? If not, you'll need to use a standard Ethernet cable for your laptop. If it is wireless, make sure you have its security settings correct, and the laptop matches what you have set (e.g. WPA2 using TKIP, and the same passkey entered on both).
 

cadder

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I read the OP again and it isn't 100% clear. When you say "I have wireless" does that mean your router has wireless, your laptop has wireless, or both? In order to use wireless to connect you will need a computer that has wireless capability AND a router that has wireless. Some router's don't have wireless, such as the one in my office, but a lot of internet providers will give you a router that will do wireless. Those will almost surely have a password built in that you will need to use. If your router does not have wireless builtin then you will need a different router or you will need to add a wireless access point to it, or connect your laptop with a wire.