[jem]

Ok the order of events is this;

1) Plug the laptop into the set-top box using an ethernet cable -don't boo the laptop up.

2) Reboot the box. (I was advised once by ntl that the best way is to pull the power lead out of the back and leave it out for 30 seconds then plug it back in.

3) When the STB has finished booting up (look for a green light on the front to stop flashing) then startup the laptop.

4) Start up your browser and navigate to any page. It 'should' display the ntl provisioning page which will be asking for your PID and password which will have been on the original letter which you received from ntl. If not then as already said enter start.ntl into the browser address bar. No one can ever find this letter when they need it so you'll need to get the info from ntl customer services (good luck), or a helpful member of this forum with contacts.

5) You'll need to 'provision' the laptop i.e. register it's MAC address. I believe you can have five devices registered at the same time, but this is fully automatic. You just need to provide a name for the new device - laptop for example.

6) Probably best to reboot the laptop after that; although you can get away with just refreshing the DHCP info; and you should be good to go.

When you get the router in, you'll need to do the same thing with it although this time you will actually be registering the MAC address of the router. The advantage is that if you subsequently get a different PC you won't need to register it as the connection is still going through the router.

It's actually easier to do than describe-shouldn't take more than a few minutes.

Also just a little tip; when setting up the wireless router, it's best to first register it by hard wiring a cable between it and the laptop. Then when you know it's working ok and you have a proper internet connection then you can play about with the wireless settings i.e. encryption etc.

John