Can't connect to secure wireless

[Menaice]

I got a dell Inspiron 6000 in my shop, They have always had problems connecting to their home wireless most it will stay connected is about 5 minutes. Then won't connect again. They brought it in and it was just congested with infections. So i have nuked and paved the system and reinstalled all the drivers. It will not connect to a secure wireless network. I took a bran new linksys out of the box i have here enabled wireless security WEP and it just gives it a 169 address (no connectivity) so i always disabled the onboard wireless and put in a linksys usb wireless dongle... does the same thing.... If i disable the wireless security on the router it connects right away I know the network key i put in is correct... I have also updated the bois on the laptop aswell. I have NO IDEA why it works fine on a unsecured wireless but will not connect to a secure wireless on the same bran new router..... it is doing the same thing with their netgear wireless router at home aswell

Anyone have any insight?

 

[hardtoremember]

Have you tried WPA?

-check out my filler text-

 

[Menaice]

Its running xp.. and no i have not tried WPA because the client has about 3 other laptops on their home network and they all use the secured network with WEP just fine. Its only this one dell that will not connect secured... what i don't understand is why is it that it will connect un-secured to the wireless but not secured... SO CONFUSED

 

[StringTech]

Wireless Utility Software

I'm assuming you already have the latest wifi driver.
Are you using Windows (WZC) to manage your wireless connection?

Have you tried the wireless utility software for the built-in card or tha USB wifi adapter?

I had a simiilar thing happened to one of the laptops that I worked on , I downloaded the Intel® PROSet/Wireless WiFi Connection Utility instead of using Windows to manage the wireless connection.

Dell has its own - http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/network/p70008/en/utility.htm

 

[coco3_man]

I'm assuming you already have the latest wifi driver.
Are you using Windows (WZC) to manage your wireless connection?

Have you tried the wireless utility software for the built-in card or tha USB wifi adapter?

I had a simiilar thing happened to one of the laptops that I worked on , I downloaded the Intel® PROSet/Wireless WiFi Connection Utility instead of using Windows to manage the wireless connection.

Dell has its own - http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/network/p70008/en/utility.htm

I have seen where you have to use the Intel software to connect with WEP on Dells. If using the Windows connection, try the Intel software. If already using the Intel software I would recommend trying WPA and if it works, convert all the other computers.

Sometimes, a work around is the only option to same time and $$. In the end, they would all be conected.

Tom

 

[Seatek]

I would recommend trying WPA and if it works, convert all the other computers.

To me this is not a workaround, if they are at all concerned with wireless security then they should not be using WEP anyways. WEP can be cracked in less then 2 minutes with only about a half day of researching how to do it (backtrack). I have hacked (but not abused) all the WEP connections around my house (just to see if I could), and definately recommend anyone setting up a wireless network to put WEP out of the brain. At least with WPA the only way to hack it would be a rather large dictionary, and even this rarely works. WEP<--- old school and dead to me.

Brice L.

 

[coco3_man]

To me this is not a workaround,...

Very true, more like "Hey, let's just upgrade your security..." Maybe it won't work because it considers WEP to weak.... hehe

Tom

 

[vdub12]

To me this is not a workaround, if they are at all concerned with wireless security then they should not be using WEP anyways. WEP can be cracked in less then 2 minutes with only about a half day of researching how to do it (backtrack). I have hacked (but not abused) all the WEP connections around my house (just to see if I could), and definately recommend anyone setting up a wireless network to put WEP out of the brain. At least with WPA the only way to hack it would be a rather large dictionary, and even this rarely works. WEP<--- old school and dead to me.

Brice L.

There are also ways to hack WPA that are real easy. I would go with WPA2 but some older wifi cards don't support it. WPA takes a little more work but can be hacked.

If they want to stick with WEP honestly they are better off using nothing in my opinion.

 

[trapped]

I wouldn't say WEP is better than nothing. It keeps out the random neighbors which is all most people care about. As you said, WPA (and WPA2) is fairly easily cracked if you use a weak passphrase (which most people do).

Having said that I wouldn't recommend that a customer use WEP or even WPA unless there was a legacy client and that was the only choice.

If it were a business customer and they needed to use legacy devices I would recommend they create a separate SSID and VLAN it so access to the network is limited.

 

[vdub12]

I wouldn't say WEP is better than nothing. It keeps out the random neighbors which is all most people care about. As you said, WPA (and WPA2) is fairly easily cracked if you use a weak passphrase (which most people do).

Having said that I wouldn't recommend that a customer use WEP or even WPA unless there was a legacy client and that was the only choice.

If it were a business customer and they needed to use legacy devices I would recommend they create a separate SSID and VLAN it so access to the network is limited.

I use to do that with my home network. I had a virtual access point that was on a separate vlan that used wep because my dad had an old notebook he would use when he came over to visit. However, its kind of hard to share files that way, lol.

 

[Smooth Gecko]

I recently had a case where two of three computers would connect OK.
We got the third one on by changing the channel on the router.
(All the computers were set to auto)
Go figure. It was a Toshiba laptop and a Sitecom router.

 

[Petes_IT]

Hi, sorry to come in another post but I have a similar issue. I have an acer extensa 2300 I just reformatted for a client. Ive installed the latest drivers, upgraded the install from sp2 to SP3. Install the acer drivers. Try to connect to my router and all I get is "acquiring network address". After uninstalling the drivers and reinstalling, deleting the profile and recreating it I connected via cable. All OK.

So I turned off security on my router and it worked. Ok I check the settings on the laptop to ensure that the type of security is the same (WPA-PSK) and try to connect. Nothing same message. Try retyping the key. Still same message.

Oh. also checked the channel settings in the wireless card properties..Channel 1 same as my router.

I'm at a loss. Any suggestions?

Peter

 

[anonymous Mac Tech]

Do you have an ACL set up on the router filtering MAC addresses. Seems to be something commonly forgotten about. Forgot about it once or twice myself on my network.

 

[Petes_IT]

Thanks i dont have ACL set up. I reformatted and made sure that I identified the right drivers and viola it works. I think there must have been a problem on the installation of the drivers the first time.

Thanks for your help.