Can't make wireless connection between router to my new Vista Laptom

[yalamo]

Just got a new Lenovo N100 Vista Home Premium laptop. Right now my router works directly with my desktop PC and by wireless with another laptop (XP Home) that I have.

The router is set up with encryption disabled, but with MAC address access control.

So I went to "getmac" in the DOS prompt on my new laptop, and got 3 MAC addresses, all of which say "Media Disconnected" under transport name. I added 2 of them to my router access list just to be on the safe side. I can see my router in the list of networks on the laptop. It has no network name, but it shows the MAC address of my router, with the proper channel. But I CAN'T CONNECT. If I try, it tells me "You may need to configure your system to support the authentication method that is in use." HOW?

How do I connect wirelessly to my router?

 

[yalamo]

If anyone was planning to reply to my post, then I thank them in advance, but I've solved my problem.

I don't know how I solved it, but I did. After about 20 different tries at connecting the laptop to my network, with minor changes each time, it finally connected to my router!

I'm not sure if it was because I used a different MAC address for the laptop (as I said, 3 showed up under the "getmac" command; I'm guessing one was for the network card, one for the RF card, and one for bluetooth, but MS won't tell you that), or I reset the laptop, or I reset the router, or all of them, or something else, but it finally worked. The instructions that appeared in Windows were completely useless.

One final question - do they make it difficult for you out of meanness or stupidity?

 

[HughLerwill]

IMHO Mac address filtering is of little consequence if you have WPA security in force with a good LONG key.

If you must have it and you want to connect a new device.

1. Turn mac filtering off
2. Connect the new device
3. Note the mac address recorded for the connection in the router's log
4. Enter the mac address logged into the allowed list of mac addresses
5. Turn mac filtering back on

Mac address filtering without WPA is theoretically insecure because it can be sniffed and then faked by a potential intruder.

 

[yalamo]

Thanks, HughLerwill, but as I mentioned before, I already solved (or more correctly, outlasted) my problem.

I'm aware of the vulnerability of MAC filtering to sniffing, but:

1. Encryption seems to slow down the Internet response on my old laptop.
2. I once took my laptop outside near my house, and I couldn't pick up anything from my router. (I barely see the router inside my house when I'm a few rooms away,)
3. I never use the laptop for communications with my bank, which is really the only internet use I wouldn't want exposed.
4. I've never seen people with sniffers lurking in the neighborhood.

Thanks, anyway.