Help with XP configuration of wireless-g connection with encryption

[mofohead]

Before I even start I would like to say that I have already tried and Linksys has been no help to me with this issue.

I have 3 customers and 2 friends, all with different PCs running XP and the same Linksys equipment, and they are all experiencing the same issue. We all have Linksys wireless-g equipment. One laptop (presario 2100) has an HP wireless-g notebook card built in. That wireless card does not have its own utility to configure the connection. So you have to let XP configure it. The other PCs have Linksys wireless-g PCI cards (WMP54G) which, surprisingly enough, also does not have a Linksys utility to configure the connection so you have to let XP configure the connection. Here is the problem: I can not establish a connection with 128-bit encryption enabled. With the encryption enabled the wireless cards can see the router but can not obtain an IP address. The cards will send packets of data but won't receive even a single packet of data. Once I disable the encryption the connection is fine, the cards send and receive packets and obtain IPs fine.

I should also mention that on my own laptop I'm not having these problems bacause my built in Prism wireless-g card has its own utility to configure and handle the connection so I can turn off the option to let XP configure.

I have configured quite a few wireless connections so I'm not exactly new to this. Basically what I have been able to figure out is that if the wireless card has it's own utility to configure and handle the wireless-g connection then 128-bit encryption is no problem at all. On the other hand, if I do not have a utility to configure the connection and I have to let XP do it.....no encryption or it won't work.

One more important point that I forgot to mention.....the cd's that came with the Linksys wireless PCI cards don't work. When I double click the setup for the wireless utility I get an hour glass for a second or two then nothing. So I went to Linksys's web, downloaded the utility for XP and got the exact same results. This has happened on every PC that is using the PCI wireless card. Can anyone shed some light on whether this is an XP issue or Linksys issue. When I contacted Linksys they acted as though I was crazy and that it was a fluke that the cd didn't work. I might have been able to believe that it was a fluke had it not happened to me on 5 different PC all running XP.

Please help if anyone can. Thanks in advanced for the info.

 

[bcastner]

1. The wmp54g utility is not for use under XP. It can be used if wireless zero is disabled, but the installation instructions are clear: you install the software before adding the board to the machine. You will have no joy trying it any other way.

To be honest, do not use it under XP.

2. In all XP cases, please use download and apply the Wireless Upgrade rollup package. It is not pushed through Windows Update:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=826942

3. The most common reason for WEP failures is that the passphrase is used rather than the generated key. The logic is different between the adapters and the router.

Go to the router setup and enter the passphrase, and let it generate the key. It is the key you need to enter on the client adapters, not the passphrase.

Note: When reading the WEP key, make sure that you click the text box that the key is in, and press your right-arrow key to see the entire key (only the first 18 characters show up in the box - you have to scroll to see the remaining 8).