Help?? Wireless Network Question.

[s.p.c]

Ok. So stupid question- baffling at least.

I just moved and am resetting up my home wireless network. All so easy right? Well it should be. Anyways, set it up, turn on encryption do the do- and great. Now try the computers. Two out of three connect. Fuck. So I reset the wireless and try again, Encryption on, still one computer won't connect.

So I reset the wireless one more time and connect to the reset wireless with the computer that can't connect to the encrypted network- it connects unencrypted, then turn on encryption, refresh, and can no longer connect. However, the other two computers are still fine.

What gives? I know I am typing my encryption password right, and everything else is fine and the computer connects to my network when it is not password protected so... any ideas? I am stumped and short of tossing the cpu out the window, i need some help.

thanks.

[Yukonrider]

Make sure all the encryption types are the same, I had to change my whole network once so I could make this laptop work on it.

[s.p.c]

.... confused.

do you mean that the cpus themselves will have a separate encryption type? or it is just the network.

to make matters worse, the windows os is in japanese so i don't know what the hell i am doing when i start messing around.

[kalisto]

When you set up a password on your router, there's a password TYPE, and a password

WEP
WPA
WPA2

are all pretty common.

When you go enter in the password on the computer, it does have to correspond with the password type on the router.

Remember once you refresh from unencrypted to encrypted, you must change your network settings on your computer.

[Skidog]

Yeah i second checking that the wi-fi card in the "affected" computer can indeed "talk" the same encryption. Older cards can't do the higher level encryption. Thats what it sounds like it is to me.

[RShea]

Which OS is involved on the one that does not connect? What did you select for the encryption type- WPA, WPA2, or WEP? WEP is the most universal - for older OS's many times the only selection that would work, but also the easiest to hack.

[s.p.c]

Selected WEP- 64 bit.

Windows XP JP version.

Going to try to see what is selected for the laptop tonight.

[peacedivision]

If all your systems can support it, I highly suggest dropping WEP and moving to WPA.

[Skidog]

If all your systems can support it, I highly suggest dropping WEP and moving to WPA.

Sounds like this is the issue...a wi-fi card that is older and doesnt support the latest encryption.

[macmahoooon]

If you go to WPA (much better) makes sure of 2 things:

1) Update all drivers: I've found that many laptops (especially IBMs) come factory installed with a driver that has WPA and WPA2 bugs that gives issues

2) Make sure your encription type (AES vs TKIP) is the same on both the laptop and the router. Quite often the auto-detect on some cards doesn't work properly (see #1) and which it defaults to varies by card. Depending on your card and configuration software this setting can be tough to find