Wi-Fi Adhoc WEP problems ...

  • Thread starter Thread starter Malaclypse
  • Start date Start date
M

Malaclypse

Arrgghhh...

I'm tearing my hair out with this networking problem.

I have two PCs with Windows XP. I have 802.11b cards for both of them
- A laptop (xp pro), with a PCMCIA card and a Desktop (xp home) with a
USB dangle.

up until one week ago, they were working splendidly in ad hoc mode,
and I was happily sharing files and an internet connection across
them.

I have played around with the settings (which all seem to be as the
Microsoft website and various other support sites want)
This is the current situation;

I insert the PCMCIA card, and it finds the SSID. on the properties->
support it displays "Invalid IP address 0.0.0.0". I click repair, and
it then says "assigned by DHCP", and has a proper 192.168.0.x address.

The network then works fine.


However, when I go into the properties and enable WEP (13-digit), all
hell breaks loose.

The desktop thinks it is connected fine, but doesn't have the laptop
in the networked computers.
The laptop keeps saying that "one or more networks are availalbe".
When I click on this, it asks me to enter the WEP code and connect.
I do this any number of times, and it still doesn't connect.


All I can think is that it just doesn't want to use the WEP.
I'm still not sure why I have to click 'repair' every time i start up
either - it never used to be like that

(and I'm talking less that a fortnight!)


If anyone can offer even a slight bit of help It'd be appreciated

Malaclypse
 
I am having exactly the same problem with WEP. Netgear
AP... For some reason, when I enable WEP, it craps out
completely. Netgear told me it has something to do with
XP and it's inability to handle 128 bit encryption. So, I
tried 64 bit (13 characters) and I get the same problem.
I'm working on it and will let you know if I find
anything. Please do the same for me. I'll check back.

Chris
 
Chris said:
I am having exactly the same problem with WEP. Netgear
AP... For some reason, when I enable WEP, it craps out
completely. Netgear told me it has something to do with
XP and it's inability to handle 128 bit encryption. So, I
tried 64 bit (13 characters) and I get the same problem.
I'm working on it and will let you know if I find
anything. Please do the same for me. I'll check back.

Chris
Click to expand...



Wow, you're a few steps ahead of me already.
I tried mine again a few minutes later, and it's stopped working
completely.

On my laptop, when I insert the card, i get the 0.0.0.0 and when I try
to repair it, I get an 'automatic Ip' in the 169.x.x.x range...

grrrr. . I need my DHCP to give me one in 192.168.0.x !!!!

I've only been having these problems since about the time I installed
some windows updates on both machines, and I'm sure some had something
to do with Wifi..

If i could only figure out what the update serial numbers for the
wi-fi related ones I'd try to uninstall them.

That's my little project for today - I'll post back when I'm done.


thanks for the reply anyway.
 
Wow, you're a few steps ahead of me already.
I tried mine again a few minutes later, and it's stopped working
completely.

On my laptop, when I insert the card, i get the 0.0.0.0 and when I try
to repair it, I get an 'automatic Ip' in the 169.x.x.x range...

grrrr. . I need my DHCP to give me one in 192.168.0.x !!!!

I've only been having these problems since about the time I installed
some windows updates on both machines, and I'm sure some had something
to do with Wifi..

If i could only figure out what the update serial numbers for the
wi-fi related ones I'd try to uninstall them.

That's my little project for today - I'll post back when I'm done.


thanks for the reply anyway.
Click to expand...

---

a solution: of sorts!

I uninstalled the 815485 update on both machines, as when I read the
microsoft help file, I realised that it was of no use to me anyway.
I was unsure about some of the technical terms used in the help file,
but it definitely had something to do with the 802.1x authentication,
which is bad news for adhoc networks.

anyway, now I've tried it with a 5-digit encryption - and it's working
swell.
13-digit (which you referred to as 64-bit? surely you meant 128) isn't
working at all, like it did two weeks ago, but I'm out in a rural
village - i doubt many people will be walking past my house with a
laptop/pda trying to steal my files!

(typing this letter to you from a laptop over a working 802.11b
network),

Malaclypse


ps. please be here to help me in two days time when the whole setup
crashes to its knees... ;o)
 
Back
Top