XP not saving Network Key after it being typed in.

[Marshintire]

Hello, I am on a Gateway 600 YGR (?) Laptop running Microsoft XP and I am having trouble making a wireless network remember the Network Key after it was typed in and told to "connect to the network." How do I make the computer remember the network key? It keeps refreshing to a six digit network key when I had typed in a thirteen digit one.

 

[ex_bubblehead]

It keeps refreshing to a six digit network key when I had typed in a thirteen digit one.

That's just a security measure to hide the actual length of the key. If the adapter connects without problems then the key was successfully stored.

 

[Marshintire]

I have tried using the Window's Wireless Internet Connection interface as well as the Broadcom Wireless Utility-- neither has been able to successfully connect to the internet, which was why I had assumed it might be the problem. Otherwise another possibility is that a Network was set up at some point, would that interfere with it?

 

[ex_bubblehead]

What is the exact error message displayed when trying to connect?

 

[Marshintire]

No error messages occur. Though when I try the "repair connection" function the error messages that come up through there are "unable to connect to wireless network" or "cannot renew IP address."

 

[Marshintire]

To be thorough, four other devices have successfully hooked up to this particular internet connection with the Network key I have been trying. So I assume it has to do with the settings on the computer and not the Wireless Network itself.

 

[ex_bubblehead]

Switch to the Windows Wireless Connection Wizard then set up a connection (or at least try). Then open a command session and type "ipconfig /all" (without the quotes) and hit <return>. Capture and post the output from that command.

It's also entirely possible that your adapter doesn't support the encryption level in use on the access point (low on the list but still possible)

 

[Marshintire]

I'm paranoid about what information is good to have online or not so I took out the physical address, which I'm assuming isn't all that important.

 

[ex_bubblehead]

It's not needed here but the MAC (Physical) address doesn't need to be hidden.

I do need one additional piece of information. Does your access point transmit the SSID or is it hidden? If hidden then unhide and try again. XP has always had problems with hidden SSID (besides the fact that hiding it doesn't do a thing for security)

 

[Marshintire]

I don't think it's hidden. Anyone with wireless can view the name of the network, if that's what the SSID is.

 

[ex_bubblehead]

What encryption level is being used on the access point (WEP, WPA, WPA2, etc.) Be very specific here. It matters as I don't see anything but WEP listed for that model.

 

[Marshintire]

It is WPA-Personal (PSK). The computer kept thinking it was an ad hoc network for a while but I changed it to WPA ( which is what it is trying to recognize it as now ). There is another laptop connected to it that has it as WPA and it is connected and can view web-pages.

 

[ex_bubblehead]

That's an old laptop and, according to the specs, the built-in wireless doesn't do WPA, it only does WEP. If you want WPA you either need a new adapter or change the encryption on the access point.

 

[Marshintire]

Oh, alright. That was really helpful; thank you very much for your time.