Belkin 54g wireless router problem

I've got a bog-standard Belkin F5D7630-4A router which has worked perfectly
for about 2 years, until yesterday when I decided to move from an open
wireless network to WPA-PSK (no server) encryption. The security set-up
worked smoothly and everything was 'hunky dory' until later in the day, when
none of my various laptops could obtain a network address. That is, they
were all shown as linked to the network but the router was unwilling to
allocate any of them a network address. After several attempts to obtain a
network address, the link would drop and one had to click on the 'connect'
button again - following which further unsuccessful attempts would be made
to obtain a network address.

When I turn off the power to the router and restart it, everything is OK
again! A few hours later - when laptops and wirelessly-linked PCs may have
been turned off and on again, following a period of inaction, the problem
recurs (none of the wireless devices can obtain a network address - but are
linked to the network pending this log-on process completing). It's happened
twice now, within the last 24 hours.

Any bright ideas/assistance appreciated. Looks like something to do with
WPA, as I never experienced any problems before using encryption.

Paul

--

Paul wrote:

>I've got a bog-standard Belkin F5D7630-4A router which has worked perfectly
>for about 2 years, until yesterday when I decided to move from an open
>wireless network to WPA-PSK (no server) encryption. The security set-up
>worked smoothly and everything was 'hunky dory' until later in the day, when
>none of my various laptops could obtain a network address. That is, they
>were all shown as linked to the network but the router was unwilling to
>allocate any of them a network address. After several attempts to obtain a
>network address, the link would drop and one had to click on the 'connect'
>button again - following which further unsuccessful attempts would be made
>to obtain a network address.
>
>When I turn off the power to the router and restart it, everything is OK
>again! A few hours later - when laptops and wirelessly-linked PCs may have
>been turned off and on again, following a period of inaction, the problem
>recurs (none of the wireless devices can obtain a network address - but are
>linked to the network pending this log-on process completing). It's happened
>twice now, within the last 24 hours.
>
>Any bright ideas/assistance appreciated. Looks like something to do with
>WPA, as I never experienced any problems before using encryption.

Go to Network Connections and see if you still have Wireless
connectivity. If not, click Disable, and when completed, click Enable.
If your connectivity is restored, it's probably because one of the
units has lost key sync, and doing this resyncs it. It happens here
once or so per day; I think it's due to the method of implementation
of WPA-PSK by one of the units.