Can A Linksys WPC11 version 3 work with WPA?

A Linksys tech told me it could with a new driver from the website
(Driver Version : 5.158.1001.2003). The release notes for the driver
also say that it adds WPA support. I downloaded the driver and
installed it, but the Windows (XP) settings for the card do not have a
choice for selecting WPA. It only has WEP or Disabled as encryption
choices. I also got the Windows XP WPA update BTW.

Has anybody else tried this? I would love to be able to try this card
out with my WRT54G because I can't get the WRT54G working with my
other computer (See my other post).

I am starting to think the WPA is just not ready for primetime. It is
a shame because I love the idea of wireless computing. With all of
the time wasted screwing around with flakey routers and such I could
have had the entire house wired by now.

Yes, the WPC11v3 will work with WPA under XP -- but with occasional
disconnects. You need to install the WPA-enabled drivers, which are found
at:
ftp://ftp.linksys.com/pub/network/wp...060503_wpa.exe

In order to get the WPA option, the WRT54G must have WPA-PSK turned on.

Finally, the WRT54G with WPA-enabled firmware does not like the WPC11v3 too
much. I think it has to do with the fact that the card and the access point
use chipsets from different manufacturers. The pre-1.42 firmware for the
WRT54G, which may not work on current versions of the WRT54G, was solid
except that one could not use WPA and had to use WEP (using WPA crashed the
router). The 1.42 and later versions of the firmware do not crash under WPA
but cause frequent disconnects when communicating with the WPC11v3
regardless of encryption method (WPA, WEP, or none).

The best card to use with the WRT54G is the WPC54G.

-Yves

"wireless user" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> A Linksys tech told me it could with a new driver from the website
> (Driver Version : 5.158.1001.2003). The release notes for the driver
> also say that it adds WPA support. I downloaded the driver and
> installed it, but the Windows (XP) settings for the card do not have a
> choice for selecting WPA. It only has WEP or Disabled as encryption
> choices. I also got the Windows XP WPA update BTW.
>
> Has anybody else tried this? I would love to be able to try this card
> out with my WRT54G because I can't get the WRT54G working with my
> other computer (See my other post).
>
> I am starting to think the WPA is just not ready for primetime. It is
> a shame because I love the idea of wireless computing. With all of
> the time wasted screwing around with flakey routers and such I could
> have had the entire house wired by now.

On Fri, 2 Apr 2004 23:16:05 -0800, "Yves Konigshofer"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Yes, the WPC11v3 will work with WPA under XP -- but with occasional
>disconnects. You need to install the WPA-enabled drivers, which are found
>at:
>ftp://ftp.linksys.com/pub/network/wp...060503_wpa.exe

Thank you again.


Linksys also has an even newer driver for that card. The problem is I
can't get Windows to use either one of them.

It is always difficult to get Windows XP to update a driver for some
reason. I point it to the new driver and it always says it already
has the newest or the best driver installed, even thought the one that
it has installed is some generic junk driver that came with Windows
XP, which Microsoft seems to think is always better than the
manufacturers latest driver.

I usually succeed by removing the device and manually searching for
the drivers and deleting them, even the ones Windows has stashed away
in a LastKnownGood folder somewhere. Then, when it has no other
choice, Windows will use the new drivers. I have been unable to find
all of the hidden stashes of drivers this time. Somehow Windows
always pretends to use the new driver but instead installs the same
old Microsoft signed driver from 2002. The latest from Linksys is
dated 02/17/04.

How do I get past this?

First of all, I think that the driver you are referring to is for the
WPC11v4, which uses a different wireless chip (actually, it's a bit weird
that XP has a driver for the WPC11v3 since you usually have to install that
one from the included Linksys CD). In any case, what you would do is use
device manager to install the driver from a specific location. Then use the
"include this location in the search" option to make XP look in the
appropriate directory (there needs to be an INF file in the directory). If
the INF file in that directory is not for the card (or is older) then
Windows will report that it already has the latest driver. In that case,
you need to select the driver from a list of drivers ("don't search, I will
choose the driver to install").

INF files identify hardware devices based on ID codes that you cannot (on
the device) or should not (in the INF file) change. Once you install a
particular INF file, it is moved into a system directory (usually
Windows/INF or similar) and is renamed something like OEMx.INF. As long as
the OEMx.INF file is there, Windows knows which driver to install if the
driver you want to install is inappropriate or you are reinstalling a
previously uninstalled device. The drivers themselves may upon initial
installation become guarded by Windows File Protection, which would make
them impossible to delete (at least as long at the hardware is installed).

So, if you have a WPC11v3 and not a WPC11v4 (it should say so on the card),
you should try installing the WPA drivers for the WPC11v3.

-Yves

"wireless user" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Fri, 2 Apr 2004 23:16:05 -0800, "Yves Konigshofer"
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
> >Yes, the WPC11v3 will work with WPA under XP -- but with occasional
> >disconnects. You need to install the WPA-enabled drivers, which are
found
> >at:
> >ftp://ftp.linksys.com/pub/network/wp...060503_wpa.exe
>
> Thank you again.
>
>
> Linksys also has an even newer driver for that card. The problem is I
> can't get Windows to use either one of them.
>
> It is always difficult to get Windows XP to update a driver for some
> reason. I point it to the new driver and it always says it already
> has the newest or the best driver installed, even thought the one that
> it has installed is some generic junk driver that came with Windows
> XP, which Microsoft seems to think is always better than the
> manufacturers latest driver.
>
> I usually succeed by removing the device and manually searching for
> the drivers and deleting them, even the ones Windows has stashed away
> in a LastKnownGood folder somewhere. Then, when it has no other
> choice, Windows will use the new drivers. I have been unable to find
> all of the hidden stashes of drivers this time. Somehow Windows
> always pretends to use the new driver but instead installs the same
> old Microsoft signed driver from 2002. The latest from Linksys is
> dated 02/17/04.
>
> How do I get past this?

Also, make sure that the WRT54G is using TKIP and not AES encryption for
WPA-PSK. The WPC11v3's hardware is designed around WEP encryption but the
algorithms are similar to those used by TKIP. Thus, the hardware can also
handle TKIP encryption. This is not the case with AES and the WPC11v3
cannot connect if AES is required.

-Yves

"wireless user" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Fri, 2 Apr 2004 23:16:05 -0800, "Yves Konigshofer"
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
> >Yes, the WPC11v3 will work with WPA under XP -- but with occasional
> >disconnects. You need to install the WPA-enabled drivers, which are
found
> >at:
> >ftp://ftp.linksys.com/pub/network/wp...060503_wpa.exe
>
> Thank you again.
>
>
> Linksys also has an even newer driver for that card. The problem is I
> can't get Windows to use either one of them.
>
> It is always difficult to get Windows XP to update a driver for some
> reason. I point it to the new driver and it always says it already
> has the newest or the best driver installed, even thought the one that
> it has installed is some generic junk driver that came with Windows
> XP, which Microsoft seems to think is always better than the
> manufacturers latest driver.
>
> I usually succeed by removing the device and manually searching for
> the drivers and deleting them, even the ones Windows has stashed away
> in a LastKnownGood folder somewhere. Then, when it has no other
> choice, Windows will use the new drivers. I have been unable to find
> all of the hidden stashes of drivers this time. Somehow Windows
> always pretends to use the new driver but instead installs the same
> old Microsoft signed driver from 2002. The latest from Linksys is
> dated 02/17/04.
>
> How do I get past this?

On Sat, 3 Apr 2004 08:15:16 -0800, "Yves Konigshofer"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>First of all, I think that the driver you are referring to is for the
>WPC11v4, which uses a different wireless chip

Yes, I realize now that even though the Linksys tech insisted the v4
driver works with the v3 hardware, it doesn't.

>(actually, it's a bit weird
>that XP has a driver for the WPC11v3 since you usually have to install that
>one from the included Linksys CD).

Maybe that's how the driver got there (from a previous installation of
the card). The reason Windows wouldn't give up the old driver was
because I was still trying to use the version 4 driver. When I
switched to the one you suggested, it worked.

<snip>
> The drivers themselves may upon initial
>installation become guarded by Windows File Protection, which would make
>them impossible to delete (at least as long at the hardware is installed).

This is true. I couldn't delete the old drivers, in fact, Windows
wouldn't even let me see the old drivers, until I physically removed
the hardware. (I have my settings to show hidden and system files.)
>
>So, if you have a WPC11v3 and not a WPC11v4 (it should say so on the card),
>you should try installing the WPA drivers for the WPC11v3.

I did. The XP wireless configuration now shows choices for WPA. I
only had a few minutes to try it and it didn't see or connect to the
router. I will have more time to play with it later.

Thanks again for all of the help.

On Sat, 3 Apr 2004 08:15:16 -0800, "Yves Konigshofer"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>So, if you have a WPC11v3 and not a WPC11v4 (it should say so on the card),
>you should try installing the WPA drivers for the WPC11v3.

When I had the old driver installed I could see my network, but could
not connect to it because the network is WPA encrypted but the old
driver didn't support WPA. Now that I have the newer driver installed
I can enable WPA on the laptop, but I can no longer see the network.
Sigh.

I guess I will go out and buy the WPC54G and sell the WPC11.

What do you mean by not being able to see the network? I assume that you
mean your LAN since you must be able to see the WRT54G in order to get the
WPA-PSK option. NetBIOS over IPX/SPX does not appear to work with WPA.
However, if you enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP then you can connect to computers
on your LAN using their IP addresses (i.e. \\a.b.c.d).

-Yves

"wireless user" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Sat, 3 Apr 2004 08:15:16 -0800, "Yves Konigshofer"
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
> >So, if you have a WPC11v3 and not a WPC11v4 (it should say so on the
card),
> >you should try installing the WPA drivers for the WPC11v3.
>
> When I had the old driver installed I could see my network, but could
> not connect to it because the network is WPA encrypted but the old
> driver didn't support WPA. Now that I have the newer driver installed
> I can enable WPA on the laptop, but I can no longer see the network.
> Sigh.
>
> I guess I will go out and buy the WPC54G and sell the WPC11.

On Sat, 3 Apr 2004 23:36:30 -0800, "Yves Konigshofer"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>What do you mean by not being able to see the network? I assume that you
>mean your LAN since you must be able to see the WRT54G in order to get the
>WPA-PSK option.

The wireless adaptor tray icon has an "x" on it and when I put the
pointer over it it says "wireless connection unavailable." If I
right-click on the icon and select "view available wireless networks"
it opens a window that says "available wireless networks:" and it is
blank. If I click on advanced and manually add my network name to the
list of preferred networks and then click on "properties" I can
select WPA-PSK and TKIP and enter my network key. After that the
router still does not show up as an available network. It is as if
the router was unplugged. But my other computer works fine with it
with the exact same settings.

I was at the store today and they have version 4 of this card (mine is
version 3) and they still don't claim that it can do WPA. I bought
the WPC54G. I will try it out later. I expect it to work fine.

After all of this fooling around with this card and another one that I
have, installing and uninstalling them in an attempt to get them to
work, I am now up to wireless network 13 in the system tray. They
don't all show up in the tray at the same time, only when the hardware
they are associated with is present. When I install the WPC54g it
will become wireless network 14. Is there any way to delete some of
these previous configurations so I can only have the ones that worked
(such as the laptop's internal 802.11B adaptor)? This way I would be
back down to the single digits.


> NetBIOS over IPX/SPX does not appear to work with WPA.
>However, if you enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP then you can connect to computers
>on your LAN using their IP addresses (i.e. \\a.b.c.d).
>
>-Yves
>