Encryption stops wireless net access

Hi

I have recently tried to set up a shared internet connection on my wife's
laptop, a Dell Inspiron 6000. All I want to do is have the laptop share the
internet connection; no file sharing, printer sharing, game or application
sharing, etc; just so my wife can use the web for her work in the living
room while I surf in the kitchen. I have a wired connection from my PC to my
SpeedTouch 585 ADSL router and the laptop connects wirelessly. The laptop
can connect to the internet and browse ok but only if the router's
encryption is disabled. I've been using the router's default network key on
the underside of the router and have inputted it into both the router and
the laptop when prompted. How do I enable the encryption and get full
internet access on the laptop?

When I have WPA encryption enabled on the router and connect with the laptop
after inputting the WPA key I get a "Limited or no connectivity" message. So
I checked this out and this is what I get:

http://img119.imageshack.us/img119/4...netaddy9xc.png

What is happening here?

I have the router and laptop set to automatically assign IPs.

In the laptop's Network Connections after it's connected to the router and I
have net access, it says it is not connected and yet when this is displayed
I can access the internet, download stuff, etc, and the lower right button
says "disconnect" indicating that it is already connected. The connectivity
icons in the sys tray also have red crosses on them. Here's an example:

http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/926...notconn1ga.png

I've read on some tech sites that stopping the Windows Wireless Zero
Configuration can fix this. Is this recommended? I know nothing about this.
Is there something on the router that can stabilise the laptop's connection
or does anyone know of a way in XP to sort out the problem?

I'm up to date with the SpeedTouch's firmware.

Regards

Harry



************************************************** ******************************
MSI KT4 Ultra
AMD XP 3000+
Thermaltake Venus Silentboost
Crucial 2x512mb PC2700 CL2.5 DDR RAM
Gainward Geforce 6800 GT (2400 TV-DVI Golden Sample)
Pioneer DVD-106
Plextor PX-716A
Western Digital Caviar 7200 WD3200JB ATA 100 320Gb (Master)
Western Digital Caviar 7200 WD2500JB ATA 100 250Gb (Slave)
Creative SB Live! 5.1
Alcatel SpeedTouch 585(i) Wireless ADSL Gateway
Firewire Card (generic)
Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast Ethernet NIC
Viewsonic VX912
Thermaltake Xaser III Super Tower
Thermaltake 420W Silent PurePower Dual Fan PSU
Win XP Pro SP2

harry.wj wrote in
(E-Mail Removed):

> Hi
>
> I have recently tried to set up a shared internet connection on my
> wife's laptop, a Dell Inspiron 6000. All I want to do is have the
> laptop share the internet connection; no file sharing, printer
> sharing, game or application sharing, etc; just so my wife can use
> the web for her work in the living room while I surf in the kitchen.
> I have a wired connection from my PC to my SpeedTouch 585 ADSL router
> and the laptop connects wirelessly. The laptop can connect to the
> internet and browse ok but only if the router's encryption is
> disabled. I've been using the router's default network key on the
> underside of the router and have inputted it into both the router and
> the laptop when prompted. How do I enable the encryption and get full
> internet access on the laptop?

First question: is the wireless device using the built-in Windows wireless
software or proprietary software that comes with the wireless device? I see
on your second screen shot that the right-most icon on the system tray (next
to the clock) looks as if it may be a proprietary wireless device. If so,
have you tried configuring the device to use the Windows software instead to
see if it makes any difference?

Also, what happens if you assign a static IP address to the wireless device
(choosing one that's in the right subnet and isn't being used elsewhere)?
Does this allow the laptop to access the web and/or ping the router? The
first screen shot shows that the laptop is failing to be allocated an IP
address by the router and so is eventually defaulting to a 169.x.x.x
address.

When you supply the WPA key, I presume it is accepted as being correct. Do
you get a different response if you deliberately mis-type the WPA key at the
laptop? If so, it would seem that you are normally giving the correct WPA
key so the problem is not simply a duff WPA key - ie lack of authentication.

If you're able to borrow another wireless PC (and/or use the laptop on
another wireless network) you might be able to identify whether the problem
is at the laptop or the router.

As a matter of interest, what happens if you configure the router and laptop
to use WEP instead of WPA authentication?

Another thought: you are using the right flavour of WPA? You should be using
WPA-PSK (TKIP) rather than WPA Radius.

Martin Underwood wrote in
43f5f120$0$3619$(E-Mail Removed):

> harry.wj wrote in
> (E-Mail Removed):
>
>> Hi
>>
>> I have recently tried to set up a shared internet connection on my
>> wife's laptop, a Dell Inspiron 6000. All I want to do is have the
>> laptop share the internet connection; no file sharing, printer
>> sharing, game or application sharing, etc; just so my wife can use
>> the web for her work in the living room while I surf in the kitchen.
>> I have a wired connection from my PC to my SpeedTouch 585 ADSL router
>> and the laptop connects wirelessly. The laptop can connect to the
>> internet and browse ok but only if the router's encryption is
>> disabled. I've been using the router's default network key on the
>> underside of the router and have inputted it into both the router and
>> the laptop when prompted. How do I enable the encryption and get full
>> internet access on the laptop?

Another couple of thoughts have just occurred to me.

1. You talk about "using the router's default network key on the underside
of the router". Are you sure you're not confusing the SSID (network name)
and the WPA key? Normally you would choose an SSID which is not the default
(ie not "DEFAULT", "NETGEAR", "BELKIN", "SPEEDTOUCH" etc), and you'd choose
a non-trivial WPA key - typically a short phrase such as a line of poetry
with random letters such as I and O replaced by 1 or 0. Maybe the Speedtouch
router comes with WPA turned on by default and a default WPA key programmed
into it.

2. I'm puzzled by your description of the problem. In one place you say
"When I have WPA encryption enabled on the router and connect with the
laptop after inputting the WPA key I get a "Limited or no connectivity"
message." and you show the IP address being given a 169.x.x.x dummy address,
which would seem to imply that the laptop won't be able to access the
router, the internet or other local PCs. But then you go on to say "In the
laptop's Network Connections after it's connected to the router and I have
net access, it says it is not connected and yet when this is displayed I can
access the internet, download stuff, etc, and the lower right button says
"disconnect" indicating that it is already connected." I'm confused: with
WPA enabled, do you or don't you have internet access?

3. Some routers have a setting for Wireless Isolation which allows PCs to
access the internet wirelessly but not to access other wireless (and maybe
wired) PCs on the local network. Typically you enable this only if you
specifically want wireless PCs to have internet access only and not to be
able to access any other local PC's shares. Normally you don't want this
option, because you want all PCs to be able to access each others' shared
drives and printers. If you router has this option, make sure it's turned
off.

Hi Martin

Thanks for replying, so soon and in such detail. I've responded to both your
posts in this one post.

Ok, I'm a novice at home networking/internet connection sharing (one week's
experience) so I don't follow your comments 100%, but I'll have a go:-)

>If so, have you tried configuring the device to use the Windows software
>instead to see if it makes any difference?

How do I find out what software is being used and how do I change it?

> When you supply the WPA key, I presume it is accepted as being correct. Do
> you get a different response if you deliberately mis-type the WPA key at
> the laptop?

I just tried inputting an incorrect WPA key into the laptop. It comes back
saying "limited or no connectivity" or "acquiring network address", cycles
through this and I cannot connect to the internet.

>> Another thought: you are using the right flavour of WPA? You should be
>> using
> WPA-PSK (TKIP) rather than WPA Radius.

I've used WPA-PSK (TKIP)

> If you're able to borrow another wireless PC (and/or use the laptop on
> another wireless network) you might be able to identify whether the
> problem is at the laptop or the router.

Unfortunately I don't have access to another wireless PC.

>1. You talk about "using the router's default network key on the underside
of the router". Are you sure you're not confusing the SSID (network name)
and the WPA key?

No, the network name is Speedtouch716687 and the WPA PSK key is 2AAE4F6172,
the WEP hex is the same. Both are identified on the underside of the router.
It's the WPAPSK key I'm inputting into the laptop and it seems to accept it
fine.

> As a matter of interest, what happens if you configure the router and
> laptop to use WEP instead of WPA authentication?

The same symptom occurs: no internet access.

>with
WPA enabled, do you or don't you have internet access?

I don't have internet access with WPA enabled.

>Some routers have a setting for Wireless Isolation

I can't find anything relating to this in the router's settings or in its
manual.

>I'm puzzled by your description of the problem.

Yeah, I'm confused too;-) In my newness to all this, it's probably me being
confused with the true meaning of the terms I've used.

I've uploaded these screengrabs from the routers config pages with
information I think and hope is relevant ("homeharry" is the desktop PC
wired to the router, "viv" is the wireless laptop). Let me know if you'd
like to see others either from the router of laptop and I'll upload them:

http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/4...netdevs4cc.png

http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/2...tlocnet3po.png

http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/3...t7166870kd.png

http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/9...meharry6gu.png

http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/2563/4viv8qd.png

http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/1...rconnhh7xe.png

This last grab is of the laptop's current network connection details. Please
accept my apologies but the grab in my first post was from a few days ago.
Some other folks have been trying to help me out and I've been making
changes and taking grabs all over the place. As you can see, it's different
now:

http://img127.imageshack.us/img127/5...consviv9yi.png

Hope all this helps you understand the lie of the land a bit better and that
you can offer some suggestions as to what's going on and how to fix this.

Regards

Harry


"Martin Underwood" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:43f5f120$0$3619$(E-Mail Removed)...
> harry.wj wrote in
> (E-Mail Removed):
>
>> Hi
>>
>> I have recently tried to set up a shared internet connection on my
>> wife's laptop, a Dell Inspiron 6000. All I want to do is have the
>> laptop share the internet connection; no file sharing, printer
>> sharing, game or application sharing, etc; just so my wife can use
>> the web for her work in the living room while I surf in the kitchen.
>> I have a wired connection from my PC to my SpeedTouch 585 ADSL router
>> and the laptop connects wirelessly. The laptop can connect to the
>> internet and browse ok but only if the router's encryption is
>> disabled. I've been using the router's default network key on the
>> underside of the router and have inputted it into both the router and
>> the laptop when prompted. How do I enable the encryption and get full
>> internet access on the laptop?
>
> First question: is the wireless device using the built-in Windows wireless
> software or proprietary software that comes with the wireless device? I
> see on your second screen shot that the right-most icon on the system tray
> (next to the clock) looks as if it may be a proprietary wireless device.
> If so, have you tried configuring the device to use the Windows software
> instead to see if it makes any difference?
>
> Also, what happens if you assign a static IP address to the wireless
> device (choosing one that's in the right subnet and isn't being used
> elsewhere)? Does this allow the laptop to access the web and/or ping the
> router? The first screen shot shows that the laptop is failing to be
> allocated an IP address by the router and so is eventually defaulting to a
> 169.x.x.x address.
>
> When you supply the WPA key, I presume it is accepted as being correct. Do
> you get a different response if you deliberately mis-type the WPA key at
> the laptop? If so, it would seem that you are normally giving the correct
> WPA key so the problem is not simply a duff WPA key - ie lack of
> authentication.
>
> If you're able to borrow another wireless PC (and/or use the laptop on
> another wireless network) you might be able to identify whether the
> problem is at the laptop or the router.
>
> As a matter of interest, what happens if you configure the router and
> laptop to use WEP instead of WPA authentication?
>
> Another thought: you are using the right flavour of WPA? You should be
> using WPA-PSK (TKIP) rather than WPA Radius.
>

Hi

On a suggestion from someone else who's on this case, I got a 64 character
hex from Steve Gibson's site:

https://www.grc.com/passwords

Put it into the router, put it into the laptop and...it worked:-))) WPA
encryption with internet access. Well done John! Now, what I want to know is
what is the 10 character key that Alcatel have printed on the underside of
the router that says:

WEP (hex): **********
WPA PSK: **********

These were the keys (the WEP and WPA keys are identical) that I had inputted
into the router and also into the laptop. Shouldn't this key have worked?
All that farting about and it was a stupid key. Doh! It's all a learning
process I suppose.

Harry


"harry.wj" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi Martin
>
> Thanks for replying, so soon and in such detail. I've responded to both
> your posts in this one post.
>
> Ok, I'm a novice at home networking/internet connection sharing (one
> week's experience) so I don't follow your comments 100%, but I'll have a
> go:-)
>
>>If so, have you tried configuring the device to use the Windows software
>>instead to see if it makes any difference?
>
> How do I find out what software is being used and how do I change it?
>
>> When you supply the WPA key, I presume it is accepted as being correct.
>> Do you get a different response if you deliberately mis-type the WPA key
>> at the laptop?
>
> I just tried inputting an incorrect WPA key into the laptop. It comes back
> saying "limited or no connectivity" or "acquiring network address", cycles
> through this and I cannot connect to the internet.
>
>>> Another thought: you are using the right flavour of WPA? You should be
>>> using
>> WPA-PSK (TKIP) rather than WPA Radius.
>
> I've used WPA-PSK (TKIP)
>
>> If you're able to borrow another wireless PC (and/or use the laptop on
>> another wireless network) you might be able to identify whether the
>> problem is at the laptop or the router.
>
> Unfortunately I don't have access to another wireless PC.
>
>>1. You talk about "using the router's default network key on the underside
> of the router". Are you sure you're not confusing the SSID (network name)
> and the WPA key?
>
> No, the network name is Speedtouch716687 and the WPA PSK key is
> 2AAE4F6172, the WEP hex is the same. Both are identified on the underside
> of the router. It's the WPAPSK key I'm inputting into the laptop and it
> seems to accept it fine.
>
>> As a matter of interest, what happens if you configure the router and
>> laptop to use WEP instead of WPA authentication?
>
> The same symptom occurs: no internet access.
>
>>with
> WPA enabled, do you or don't you have internet access?
>
> I don't have internet access with WPA enabled.
>
>>Some routers have a setting for Wireless Isolation
>
> I can't find anything relating to this in the router's settings or in its
> manual.
>
>>I'm puzzled by your description of the problem.
>
> Yeah, I'm confused too;-) In my newness to all this, it's probably me
> being confused with the true meaning of the terms I've used.
>
> I've uploaded these screengrabs from the routers config pages with
> information I think and hope is relevant ("homeharry" is the desktop PC
> wired to the router, "viv" is the wireless laptop). Let me know if you'd
> like to see others either from the router of laptop and I'll upload them:
>
> http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/4...netdevs4cc.png
>
> http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/2...tlocnet3po.png
>
> http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/3...t7166870kd.png
>
> http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/9...meharry6gu.png
>
> http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/2563/4viv8qd.png
>
> http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/1...rconnhh7xe.png
>
> This last grab is of the laptop's current network connection details.
> Please accept my apologies but the grab in my first post was from a few
> days ago. Some other folks have been trying to help me out and I've been
> making changes and taking grabs all over the place. As you can see, it's
> different now:
>
> http://img127.imageshack.us/img127/5...consviv9yi.png
>
> Hope all this helps you understand the lie of the land a bit better and
> that you can offer some suggestions as to what's going on and how to fix
> this.
>
> Regards
>
> Harry
>
>
> "Martin Underwood" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:43f5f120$0$3619$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> harry.wj wrote in
>> (E-Mail Removed):
>>
>>> Hi
>>>
>>> I have recently tried to set up a shared internet connection on my
>>> wife's laptop, a Dell Inspiron 6000. All I want to do is have the
>>> laptop share the internet connection; no file sharing, printer
>>> sharing, game or application sharing, etc; just so my wife can use
>>> the web for her work in the living room while I surf in the kitchen.
>>> I have a wired connection from my PC to my SpeedTouch 585 ADSL router
>>> and the laptop connects wirelessly. The laptop can connect to the
>>> internet and browse ok but only if the router's encryption is
>>> disabled. I've been using the router's default network key on the
>>> underside of the router and have inputted it into both the router and
>>> the laptop when prompted. How do I enable the encryption and get full
>>> internet access on the laptop?
>>
>> First question: is the wireless device using the built-in Windows
>> wireless software or proprietary software that comes with the wireless
>> device? I see on your second screen shot that the right-most icon on the
>> system tray (next to the clock) looks as if it may be a proprietary
>> wireless device. If so, have you tried configuring the device to use the
>> Windows software instead to see if it makes any difference?
>>
>> Also, what happens if you assign a static IP address to the wireless
>> device (choosing one that's in the right subnet and isn't being used
>> elsewhere)? Does this allow the laptop to access the web and/or ping the
>> router? The first screen shot shows that the laptop is failing to be
>> allocated an IP address by the router and so is eventually defaulting to
>> a 169.x.x.x address.
>>
>> When you supply the WPA key, I presume it is accepted as being correct.
>> Do you get a different response if you deliberately mis-type the WPA key
>> at the laptop? If so, it would seem that you are normally giving the
>> correct WPA key so the problem is not simply a duff WPA key - ie lack of
>> authentication.
>>
>> If you're able to borrow another wireless PC (and/or use the laptop on
>> another wireless network) you might be able to identify whether the
>> problem is at the laptop or the router.
>>
>> As a matter of interest, what happens if you configure the router and
>> laptop to use WEP instead of WPA authentication?
>>
>> Another thought: you are using the right flavour of WPA? You should be
>> using WPA-PSK (TKIP) rather than WPA Radius.
>>
>
>

On Fri, 17 Feb 2006 15:28:46 -0000, "harry.wj"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Hi
>
>I have recently tried to set up a shared internet connection on my wife's
>laptop, a Dell Inspiron 6000. All I want to do is have the laptop share the
>internet connection; no file sharing, printer sharing, game or application
>sharing, etc; just so my wife can use the web for her work in the living
>room while I surf in the kitchen. I have a wired connection from my PC to my
>SpeedTouch 585 ADSL router and the laptop connects wirelessly. The laptop
>can connect to the internet and browse ok but only if the router's
>encryption is disabled. I've been using the router's default network key on
>the underside of the router and have inputted it into both the router and
>the laptop when prompted. How do I enable the encryption and get full
>internet access on the laptop?

I've seen a reply suggestion using Windows configuration rather than
the proprietary one, strangely if I switch to the 'Netgear' one I have
problems but it is fine for the Windows configuration.

Also, as you are using WEP make sure both router and laptop card is
set to either OPEN key or SHARED key.

OPEN is probably easiest as you can switch easily between No
Encryption to get it working then enable encryption.

Geoff Lane


Geoff Lane