Loss of WPA availability after reinstall

This has got me really puzzled. On one of my laptops (Sony Vaio R505
series), with XP Pro, I have been accessing my wireless network for many
months without problem and with WPA-PSK encryption - hidden SSID.
For unrelated reasons I decided to wipe the HD and reinstall XP from the
Sony recovery discs a couple of days back.
This is where it gets weird. After a succesful reinstall and going through a
lot of hassle to get it set up just as I want it, I find the inbuilt (Ambit)
Lan-Express wireless card doesn't give me an option for selecting WPA!
I had previously installed lots of software over the past few months since
it's last "rebuild" - and I'm pretty sure that last time I installed XP
service pack 1 immediately after installing XP, then installed various
Windows updates, including SP2 over a period of some time.
The only difference this time is that I installed SP2 (from a saved download
file), immediately after reinstalling Windows (i.e. no SP1 first, no
individual updates from Windows Update site, etc. just directly to SP2).
I'm really puzzled as to why I can't have the option for WPA when this card
definitely had the option previously.
If I run the Wireless Network setup Wizard I'm told my card doesn't have WPA
ability. I've tried downloading earlier drivers from Windows Update (via the
Admin link, where you get to see *all* updates), but none of these gives the
card the WPA capability it previously had.

??????????

Rob

My bet is that the driver you are using is old, and that the drivers on
Windows Update are just as old. Go to the Sony website and you should be
able to get the latest drivers for your NIC and thus enable WPA-PSK
functionality.


"Rob D" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> This has got me really puzzled. On one of my laptops (Sony Vaio R505
> series), with XP Pro, I have been accessing my wireless network for many
> months without problem and with WPA-PSK encryption - hidden SSID.
> For unrelated reasons I decided to wipe the HD and reinstall XP from the
> Sony recovery discs a couple of days back.
> This is where it gets weird. After a succesful reinstall and going through
> a lot of hassle to get it set up just as I want it, I find the inbuilt
> (Ambit) Lan-Express wireless card doesn't give me an option for selecting
> WPA!
> I had previously installed lots of software over the past few months since
> it's last "rebuild" - and I'm pretty sure that last time I installed XP
> service pack 1 immediately after installing XP, then installed various
> Windows updates, including SP2 over a period of some time.
> The only difference this time is that I installed SP2 (from a saved
> download file), immediately after reinstalling Windows (i.e. no SP1 first,
> no individual updates from Windows Update site, etc. just directly to
> SP2).
> I'm really puzzled as to why I can't have the option for WPA when this
> card definitely had the option previously.
> If I run the Wireless Network setup Wizard I'm told my card doesn't have
> WPA ability. I've tried downloading earlier drivers from Windows Update
> (via the Admin link, where you get to see *all* updates), but none of
> these gives the card the WPA capability it previously had.
>
> ??????????
>
> Rob
>

"Peter Bui[MS]" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:em175%(E-Mail Removed)...
> My bet is that the driver you are using is old, and that the drivers on
> Windows Update are just as old. Go to the Sony website and you should be
> able to get the latest drivers for your NIC and thus enable WPA-PSK
> functionality.

Thanks for the response, I'm sure you're right. especially as after a *lot*
of playing around installing non - original drivers, I did at least get the
*option* to use WPA - unfortunately that particular driver didn't allow my
card to function correctly!
Anyone who owns Sony will tell you "Go to Sony website....." means at the
very least a lot of hassle. It's quite annoying that on their US website I
can actually get a driver for this same card which includes the "enhanced
wireles security" (presumably WPA). But downloading it gives me an .exe file
which when run, tells me "Sorry, your model is not the specific machine
which this download is intended for...." - Thanks Sony - same card, same
driver.
I'm still puzzled as to how I managed to get WPA compatible driver installed
before - it must be due to my not going directly to SP2 - and Microsoft's
"we know best, you can only install *certified* drivers" attitude! However,
I can see no sign of such a driver loose on the 'net.
BTW, before anyone suggests it, I did look at the temporary extracted fies
from the Sony .exe file - but it doesn't get far enough through extraction
before coming to a halt and kindly informing me I don't have the "correct"
machine. This is a self extracting exe, but Winzip won't extract it as it
tells me it's an "unknown format".

Rob