Netgear router/NIC, XP SP2 & WPA-SPK

I recently purchased a Netgear WG311 v2 network card and
WGR614 v1 router and installed them on my home computer
running windows xp professional SP2.

I'm quite easily able to get no encryption and WEP to
connect however as soon as I enable WPA-SPK on the router
and the client I am constantly receiving the
message "acquiring network address" DHCP works fine with
WEP however falls over with WPA.

Both the router and the card are running the latest
drivers/firmware and I have tried both WZC and the netgear
software (netgear seems to be the more successful of the
two)

I've emailed netgear and their response was:

"Thank you for contacting Netgear Online Support.

Windows XP SP2 has been causing problems with wireless
across the board. It's great you can actually get it
working. I assume there are still slight problems with
WPA and SP2. Try using windows to configure your wireless
instead. The following link may help:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/com...lumns/cableguy
/cg0604.mspx"

I've looked through that guide and it was of 0% help.

So now I turn to you my net technicians...help me!

On Fri, 22 Oct 2004 06:43:38 -0700, "Adam Membrey"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>I recently purchased a Netgear WG311 v2 network card and
>WGR614 v1 router and installed them on my home computer
>running windows xp professional SP2.

Um, is the WGR614v1 not rather an old item to have "recently
purchased"? They're up to v5 now!

>I'm quite easily able to get no encryption and WEP to
>connect however as soon as I enable WPA-SPK on the router
>and the client I am constantly receiving the
>message "acquiring network address" DHCP works fine with
>WEP however falls over with WPA.

What settings are you using for WPA?

>Both the router and the card are running the latest
>drivers/firmware and I have tried both WZC and the netgear
>software (netgear seems to be the more successful of the
>two)

Here we have a problem. The Netgear GUI for the WG311v2 has does not
support WPA and has no facility to enter a pre-shared key. It is
simply not possible to "test" it. The only way this card will work
with WPA-PSK is using the Windows wireless utility (I don't think they
call it WZC in SP2).

If using WPA-PSK in the WZC (or whatever it's now called) make sure
you select "TKIP". Type out your key (make it long, use upper and
lower case, letters, numbers and chuck in the odd ASCII character) in
Notepad. Log into the router and copy / paste it into the relevent
box in the router interface. Save it to a floppy disk (if you still
have any) and copy the file to any / all client machines. Go to the
WZC utility on each machine, select WPA-PSK (TKIP) on each machine and
copy / paste the key from your file. Make sure "Enable 802.1x
authentication" is NOT ticked.

I had a few fights with the WZC before I installed SP2 on my machines.
I've not had any since I did so I have not really had to root about in
the bowels of it under SP2. Consequently I am less familiar with its
layout now - and it does appear to have changed considerably in
appearance. Apologies, therefore, if none of this appears to make any
sense.

>So now I turn to you my net technicians...help me!

Personally I've saved the txt file with the key in it so I can use it
again if need be. I don't know if you let anyone else use your
machine(s) in which case it might make sense to give the file a
completely misleading name - "My secret key.txt" might be a bit of a
giveaway :-)

I hope something in this lot helps you.

Thanks for the reply Simon, it's good to know someone can try and help me

As for purchasing the v1, it was from a work colleague that had just
purchased it and I essentially bought this gear off him as a favour

In regards to the settings for the router with WPA and for the netgear
config I have attached some screenshots. In particular I've included links
to screenshots of the WPA config section of the netgear software.

http://members.optushome.com.au/~mem...r%20config.JPG

http://members.optushome.com.au/~membreya/router.JPG

http://members.optushome.com.au/~membreya/wpa.JPG

(this final screenshot is from the advanced security option of the netgear
config tool)

Oh and yes it's still called WZC in SP2 ;-)

"Simon Pleasants" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Fri, 22 Oct 2004 06:43:38 -0700, "Adam Membrey"
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>>I recently purchased a Netgear WG311 v2 network card and
>>WGR614 v1 router and installed them on my home computer
>>running windows xp professional SP2.
>
> Um, is the WGR614v1 not rather an old item to have "recently
> purchased"? They're up to v5 now!
>
>>I'm quite easily able to get no encryption and WEP to
>>connect however as soon as I enable WPA-SPK on the router
>>and the client I am constantly receiving the
>>message "acquiring network address" DHCP works fine with
>>WEP however falls over with WPA.
>
> What settings are you using for WPA?
>
>>Both the router and the card are running the latest
>>drivers/firmware and I have tried both WZC and the netgear
>>software (netgear seems to be the more successful of the
>>two)
>
> Here we have a problem. The Netgear GUI for the WG311v2 has does not
> support WPA and has no facility to enter a pre-shared key. It is
> simply not possible to "test" it. The only way this card will work
> with WPA-PSK is using the Windows wireless utility (I don't think they
> call it WZC in SP2).
>
> If using WPA-PSK in the WZC (or whatever it's now called) make sure
> you select "TKIP". Type out your key (make it long, use upper and
> lower case, letters, numbers and chuck in the odd ASCII character) in
> Notepad. Log into the router and copy / paste it into the relevent
> box in the router interface. Save it to a floppy disk (if you still
> have any) and copy the file to any / all client machines. Go to the
> WZC utility on each machine, select WPA-PSK (TKIP) on each machine and
> copy / paste the key from your file. Make sure "Enable 802.1x
> authentication" is NOT ticked.
>
> I had a few fights with the WZC before I installed SP2 on my machines.
> I've not had any since I did so I have not really had to root about in
> the bowels of it under SP2. Consequently I am less familiar with its
> layout now - and it does appear to have changed considerably in
> appearance. Apologies, therefore, if none of this appears to make any
> sense.
>
>>So now I turn to you my net technicians...help me!
>
> Personally I've saved the txt file with the key in it so I can use it
> again if need be. I don't know if you let anyone else use your
> machine(s) in which case it might make sense to give the file a
> completely misleading name - "My secret key.txt" might be a bit of a
> giveaway :-)
>
> I hope something in this lot helps you.

On Mon, 25 Oct 2004 23:40:47 +1000, "Adam Membrey"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Thanks for the reply Simon, it's good to know someone can try and help me
>
>As for purchasing the v1, it was from a work colleague that had just
>purchased it and I essentially bought this gear off him as a favour
>
>In regards to the settings for the router with WPA and for the netgear
>config I have attached some screenshots. In particular I've included links
>to screenshots of the WPA config section of the netgear software.
>
>http://members.optushome.com.au/~mem...r%20config.JPG
>
>http://members.optushome.com.au/~membreya/router.JPG
>
>http://members.optushome.com.au/~membreya/wpa.JPG
>
>(this final screenshot is from the advanced security option of the netgear
>config tool)
>
>Oh and yes it's still called WZC in SP2 ;-)

Interesting. The screen shot is fairly conclusive - I'd be grateful
to know what the firmware versions are for both your router and
WG311v2. I don't think my router (which is a different model) has a
key lifetime option at all.

As for WG311v2, I have one, it's running the latest official firmware
and the advanced option in your screen shot is simply not there. Not
only that but the Netgear website clearly states that it does not yet
offer WPA support in the native GUI.

There is a beta firmware available, however, and it could be that you
are using that - in which case it could simply be that they've not got
it working properly in the beta. The screen you provided shows an
interface which looks identical to the one used by my WG311T which
DOES support WPA in the native GUI and which it is logical to assume
would form the basis of any future upgrade to the WG311v2 GUI,
especially since the original WG311(v1) already looks like this.

I am currently downloading the beta to have a look.

Simon

PS - I know you are in Australia, and therefore everything is upside
down, but top posting confuses me....

My apologies Simon, perhaps I should have been more elaborative with my
initial post, yes I am running the beta of both the NIC software and the
router firmware.

I chose to install he beta for the NIC software as the software that came
with it was causing a constant BSOD (BAD_POOL_HEADER) and I downloaded the
beta as it stated it fixed issues with XP SP2.

I've listed my software versions for you below:

NIC Driver Version 6.0.5.30
Smart Software Version 2.0.0.6
Router Firmware Version 1.40 (Feb 18 2004)

On the router I currently have DHCP enabled with an IP address reserved for
my NIC based on it's MAC address so I can enable port forwarding for my P2P
software.


"Simon Pleasants" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Mon, 25 Oct 2004 23:40:47 +1000, "Adam Membrey"
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>>Thanks for the reply Simon, it's good to know someone can try and help me
>>
>>
>>As for purchasing the v1, it was from a work colleague that had just
>>purchased it and I essentially bought this gear off him as a favour
>>
>>In regards to the settings for the router with WPA and for the netgear
>>config I have attached some screenshots. In particular I've included
>>links
>>to screenshots of the WPA config section of the netgear software.
>>
>>http://members.optushome.com.au/~mem...r%20config.JPG
>>
>>http://members.optushome.com.au/~membreya/router.JPG
>>
>>http://members.optushome.com.au/~membreya/wpa.JPG
>>
>>(this final screenshot is from the advanced security option of the netgear
>>config tool)
>>
>>Oh and yes it's still called WZC in SP2 ;-)
>
> Interesting. The screen shot is fairly conclusive - I'd be grateful
> to know what the firmware versions are for both your router and
> WG311v2. I don't think my router (which is a different model) has a
> key lifetime option at all.
>
> As for WG311v2, I have one, it's running the latest official firmware
> and the advanced option in your screen shot is simply not there. Not
> only that but the Netgear website clearly states that it does not yet
> offer WPA support in the native GUI.
>
> There is a beta firmware available, however, and it could be that you
> are using that - in which case it could simply be that they've not got
> it working properly in the beta. The screen you provided shows an
> interface which looks identical to the one used by my WG311T which
> DOES support WPA in the native GUI and which it is logical to assume
> would form the basis of any future upgrade to the WG311v2 GUI,
> especially since the original WG311(v1) already looks like this.
>
> I am currently downloading the beta to have a look.
>
> Simon
>
> PS - I know you are in Australia, and therefore everything is upside
> down, but top posting confuses me....

On Tue, 26 Oct 2004 23:21:17 +1000, "Adam Membrey"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>My apologies Simon, perhaps I should have been more elaborative with my
>initial post, yes I am running the beta of both the NIC software and the
>router firmware.
>
>I chose to install he beta for the NIC software as the software that came
>with it was causing a constant BSOD (BAD_POOL_HEADER) and I downloaded the
>beta as it stated it fixed issues with XP SP2.
>
>I've listed my software versions for you below:
>
>NIC Driver Version 6.0.5.30
>Smart Software Version 2.0.0.6
>Router Firmware Version 1.40 (Feb 18 2004)
>
>On the router I currently have DHCP enabled with an IP address reserved for
>my NIC based on it's MAC address so I can enable port forwarding for my P2P
>software.

Out of interest, why would you be using the beta firmware with the
router? I understand your reasons for using the beta software for the
NIC but since beta software, by definition, is unfinished or at the
very least not fully tested, it would surely be in your interest to
minimise the number of betas in use at any one time. Using a beta to
connect to a beta would seem to me to be asking for trouble and it
would appear that trouble is exactly what you are receiving.

If I get a chance I will install the beta software on my machine and
test it out for you but whether or not the results of that will help
you is uncertain - the machine with the WG311v2 runs Win98SE so there
are no service packs or hotfix issues to negotiate and I have a
different router (which is not running a beta firmware).

I'll get back to you if I come across anything which might help.