WEP is NFG!

Can anyone please shed some light on this problem? I'm trying to get WEP to
work on my laptop and it's just not connecting.

Wireless Router: Linksys WRT54GS
Laptop: IBM T41 with Intel Wireless 2100 3B card (running Win 2000)

With wireless security off, the laptop successfully picks up an IP address
from the router and I am able to surf the web.

When I enable WEP security, the laptop does not pick up an IP address and I
cannot connect to the net (although NetStumbler does detect my network)

I have a 3rd desktop machine (running Win 2000) that works fine with the
specified WEP settings. The T41 laptop just won't do WEP.

All drivers are the latest versions.

Any suggestions?

On Tue, 11 Jan 2005 22:53:03 -0500, "LD" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>Can anyone please shed some light on this problem? I'm trying to get WEP to
>work on my laptop and it's just not connecting.
>
>Wireless Router: Linksys WRT54GS
>Laptop: IBM T41 with Intel Wireless 2100 3B card (running Win 2000)
>
>With wireless security off, the laptop successfully picks up an IP address
>from the router and I am able to surf the web.
>
>When I enable WEP security, the laptop does not pick up an IP address and I
>cannot connect to the net (although NetStumbler does detect my network)
>
>I have a 3rd desktop machine (running Win 2000) that works fine with the
>specified WEP settings. The T41 laptop just won't do WEP.
>
>All drivers are the latest versions.

1. If you're using WEP 64bit, then make sure your ASCII text string
is exactly 5 characters long.

2. If you're using WEP 128bit, then make sure your ASCII text string
is exactly 13 characters long.

3. If you can't get either WEP64 or WEP128 to work with ASCII text
strings, set the WEP key in Hexadecimal. 64bit is exactly 10
characters long. 128bit is exactly 26 characters long. Hex always
works, even when ASCII fails.

What's a T41 laptop? Who made it? What wireless card are you using?
What version of the driver? What operating system? What makes you
thing it won't do WEP? Unless it's a really ancient 802.11 (1 or
2mbits/sec only), all the modern cards and drivers will do WEP. Even
the ancient cards have firmware upgrades that support WEP.



--
Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 AE6KS 831-336-2558

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for your response! I'll try out your suggestions tonight and
hopefully get this connection working.

- The T41 is an IBM Thinkpad Laptop
- My wireless card is an Intel Wireless PRO 2100 3B (802.11b)
- I'm using the latest driver from the IBM Thinkpad site
- The laptop is running Windows 2000
- The firmware for my Linksys WRT54GS router is the most recent

If I can't get WEP working tonight, I'll try using WPA instead.

Thanks again for your advice!

...Lew..


"Jeff Liebermann" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Tue, 11 Jan 2005 22:53:03 -0500, "LD" <(E-Mail Removed)>
> wrote:
>

>
> What's a T41 laptop? Who made it? What wireless card are you using?
> What version of the driver? What operating system? What makes you
> thing it won't do WEP? Unless it's a really ancient 802.11 (1 or
> 2mbits/sec only), all the modern cards and drivers will do WEP. Even
> the ancient cards have firmware upgrades that support WEP.
>
>
>
> --
> Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
> 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
> Santa Cruz CA 95060 AE6KS 831-336-2558

On Tue, 11 Jan 2005 23:12:32 -0800, Jeff Liebermann
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

<snip>
>
>1. If you're using WEP 64bit, then make sure your ASCII text string
>is exactly 5 characters long.
>
>2. If you're using WEP 128bit, then make sure your ASCII text string
>is exactly 13 characters long.
>
<snip>

Say huh?

From every access point I own, the instructions are similar to this one (which I
copied / pasted from the setup page)

For 64 bit keys you must enter 10 hex digits into the key box. For 128 bit keys
you must enter 26 hex digits into the key box.

This it totally false. It does not matter how many characters.

"Beretta" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Tue, 11 Jan 2005 23:12:32 -0800, Jeff Liebermann
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
> <snip>
>>
>>1. If you're using WEP 64bit, then make sure your ASCII text string
>>is exactly 5 characters long.
>>
>>2. If you're using WEP 128bit, then make sure your ASCII text string
>>is exactly 13 characters long.
>>
> <snip>
>
> Say huh?
>
> From every access point I own, the instructions are similar to this one
> (which I
> copied / pasted from the setup page)
>
> For 64 bit keys you must enter 10 hex digits into the key box. For 128 bit
> keys
> you must enter 26 hex digits into the key box.
>
>

Taking a moment's reflection, Beretta mused:
|
| Say huh?

Notice his instructions specify ACSII while yours specify Hex ...

On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 08:52:41 -0500, "Rodney Kelp"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>This it totally false. It does not matter how many characters.

Really? Some firmware versions do not seem to check how many
characters is typed into the WEP key. Instead, it just truncates the
string to 5 or 13 ASCII characters and doesn't bother telling you
about it. There also seem to be different ways some manufactories
convert from ASCII to Hex. Yes, it does matter.

Just yesterday, I had to connect a G3 laptop running 10.3 with a stock
Airport card to my office DI-614+ wireless router. I use 64 bit WEP
because I have a pile of Orinoco Silver cards that will only do 64
bit. I type in the WEP key in ASCII and it wouldn't take it. I do
the same in Hex, and it works. With Hex, it ALWAYS works. With
ASCII, it's often a challenge.


--
Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 AE6KS 831-336-2558

On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 07:06:40 -0500, "LD" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>- The T41 is an IBM Thinkpad Laptop
>- My wireless card is an Intel Wireless PRO 2100 3B (802.11b)
>- I'm using the latest driver from the IBM Thinkpad site
>- The laptop is running Windows 2000
>- The firmware for my Linksys WRT54GS router is the most recent
>
>If I can't get WEP working tonight, I'll try using WPA instead.
>
>Thanks again for your advice!

Well, WPA is more secure that WEP and should be used if available.

IBM had some wireless drivers updates for W2K and XP. Some of my
customers are running it on A31 laptops and W2K. I know it supports
WEP, but I'm not sure about WPA. I'll check (if I have time).


--
Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 AE6KS 831-336-2558

On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 16:46:40 GMT, "mhicaoidh"
<®êmõvé_mhic_aoidh@hotÑîXmailŠPäM.com> wrote:

>Taking a moment's reflection, Beretta mused:
>|
>| Say huh?
>
> Notice his instructions specify ACSII while yours specify Hex ...
>

Ahh. True. My bad.

However, I notice the original poster said:

>Wireless Router: Linksys WRT54GS
>Laptop: IBM T41 with Intel Wireless 2100 3B card (running Win 2000)

Since that is two diff manufacturers, I believe the generally accepted practice
is to use the Hex characters, since different manufacturers use different
methods of converting the ASCII to Hex, as Jeff mentioned further up in this
thread.

Figured out the problem. Thought I'd post an update here 'cause I'm
probably going to google this at some time in the future!

I needed to install "IBM Access Connections" software that enabled me to
correctly configure the laptop for WEP wireless. Configuring WEP directly
via Windows 2000 does not work (at least on a T41 laptop).

The URL (at the time of this writing) for this software is here:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/si...id=MIGR-4ZLNJB

Thanks agian to everyone for their responses!



"Jeff Liebermann" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 07:06:40 -0500, "LD" <(E-Mail Removed)>
> wrote:
>
>>- The T41 is an IBM Thinkpad Laptop
>>- My wireless card is an Intel Wireless PRO 2100 3B (802.11b)
>>- I'm using the latest driver from the IBM Thinkpad site
>>- The laptop is running Windows 2000
>>- The firmware for my Linksys WRT54GS router is the most recent
>>
>>If I can't get WEP working tonight, I'll try using WPA instead.
>>
>>Thanks again for your advice!
>
> Well, WPA is more secure that WEP and should be used if available.
>
> IBM had some wireless drivers updates for W2K and XP. Some of my
> customers are running it on A31 laptops and W2K. I know it supports
> WEP, but I'm not sure about WPA. I'll check (if I have time).
>
>
> --
> Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
> 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
> Santa Cruz CA 95060 AE6KS 831-336-2558