Can't Seem to get an Answer to this oddball Wireless Problem

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boweasel

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For several years my friend has been wirelessly using an old XP SP3 laptop at her place of work. She recently brought it home and found it won't connect to her home network.

I took an old XP SP3 laptop of mine over to her house where she connects using a combination modem/router she got from her ISP. The network name and password are on the bottom of the device, and my old XP connected immediately, while hers would only give her limited connectivity. A repair of her wireless gave me a certificate error, so I removed the check mark from 1EEE 802.1 authentication and figured it was gonna be good.

Wrong.... In the properties for her network it lists the data encryption as WEP and there's a check mark in the box that says the key is provided for me automatically. When I remove the check mark and entered the key I got the network password needs to be 40bits or 104 bits depending on your network configuration.

Then it gets weird...

I took both of the laptops home with me. Both of them connect wirelessly to my network. I also have a combo modem and router from the same ISP as my friend, although mine is a newer model. When I go into wireless network connections on her laptop (at my house) and look at my network properties, it also says my data encryption is WEP, although there is no check mark in the key is provided for me automatically box, and I can see the black dots in my network key box. When I click on her network's properties, remove the check and manually enter her key I still get the same '40 bits or 104 bits error' that I did at her house.

So that's it. My laptop (and others at her house) connects to her network. Hers does not. Both connect perfectly to my network. Both houses use modem/routers from the same provider. Both have WEP encryption. Both laptops run XP SP3. I'm missing something.
 
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boweasel

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I already did that, but since her network is about a half mile away, all I can do here is delete her network from the Preferred Networks. Adding it manually gives me the same 'the network password needs to be 40bits or 104 bits depending on your network configuration' msg as before.
 
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boweasel

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The problem is that neither of us have a standard modem and router. We both have that hybrid that is preset with an SSID, a passphrase and an encryption method, and from what I understand, that is not changeable unless it's done thru our ISP.

Besides, why does MY laptop connect to HER modem/router? Along with all the other people at her house with laptops?

The passkey on the underside of her modem/router is 8 characters.
 
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boweasel

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Okay... I discovered something...

On her laptop, when I look at the properties of the preferred networks, both her network and mine have a Network Authentication of Open and a Data Encryption of WEP.

On my laptop, when I look at thr properties of the preferred networks, only my network has a Network Authentication of Open and a Data Encryption of WEP, while her network has a Network Authentication of WPA-PSK and a Data Encryption of TKIP.

On her laptop, the pulldown on her network properties only lets me choose between Open or Sharing for Network Authentication and WEP or Disabled for Data Encryption.

How do I fix this?

 
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Saga Lout

Saga Lout

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You need to change the settings of her router to drop the level to WEP, even though it isn't a good solution but it's the only level her wireless chip can recognise. These settings are set by the ISP but can be changed by the user to suit their own requirements.

Our Sticky Post on how to change it is here if you don't already know how:- http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/38111-18-find-change-wireless-security
 
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boweasel

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Her laptop is an old IBM Thinkpad and I don't even know what's going on wirelessly. It has this big card - about the size of a Hershey Bar that slides into a slot on the side. It's labeled Netopia 802.11b and is obviously her wireless card. I don't even know what to look for regarding an updated driver. Is this considered a USB card adapter? Was it part of the Thinkpad's original equipment? My friend says it was already there when she bought it (used). I've obviously never seen a device like this

 
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boweasel

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Won't]http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/38111-18-find-change-wireless-security[/b][/quotemsg]Won't that mess up everybody else in the house who I assume is using WPA-PSK Authentication and TKIP Encryption.
 
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Saga Lout

Saga Lout

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Yep - everyone would have to know and input the new key. I recommend hiding the SSID when dropping the level down to WEP. The alternative to all of this is to ditch the old PCMCIA card which can't recognise WPA let alone WPA2 and buy a USB wireless dongle. It isn't worth the effort of trying to update the internal card but that Thinkpad has some use ahead of it - landfill gets too many PCs and laptops already.
 
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boweasel

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Stupid laptop only has one USB port, if you can believe that. And it has that ridiculous little red ball in the middle of the keyboard that pretends it's actually a mouse - so she uses that lone port for a mouse.

So...., having to buy a USB hub, and a new wireless adapter... for this close to 15 year old ThinkPad.... well, you're getting tantalizingly close to this laptop being dirt buddies with Jimmy Hoffa.
 
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boweasel

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And what exactly is the rationale behind stronger encryption? This friend has a neighbor about 40 yards away - nobody else closer than 100 yards. And so if this neighbor cracked her WEP passcode, so what? It's not like he'd have access to her personal info - he'd just have access to her internet capability. Is she really gonna notice degraded performance if one other computer uses her network? At my house we sometimes have a desktop and 2 laptops suckling to the internet, and unless I'm downloading some humongous file, I don't really detect any difference in response.
 
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Saga Lout

Saga Lout

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The days of the need to have strong wireless security go back to when fewer people had DSL capability and folks were actually driving around looking for wireless bandwidth to poach. If you saw a strange car outside your house, you turned your router off and the car disappeared in seconds flat. :D Now a majority of people have wireless networks, no-one needs to steal bandwidth any more. WEP will be sufficient for your neighbour and a 15 year old laptop gets to stay alive a bit longer.
 
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bill001g

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Be careful to assume people only want to USE your bandwidth because they don't have their own. If I was going to do something bad I did not want tracked back to be I would never use my own connection. There are some things that you are guilty until you prove you are innocent. It is much easier to secure everything than even deal with a letter from the RIAA saying you are stealing...or hiring a lawyer when a government agency kicks in your door and takes every electronic device in your house.
 
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Saga Lout

Saga Lout

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You make valid points bill001g but if this lady is a bit remote she might get away with it. The worst that used to happen was that some kid with a basic knowledge of Linux would hack in and download some free music that everyone else had to pay for. I did also suggest hiding the SSID.

Still it's something boweasel should take into account.
 
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boweasel

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One of the Amazon links provided boosted1g lists a Netgear Wireless N adapter with measurements of 4.85 x 0.33 x 2.13 inches.

I can't provide precise measurements, but the Netopia wireless card in the ThinkPad has approximate measurements of 4.625 x 0.125 x 2.125 inches. The 4+ inch measurement includes the part that sticks out of the laptop, so I see no problem there, and the width certainly seems correct, but I'm concerned about the thickness
 
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boweasel

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It seems to be a 2 tier slot - I've tried the card in the upper and lower slots and it only seems to connect in the bottom.

I have no idea why the Amazon product dimensions listed for both of the cards from boosted1g (in the Amazon Product Details section) are referring to the size of the box the adapter will be shipped it. How useless is that?

And here's a question that you good folks will think is brain dead, and accept my apologies in advance....

If I go into preferred networks and click on the properties for her network and change the data encryption from WEP to Disabled, will she be able to connect with this ThinkPad at her house?
 
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boweasel

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Okay boosted1g... Thank you (and everybody else who's contributed). I'm going to her house today and will talk to her ISP and see if we can change the encryption type of her combo unit to WEP. If that dog don't hunt, then I'll have her send away for the Netgear N card.
 
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boweasel

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I do have a followup question - if she gets a new wireless card that will allow her to connect to her home network, will that same card allow her to connect to her work network that uses WEP encryption?
 
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