Problems Connecting With Wep

[SN3AK]

Well I received a very crappy (IMO) laptop from a friend who had nothing he could do with it and wanted to be rid of it. The only way I could possibly get online with it was via an RJ11 phone jack connection on it. So I bought a cheap Netgear Wireless PCMCIA Card ($15 on TigerDirect) for it (11Mbps). It seems to work fine... except for the fact that I can't receive any data on an encrypted network. I found that by turning off WEP on my network, I can connect and browse easily without problems, but when I turn the WEP back on (and yes the wireless card has up to 128-bit encryption) I can connect to the network but can't actually browse or anything. I tried going to command prompt and doing "ipconfig /release_all" and "ipconfig /renew_all" but it apparently has a problem with DHCP when renewing.

Any ideas?

Edited September 1, 2007 by SN3AK

[Tootsdog9]

Well I received a very crappy (IMO) laptop from a friend who had nothing he could do with it and wanted to be rid of it. The only way I could possibly get online with it was via an RJ11 phone jack connection on it. So I bought a cheap Netgear Wireless PCMCIA Card ($15 on TigerDirect) for it (11Mbps). It seems to work fine... except for the fact that I can't receive any data on an encrypted network. I found that by turning off WEP on my network, I can connect and browse easily without problems, but when I turn the WEP back on (and yes the wireless card has up to 128-bit encryption) I can connect to the network but can't actually browse or anything. I tried going to command prompt and doing "ipconfig /release_all" and "ipconfig /renew_all" but it apparently has a problem with DHCP when renewing.

Any ideas?

How old is this laptop more importantly some specs. I have an old Gateway with only 288 MB's of ram and a 400 MHz Celeron and I found that it at the time wouldn't work either at 128 but it does work fine at 64. Now there may be better solutions but I haven't tried anything else since it works that way. I would give that a try and see if it helps. Some encryption is better than none and you can always look for better solutions after that. My laptop gets only a little use and usually just some web browsing or some online poker (play money chips). So I never bothered with doing more as nothing important is done on it like banking or credit card use.

Let us know if that helps please.

[SN3AK]

Unfortunately no, that's what I use is 64 bit encryption and it doesn't work and I've tried it before on 128 bit too.

The laptop is a Compaq, ARMADA 1580DMT running Windows 98.

Specs pulled from here as I don't have enough time to look on the comp itself right now.

Intel Pentium @ 150 MHz

2.1 GB HDD

16 MB RAM

[JSKY]

Could you just install a Software Firewall to keep yourself safe, and just turn off WEP when you are using your Laptop.

[Tootsdog9]

Unfortunately no, that's what I use is 64 bit encryption and it doesn't work and I've tried it before on 128 bit too.

The laptop is a Compaq, ARMADA 1580DMT running Windows 98.

Specs pulled from here as I don't have enough time to look on the comp itself right now.

Intel Pentium @ 150 MHz

2.1 GB HDD

16 MB RAM

That laptop makes mine look like a spring chicken. Mine is also running XP Pro. The only thing I can think of is more ram, bigger swap file but your drive is pretty small so I don't know how much you can do. Probably not worth the cost either unless you found ram at a flea market or fair. Unless someone has a better answer which I would be interested in, I would also say just go with an anti-virus, some malware programs that are manually used to scan instead of running in the back ground and a firewall that is not reliant on allot of resourses. To help improve performance some basic maintenance like a scandisk and then a defrag in safe mode. Maybe also a third party program to control startup programs on boot that are not essential to Windows at startup. I like Mike Linns program but there are others as well that are free. Just a matter of them working with 98.

Basicly it is what it is, so just don't use it for online banking or credit card use.

[SN3AK]

Could you just install a Software Firewall to keep yourself safe, and just turn off WEP when you are using your Laptop.

That laptop makes mine look like a spring chicken. Mine is also running XP Pro. The only thing I can think of is more ram, bigger swap file but your drive is pretty small so I don't know how much you can do. Probably not worth the cost either unless you found ram at a flea market or fair. Unless someone has a better answer which I would be interested in, I would also say just go with an anti-virus, some malware programs that are manually used to scan instead of running in the back ground and a firewall that is not reliant on allot of resourses. To help improve performance some basic maintenance like a scandisk and then a defrag in safe mode. Maybe also a third party program to control startup programs on boot that are not essential to Windows at startup. I like Mike Linns program but there are others as well that are free. Just a matter of them working with 98.

Basicly it is what it is, so just don't use it for online banking or credit card use.

Well in answer to both of those, I have 3 other computers on this network for one, for two it's not a problem of others accessing my computer without the WEP it's a matter of my father wishing to prevent others from hopping on our network and getting free internet (yet he won't do a thing about our ISP limiting our connection to 1/3 of what he pays for).

So yeah... I don't see how running a software firewall or any sort of anti-virus programs are going to let me browse on a WEP encrypted network.

[SN3AK]

oh look, tootsdog is on both forums haha.

and I've been googling for help too, having no luck.

OK well w/e, I go to command prompt and do a release/renew and here's what I'm getting...

C:\WINDOWS\Desktop>ipconfig /renew_all

IP ConfigurationError

DHCP Server Unavailable: Renewing adapter ""

Windows 98 IP Configuration

0 Ethernet adapter :

IP Address. . . . . . . : 169.254.3.47

Subnet Mask . . . . .: 255.255.0.0

Default Gateway . . .:

*EDIT*

Tried pinging the router @ 192.168.2.1

Destination host unreachable

So it says I'm conected to the wireless network, I can send data, but can't receive data, and I can't even ping the router...?

Edited August 29, 2007 by SN3AK

[Tootsdog9]

Could you just install a Software Firewall to keep yourself safe, and just turn off WEP when you are using your Laptop.

That laptop makes mine look like a spring chicken. Mine is also running XP Pro. The only thing I can think of is more ram, bigger swap file but your drive is pretty small so I don't know how much you can do. Probably not worth the cost either unless you found ram at a flea market or fair. Unless someone has a better answer which I would be interested in, I would also say just go with an anti-virus, some malware programs that are manually used to scan instead of running in the back ground and a firewall that is not reliant on allot of resourses. To help improve performance some basic maintenance like a scandisk and then a defrag in safe mode. Maybe also a third party program to control startup programs on boot that are not essential to Windows at startup. I like Mike Linns program but there are others as well that are free. Just a matter of them working with 98.

Basicly it is what it is, so just don't use it for online banking or credit card use.

Well in answer to both of those, I have 3 other computers on this network for one, for two it's not a problem of others accessing my computer without the WEP it's a matter of my father wishing to prevent others from hopping on our network and getting free internet (yet he won't do a thing about our ISP limiting our connection to 1/3 of what he pays for).

So yeah... I don't see how running a software firewall or any sort of anti-virus programs are going to let me browse on a WEP encrypted network.

I never meant to say that the advice given would get you on the protected network. Only that since the laptop might only be usable in open air that you can atleast have some protection.

I'm assuming that you entered the correct encrypted key on your laptop. Because even though it may see the network and show a good signal, it won't connect properly without the right key. You may know this but I figured I better mention it just in case. You could also try a static IP on the laptop. I run static IP's on my network but keep the DHCP on to make it easy to work on other pc's for people. I found running static IP's kept the network running better. At least for my setup anyway.

I am hoping that someone chimes in who knows more. I don't get in to much network setup. I really only tried to help since I didn't see any other help at the time being given. If you do get it to work with encryption please let us know how you got it to connect.

[SN3AK]

I'm assuming that you entered the correct encrypted key on your laptop. Because even though it may see the network and show a good signal, it won't connect properly without the right key. You may know this but I figured I better mention it just in case. You could also try a static IP on the laptop. I run static IP's on my network but keep the DHCP on to make it easy to work on other pc's for people. I found running static IP's kept the network running better. At least for my setup anyway.

Yeah, I'm fairly sure I've entered the correct one, I tried a few times to make sure.

I really only tried to help since I didn't see any other help at the time being given. If you do get it to work with encryption please let us know how you got it to connect.

Thank you , and will do.

[SN3AK]

Alright so I found a solution though I dunno if it'll help anybody else with the same problem.

I formatted and installed Win2k.

Simple eh?

I guess Windows 98 just isn't very good with wireless?