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WPA and Mini 10v - cannot authenticate
I changed my router from WEP to WPA/WPA2.
While other wireless devices work, the Mini10v does not.
The status remains at 'Authenticating'
It also says that the encryption is "AES: Key Absent"
The key is there and was entered correctly.
The key used was the same one as before, and I have verified that it was entered correctly.
The driver for the Broadcomm 1397 Network card is current, 5.10.38.26
I have spent a fair bit of time searching for a solution to this, and have not found anything helpful.
Any ideas?
TxCharlie
7 Posts
0
July 30th, 2010 17:00
Just a wild shot:
My old laptop did that to me when I tried to use a GUID for the key to make it more secure (GUID is just a long string of hex digits and dashes). I was tired of messing with it, so I reverted the router & laptop back to the old (much shorter) password and it started working again.
I would guess either the GUID string was too long, or maybe the laptop or router didn't like the dashes. So you might want to try a short key of just letters and numbers if your key is long or has any special characters in it.
Another dumb mistake I made once that caused a similar problem was that I typed in the SSID wrong (it had a letter "O" in it, but I typed in a zero). I think that cost me about 2 hours so I've learned to use copy/paste off a text file on a thumb drive for keys or SSID's or anything like that!
jkstill
3 Posts
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July 30th, 2010 19:00
Thanks for the suggestions.
The SSID is just chosen from the list of networks, so I'm getting the right one.
The key is not too long and strictly alpha numeric, so I don't think that's the issue.
It is in fact the same one as before. The only difference is changing the router to WPA from WEP.
jkstill
3 Posts
1
August 5th, 2010 00:00
After hours of searching and trying a number of different suggestions, I found the solution.
Let's set the stage first.
I changed my router from WEP to WPA authentication.
WEP as you may recall enforces a 10 character key, at least it does on NetGear routers.
Not wanting to change the key wherever it was used, I reused the key for WPA.
That won't work.
I found on Dell's website a post with recommended wireless settings.
Included among those was to use a key, or password, of at least 13 characters.
So, I lengthened the key to 14 characters, and everything started working.
Wonderful. Really, I'm glad it works now, but am a bit ticked off about the whole experience.
* The status message from the Broadcom 1397 is 'Key Absent' - a little misleading isn't it?
* No where is there any information I could find that says 'Your WPA key must be at least 13 characters, or you will not be able to connect"
* This last one is a generic pet peeve with thoughtless people that post a problem, get several suggestions, then close the thread with "Never mind, I fixed it"
No explanation of any kind. Yeah, I found one of those for this problem, and I've seen numerous other examples over the years.