WPA and WPA-PSK missing from wireless network properties after reboot with radio disabled.

I have an Inspiron 8500 with a Dell TrueMoble 1400 wireless modem.  My Linksys AP (WAP54G, v1.08) is configured for WPA-PSK AES encryption.

I have no connectivity problems whatsoever, but a weird thing happens with the network properties display in the following scenario:

1. I select my wireless network from the list of preferred networks and click properties.  It correctly displays that I'm connected to a WPA-PSK AES network.  Open, Shared, and WPA are also listed in the Network Authentication pick list.

2. Disable the radio using the Fn-F2 key stroke.

3. Reboot the laptop.

4. Re-enable the radio using the Fn-F2 key stroke.  I'm reconnected to my wireless network with no problems.

5. Again I select my wireless network from the list of preferred networks, and look at its properties.  It now shows an Open network is selected.  WPA and WPA-PSK are no longer even listed in the drop down list.  Only Open and Shared are listed.  If I reboot the laptop WITHOUT DISABLING the radio beforehand, WPA and WPA-PSK are available in the drop down list again (with WPA-PSK correctly selected).

I assume that I'm still connecting using the WPA-PSK AES encryption even though it says "Open" because everything still works fine.  I would hope my Access Point doesn't allow "Open" connections.  I would have better peace of mind if my laptop correctly said WPA-PSK AES all the time.

I found the best thing is to never disable the radio, but when I'm out with my laptop and don't want to be doing any wireless networking, I prefer to leave it turned off.  Is anyone else having this problem?  Is there something I can do to fix it?  Thanks for any help!

Message Edited by billman31 on 11-23-2003 02:17 PM