wireless 1390 wlan minicard needs 5 or 13 ascii characters for WPA?

Thanks, Volcano.

Any idea where I can read about the software that is asking this question? I assume it is one of the drivers (R174291 or R151519), though I'm not sure. I tried searching on those two drivers in Support, and got nothing about them asking questions about passwords.

I had the "view all networks" showing on the screen. It showed a bar graphs, showing the relative strengths of the signals. I clicked on mine, and the software came up with the "need password". That's when the 5 or 13 ascii character problem occurred. Any idea where I can either read about this software, or what else I should have done to connect to my WiFi signal, and get a question about my WPA password, and not a WEP password?

Any help would be great.

Thanks,
Paul

Thanks again.

How do I let Windows do the wireless connections for me? After loading WinXP onto the Vostro 1000 (was Vista), I just downloaded every driver according to a list from another Dell forum/board. So I'm not sure how to let Windows do the wireless connections for me.

Is there anything else that I should let Windows do, besides what the drivers' software does?

Thanks,
Paul

I'm having a problem, Steve. I unchecked the box next to "Let this tool manage your wireless networks" on the Dell 1390 card software.  Then I opened Network Connections in Control Panel, right clicked Wireless Connection, selected Properties, clicked Wireless Networks, and clicked on the box for "Use Windows to configure my wireless network settings".

I clicked Add to my WiFi wireless network, and entered the SSID, selected "WPA-PSK" and "TKIP", then typed in my Network Key (16 characters long) twice.

While that window is still open, I clicked on the Connection tab, then went back to the Properties, and the software had truncated both of my 16 ascii character Network Keys to 8 balls (characters). What happened?

What truncated my 16 character Network Keys to 8 characters while the window was still open?

I thought maybe the software wasn't showing all 16 balls, so I tried to connect to my WiFi connection, but got a "Limited or No Connection" error, and the list of local WiFi's showed mine as "No Connection".

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.

Thanks,
Paul

More confusing data. But first of all, the Dell does connect to a unsecured WiFi that somebody has in the neighborhood. That's how I'm talking to you now. So I know the 1390 works unsecured.

Confusing - I got my Dell to connect to my WiFi, but it does not allow Firefox to connect to anything. So I did the following:

- right clicked monitor icon on bottom right of screen

- clicked "view available wireless networks"

- it said I'm connected to my WiFi

- I clicked on "change advanced settings"

- clicked on "wireless networks"

- my Wifi is listed at the top of box with "(Automatic)" next to it

- with my WiFi highlighted, I click on "Properties"

- The network key only has eight balls in it (I have 16 characters!). Everything else is as you said. The SSID is my WiFi. The Network Authentication is WPA-PSK. The Data Encryption is TKIP. But the network key is the wrong length.

- So I retype in my 16 character Network Key twice and click OK.

- I click OK again to the "Wireless Network Connection Properties" box.

So I double click on Firefox, and it can't find google. It can't find anything. I go back into the software, and the network key is again 8 balls (I assume it truncated after the first 8 characters). It fooled the 1390 minicard into thinking that it was connected, but no useful data goes through it.

Any ideas on what to do next would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Paul

Don't be concerned about the number of dots shown for the network key.  Mine is 32 characters long and only shows 8 dots.  Mine also works,  Windows always shows them as 8 dots.

 

To help troubleshoot this problem, on the computer with the problem, go to Start > Run and type cmd then click OK. In the command prompt window that opens, type ipconfig /all then hit the enter key. Write down the output from this command or select it and save it to a txt file, then copy this output into a reply to this message.

 

Steve

This is while the Dell is connected to an unsecured neighbor's WiFi.



Windows IP Configuration



Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : paul-9c407a28f4

Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :

Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown

IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No



Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:



Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom 440x 10/100 Integrated Controller

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-1D-09-B2-11-49



Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:



Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Dell Wireless 1390 WLAN Mini-Card

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-1D-60-D0-1A-9C

Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes

Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.103

Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0

Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1

DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1

Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Saturday, February 02, 2008 1:03:39 AM

Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Saturday, February 09, 2008 1:03:39 AM


Hope this helps.
Paul

This shows that it is not a problem with Windows networking, but some misconfiguration of your own wireless nework. 

 

I would suggest that you reset your router to its default settings.  That will return the SSID, username, and password to their original default settings and disable all security.  Then, one step at a time, change the SSID, username, password to what you want.  Checking each time to make sure you can connect.  Finally enable the wireless security/encryption.   Before entering the encryption key, type it into text file in Notepad.  Copy and paste it from Notepad into the appropriate box on the router, then when you try to connect by wireless for the first type, copy and paste it into the appropriate field when requested.

 

Steve

This is when the Dell said it was connected to my WiFi, but Firefox couldn't even connect to google.com.



Windows IP Configuration



        Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : paul-9c407a28f4

        Primary Dns Suffix  . . . . . . . :

        Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown

        IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

        WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No



Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:



        Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected

        Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom 440x 10/100 Integrated Controller

        Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-1D-09-B2-11-49



Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:



        Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :

        Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Dell Wireless 1390 WLAN Mini-Card

        Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-1D-60-D0-1A-9C

        Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes

        Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

        Autoconfiguration IP Address. . . : 169.254.80.34

        Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0

        Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

Hope this helps too.
Paul

This only tells me that it is successfully connecting.  Since what we are tyring to find out is why it is not connecting to yours, it doesn't help.  Disconnect from the unsecured network and try connecting to your secure network, then run the command again and post the results.

 

Steve

I have two other Dell desktops and a Toshiba laptop that currently use this protected WiFi network. I'm typing this message on the Toshiba through the protected WiFi. Why is the Dell laptop not connecting as well? It seems overkill to start the router from scratch all over again when three computers are using it fine. Would a "ipconfig /all" from my Toshiba (currently connected to my WiFi) help you in any way to determine what may be wrong with how the Dell Vostro 1000 (which you already have the "ipconfig /all" for) connects to my network? If so, I will post the "ipconfig /all" from my Toshiba laptop and you can compare it to the Dell Vostro data and hopefully figure out what is wrong.

Thanks again,
Paul

I figured it out! It's my fault.

The paperwork from when the guy installed the Verizon Fios had a post-it note with a password on it. I thought that was the WEP or WPA password. I was wrong. That was the password to log in to the router(?). The "WEP Key" is written right on the side of the router! Geez.

So I am typing this on the Vostro 1000 on my WEP WiFi.

Thanks a lot, Steve. You were a great help. Take care.

I'll be sure and try to help others on this forum as you helped me.

Thanks!
Paul

Great!  I'm glad you got it fixed.  Thans for letting us know how you solved the problem.

 

Steve