Forcing Windows XP to remember my 128 bit WEP key

Question

Folks,   Does anyone know how I can convince Windows XP (SP2) to keep the 128 bit WEP key I use for the encryption between my network adapter and my access point?   Each time I reboot the laptop (Inspiron 8500) or wake it up from stand-by mode I have to re-enter the 128 bit WEP key in the Wireless Network's Properties dialog to get the wireless connection really up and running (otherwise XP tells me the connection is established and the signal strength is excellent but I can't get anything over the network, not even talk to my access point).   The wireless network is entirely managed by Windows (i.e. I do not use any other utility to do this).   --  PAD   P.S. for those curious for more details, this is part of a long-winded troubleshooting explained in the thread Linksys WPC54G & standby mode

Mary G · Answer

Do you have the Windows Utility set for automatic connection to your preferred network? Instead of reentering the key, try Disable Wireless then Enable Wireless. Use Fn +F2 to toggle between On/off

P-A-D · Answer

Hello Mary,   Yes, my wireless network is the preferred network and is automatically connected to by Windows.   I tried your suggestion but to no avail. Here is what I did: I checked that toggling the wireless on and off using Fn+F2 worked and did not loose my WEP key. Then,  before going to stand by mode, I used Fn+F2 to turn off the wireless card, I then put the laptop in stand by mode, waited a couple minutes then started the laptop again and turned the wireless on using Fn+F2. At this point the laptop could not reach Internet or the access point. I then re-entered the WEp key and the wireless connection worked again.   --   PAD

Mary G · Answer

You should not turn off the wireless before turning off or hibernating. Do you do this all the time or was this just a test? Recheck all your advanced settings to see if 'Password always required' is checked somewhere. If you can, use the utility that came with your card. It might give you more options. Sorry I couldn't help more. Have you tried your card's web site help? MB there's a firmware update.

P-A-D · Answer

I turned the wireless off before putting the laptop in standby mode just for this test (I misunderstood your suggestion). I tried again toggling Fn+F2 only after the laptop came back from standby mode but this did not help for the WEP key.   I have been looking at the various settings and dialogs for weeks now and I can't remember seeing anything about password. The network adapter did come with a monitoring and setup utility but Linksys' technical support recommends _not_ to use it with Windows XP. As a matter of fact the thing does not behave very well and has very little options available anyways. The network adapter's driver is the most recent available and my Windows XP SP2 is regularly patched.   I certainly have been looking at Linksys' web site (and Microsoft's and Dell's) but so far I haven't found much about the problem(s) I have. Unfortunately Microsoft's technical support sends me to Dell's (because of the OEM licence), Dell's technical support was, so far, of no help. Linksys' technical support has been better but, since I can have things working on other computers, concluded that I have a problem either with Windows XP or the laptop itself...   Thanks for your help anyways.   --    PAD

hunterelite · Answer

what's up P-A-D,

what kind of wireless card do you have. if you have an intel pro/wireless card, you can use the intel proset/wireless utility to automatically save and apply the WEP password when trying to connect to the internet. windows can not store this...i don't think. hope this helps, good luck!!!

P-A-D · Answer

Hello Hunterelite,   I use a Linksys wireless network adapter WPC54G v.4.0 on my laptop. The access point is a Linksys WRK54G.   It seems weird (to me at least) that Windows would not be able to keep a 26 characters hexadecimal key...   Yes, I could use Linksys' WLAN monitor utility but it does not play well with XP (even when set in xero config mode which gives XP full rein on the network card). Some elements indicates that it might be necessary to use it at least to initially setup the network card but because of earlier problems I got rid of it and did a re-installation of the driver only via Windows Hardware Management Wizard.   I hesitate to re-install the monitor utility because I fear that this would screw up my current configuration which, albeit not perfect, is better than having to reboot the laptop to get the wireless connection back each time I set the machine in stand-by mode...   --   PAD

P-A-D · Answer

Folks,

Three days ago I decided to re-install all the package (driver and monitor utility) but this time I decided to let the Linksys monitor utility have full control over the network card (i.e. I am no longer using the XP zero config wireless configuration). Lo and behold: things are working fine since! I no longer have to re-enter the WEP key after a reboot or a stand-by of the laptop and I can use DHCP (which I could not use for 6 months!).

In some ways I have done a full circle since this is exactly the very original configuration I used until things started to go wrong. I am still unable to explain why I got all these problems. My best bet is that the continuous stream of Windows patches has somehow destabilized the Linksys driver/utility over time. I am also unable to explain why the XP ero config wireless configuration is not properly supported although Linksys' own technical support told me to use this...

Let's see how long this "new" setting is going to hold.

--
PAD

Networking, Internet, & Bluetooth

Forcing Windows XP to remember my 128 bit WEP key

Was this post helpful?