Wireless connects with everything except WEP

Question

I've just added a wireless router (Netgear DG834G) to replace the wired network between my home Dimension computers and my two Inspiron 6000 laptops.  (The router replaced the Dell 2350 broadband router which provided wireless service off my old Solwise ADSL router.)  So far, everything connects, but whenever I enable WEP encryption, the Dimensions will connect, but the Inspirons won't.  That is, using the ProSet/wireless configuration tool, the laptops report excellent signal, 100%, but I cannot 'see' the WWW nor the home network.  If I remove WEP encryption from the Inspirons and reset the router to no encryption, everything works, and the Inspirons 'see' the internet.  Put it back, and the Dimensions (variously using Belkin/Netgear wireless adapters) see the 'net, but the Inspirons stop.    If I use WPA encryption, everything works again, including the Inspirons, which now see the WWW and the home network.  So whatever the problem is, it's with WEP on the Inspirons and their PROSet/Wireless.  I've checked and double-checked the keys and that they're all the same bit-length, but I'm now at the boundaries of my expertise.  I'm told WEP encryption is safer to use, so would like to get that working, quite apart from wanting to know how to solve this problem,   If anyone has any pointers to put me on the right track to fixing this, I'd be very grateful.     Alex

trbocam · Answer

Are you entering the actual key instead of the passphrase? There is a difference.

Example:

128 bit / 26 hex digit WEP

Passphrase = password
Key = 2B204A3F1042643E480FDD655E

You were told wrong about WEP. WEP is the weakest and oldest form of wireless encryption.

Theres also WPA and WPA2. WPA2 is prefered over WPA, if you can use it.

I'm not sure about your router, but I know the Intel wireless nics support WPA2. I have a Intel 2200BG myself running with WPA2-PSK, AES, and 63 character key.

And I don't use the Intel ProSet Wireless util. I find it bloated (installs to many services) and don't really care for it. I use wzc (wireless zero config), which is part of Windows XP.

Patch/update for WPA2:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;displaylang=en&familyid=662BB74D-E7C1-48D6-95EE-1459234F4483&displaylang=en

You must have Windows XP with SP2 to use the patch/update above.

Jerry Park · Answer

Since WEP is broken anyway and you can use WPA with no problem, why do you want to use WEP?

alexmacphee · Answer

Guys,   First, thanks for the prompt responses, especially at this holiday time of year.  Yes, it looks like I was mis-informed about the relative merits of WEP and WPA, or perhaps I was correctly informed originally and mis-remembered what I'd been told.    I had originally tried both passphrase and hex characters, and whilst both methods worked with the Dell 2350 broadband router, when I swapped it out for the Netgear, the same ProSET/Wireless interface stopped working with WEP.  However, as you rightly correct me, I need no longer worry about whether WEP works, since I should be using WPA instead anyway.  Thanks also for the link to the WPA2 patch, you've got me sorted and you've given me peace of mind too!

Networking, Internet, & Bluetooth

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