WPA won't connect

Question

Hi all, This has been bugging me for weeks!  I hope you can shed some light.   I have an Inspiron 1501 and cannot connect to my (or any other) wireless router when WPA security is enabled on the router.  I can see the router, but it will just not connect.  Other laptops connect to it with no problem at all.  If there is no security enabled the Inspiron connects fine.  It also connects fine if I use MAC Address Filtering.   It can't be the router as other laptops connect to it with no problem, which also rules out the ISP being a problem.  It must be a config on the Inspiron?  Mustn't it?   Can anyone help??    Cheers,   Steve

boppo · Answer

i bet you are running win xp. I have the same problem with xp on my I8200 but if i use wep it works ok. now my laptop I6000 running vista has no problem what so ever with wpa.

jmwills · Answer

Is there a firmware update for the card?  Are you being filtered out by MAC filtering when security is applied on the router?

albinosteve · Answer

Hi JMWills,   I used a whitelist to allow only 2 laptops to connect and the offending one won't connect with it's MAC address whitelisted and WPA on.  It's fine with WPA off.   Not sure about the firmware update.  I'll have to check.  The laptop is only about 4 months old, so I'd be surprised if there was a problem like that.  You never know though!   Cheers   Albinosteve

albinosteve · Answer

Thanks Boppo.  I've got the Vista upgrade disc but haven't applied it yet.  I'll try it and see if it improves things.  I'll let you know.   Cheers   Albinosteve

jmwills · Answer

Take the new machine off and add it back in.  Sometimes MAC addresses have to be entered in a certain way (all lower case).

albinosteve · Answer

There seems to be nothing wrong when using MAC address filtering.  The problem is when using WPA security.  The Inspiron does not seem to connect to any router which is using WPA security.  Other security types seem to be fine.  I'm using XP Pro at the moment, soon to do the Vista upgrade.

jmwills · Answer

Here's something to try.  Turn off MAC filtering and use only WPA.  If that works, then you know you have an incorrect MAC address.  Double check the MAC address by using ipconfig /all

albinosteve · Answer

Nope. That is the whole problem.  It will not connect when WPA is the only security used.   It's fine when using MAC filtering (which I've had to change to at home to get it to work), which solves the problem at my house, but if I take it elsewhere where WPA is used then no luck.  To confirm; also at my house it will not work where only WPA is used.   Really appreciate your efforts here! :)

jmwills · Answer

The only thing that could block WPA authentication is an incorrect passwqord key...nothing else.

JayCl · Answer

got the same problem with vista and wpa. Insprion 6400 vista intel3945abg will not connect with wpa-psk.   No mac filtering. I know the password key is correct as it sometimes connects after atleast 5-10 repairs. Also if a wired connection is made to the router then sometimes after 15-25 minutes it will connect.   w2k and xp connect fine with wpa-psk    Have tried turning off vista autotuning.         netsh in tcp set global autotuninglevel=disable   Disabling ipv6 Disabling the vista broadcasting    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928233   Nothing has resolved. Dell tech support reckon its my router a 3com office connect 3CRWDR100A-72.   WEP works as does no security, but hardly a good solution.  Hmmmmm.

grrargh09 · Answer

Hi,,

I just got an Inspiron 6400. It also doesn't connect to my router with WPA.
When I put my router on No Security, the laptop had no problems connecting and successfully got online.
But I cannot get it to work with the router otherwise. I have another PC (running XP) which is on the network and working just fine using WPA. Is this a Vista problem? Or is it the wlan card (1390 dell minicard)? Or does the router need an upgrade to work with WPA on Vista (Belkin 54 G)?
Ihave run out of ideas any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

R

Networking, Internet, & Bluetooth

WPA won't connect

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