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albinosteve

updated

19 years ago

0

28294

May 7th, 2007 18:00

WPA won't connect

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

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    Posted May 7th, 2007 19:00

    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

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    Posted May 8th, 2007 09:00

    Is there a firmware update for the card?  Are you being filtered out by MAC filtering when security is applied on the router?
  • 578

    0

    Posted May 8th, 2007 10:00

    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
     
     
     
     
     
     
  • 578

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    Posted May 8th, 2007 10:00

    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

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    Posted May 8th, 2007 11:00

    Take the new machine off and add it back in.  Sometimes MAC addresses have to be entered in a certain way (all lower case).
  • 578

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    Posted May 8th, 2007 12:00

    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

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    Posted May 8th, 2007 12:00

    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
  • 578

    0

    Posted May 9th, 2007 06:00

    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

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    Posted May 9th, 2007 08:00

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

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    Posted May 10th, 2007 13:00

    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.