Secure Wireless Troubleshooting advice?

[Ben]

I'm trying to help a friend out with a problem hooking up to her secure wireless connection at home.

She lost her ability to get her laptop on her home wireless system. Her home connection is WEP with password. She had been able to get on it before, but was on work travel and went onto another secure wireless while traveling. When she returned, she was unable to get back on her home secure wireless. She can get on public and unsecure wireless networks no problem, just not hers.

I was trying to troubleshoot today. My laptop found her network right away and got on with the password. Hers sees the router, but gets the "limited or no connectivity" error. An ipconfig shows an IP with some funky 169.x.x.x number, which the wireless card instructions state is a router problem (but then why are her roommates and me getting on with no problems)?  Stuff I tried that hasn't worked:

1) IP release / refresh
2) Delete the wireless profile, create new one.
3) Uninstall software and PCMCIA wireless card and reinstall fresh.
4) Setup the alternate wireless config to static IP. This got her on with her IP recognized (I used numbers from "ipconfig / all" on my laptop) but she couldn't get out to the Internet. I thought it might have to do with not having wins numbers specified, but I couldn't find any wins numbers for the network (she's on Cox Cable).
5) Turn off Windows Firewall.

Anything else anyone can think of to try? It's a Dell Latitude running Windows XP, Netgear PCMCIA wireless card, using the Netgear software.

[Vodka7]

That's really strange to see, the handful of times I've encountered this problem step 2 always fixed it.

But, honestly, WEP is *not* a secure connection.  It's trivial to break and has been for years.  It'll keep the neighbors from stealing your access (provided there are open networks in range that make attacking hers not worth the hassle), but a dedicated attacker will be in the network in a day or two.  Hours, if the roommates are maxing the connection out.  My advice?  Switch to WPA and hope the problem magically disappears

Also, it could be a problem with Windows trying to use its built in software instead of the Netgear software, and a conflict arising there.  Check by going to Network Connections, right click Wireless Network Connection, click properties, second tab (Wireless Networks), and make sure "Use Windows to configure my wireless network settings" is unchecked.  My mom's old PC used to randomly ignore the D-Link software and screw everything up.  Unchecking that fixed it.

[Regolith]

If you ever figure it out, be sure to post the solution.  I've had what seems to be the same exact problem with my computer when trying to get it to recognize my parent's wireless network, and went through almost the same exact troubleshooting procedures.

One quick question, to see if your issue is mirroring mine:  when you uninstall and reinstall the network drivers, did the network number get incremented?  i.e., the old one would be named something like "Wireless network connection 1" and then the new one "Wireless network connection 2"?

[Ben]

Thanks guys. On the bright side, at least this probably means I'm not a complete idiot. I'd done some googling on this and where I run into it, the response is pretty similar -- "weird, seen it before, don't know, be sure to post a solution if you find it".

To your points: Agree on the WEP, I use WPA at home. I would have liked to play around with the router and encryption settings, but it belongs to one of her roommates, and because everyone else's computer is working fine I didn't want to get tarred and feathered by everyone losing their Myspace connections.

I made sure Windows wireless was off, though one of my next steps is going to be to swap TO Windows wireless just to see if that works (though usually I avoid it and prefer the vendor interface). When I deleted and reinstalled the profile, I didn't get incrementally numbered new profiles. I'm also just for kicks going to try swapping her to a Belkin wireless card and software I have laying around.

[GigaBuist]

Are you entering a password or the hex key?

[Ben]

Password.

[roo_ster]

Try using the WinXP wireless connection utility and disabling the third-party.  Most third party tools are superior, but the tool boxed with WinXP is ubiquitous and can usually handle WEP without much drama.  WPA, OTOH, I have found to be a problem with the WinXp utility.

Make sure you enter the 10 or 26 char hex key, not the PW.

[GigaBuist]

Password.

Try the hex key.  The password is pretty much meaningless.

[Ben]

Okay, stupid question -- how do I find the current hex key if I don't have admin access to the router? The roommate only knows that he entered the password.

General caveat when talking to Ben about computers: I'm an IT idiot savant. Some complex stuff I seem to be able to pick up naturally, but some absolutely simple stuff glazes my eyes, drops my lower jaw down, and drool starts coming out. 

[GigaBuist]

You're going to need admin access to the router... or the roommate that owns it needs to log in and write down the hex key for you.

[Ben]

Just an update. Neither Windows Wireless nor the hex key worked. I also tried swapping Netgear cards (exact same model) just to make sure the card wasn't bad. That didn't work either.

We ended up uninstalling the Netgear software and card and put that spare Belkin one I had in (with Belkin software) and she got right on the secure network, no problem. Way weird.

[Tallpine]

My wireless security: if you are within wireless range, then you are within rifle range 

[Phyphor]

This is gonna sound strange, but have you checked it for spyware/malware?

[Ben]

Yeah, it's a .gov computer and I'm the admin, so definitely checked for badware.

[Phyphor]

Ok, and the DHCP service is definitely healthy?

The reason I ask is because I had a machine once that did the samed damned thing.  It kept getting a 169.xxx.xxx.xxx address even though it was wired directly into a router with a functioning DHCP server.


Turned out some piece of badware was clusterboinking the DHCP service.
(Which, of course, isn't a 'router' problem as much as it was a infected OS problem)

Since it seems that fixed IPs work (pretty much except for WAN access, ) it does sound like something might be messed up there.

Have you looked at Event viewer and seen if there's any red flags?


As far as WINS goes, that's just for old Windows NT 4.0 and 98/95 compatibility, WINS isn't used for WAN access, it's mainly for LAN stuff (so you can access resources using NETBIOS names, )

You might try using a fixed IP again and set her up with OpenDNS, for now, until you can figure out what's up....

[41magsnub]

I'm no desktop support guy, I run screaming when it comes my way but my support guys do this as a first step with the network stack starts getting weird and it might help.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/299357

[Firethorn]

I've seen the dhcp thing as well, try giving it a static.

Oh, and check signal strengths.  Maybe the antenna(normally in the screen for a built-in) got disconnected?

Is the router seeing the computer?  I'd check to make sure you have the transmitter on.

Tallpine, you must have a pretty good rifle.  The crazy types have managed to get connections at over a mile using big directional antennas.

[Tallpine]

Too many hills