Router and wireless usb adapter not talking?

[cuddlyp]

After trying for a while, computers can be a quite frustrating for beginner users like ourselves. Hence in hope of some expert advice, I turn to here for help.

I am currently running a Netgear router. That's fine. I plug in my D-Link DWA-110 wireless usb ADAPTER. It picks up the router and I'm connected to the internet. That's fine.

Problem comes when I try to set up some security as I have been picking up other networks in my area and I am afraid others would pick up mine.

I configure the router so that it uses a WEP key. I type in a 10 digit passphrase, generate, then apply on the netgear web page (from a different computer).

Next on my wireless computer (running window XP), I tried to use the same key but it does not work. I have noticed a few issues.

1. In the data transfer icon for the network connection, there is a number which represents the data sent by my computer but the data received remains at 0.

2. It says there is a strong connection to the router (66-75%) and it shows the connection as connected.

3. When I open a browser, I cannot surf the net (given I could before the implementation of the security).

4. When I go into the advance property to enter the key, it asks for a 40 bit or 104 key, whereas, for Netgear, it uses a 64 or 128 bit key. There is no option for a 60/128 bit key on my XP computer.

This was getting rather frustrating hence I decided to drop the D-Link adapter and try a Netgear adapter. It works fine on my other PC running windows 2000 however, the same problem persisted with my window XP computer. Hence I believe there is some property I am missing. I do really appreciate any help!

I am setting this up for a Internet access but mainly to create a LAN so that my XP PC can access files from the other computers on the same network.

My second problem is, while everything was running smoothly under no wireless security, I tried to set up a local area network so that I can access files from computer A while on computer B. Firstly, I ran the window XP wizard chose my connection type (internet via a gateway) and chose my work group (defaulted on MSHOME).

Next, I did the same with the other 3 computers (running Vista, XP and 2000 respectively) using the same connection type and same work group. I placed a file into the shared file folder however, none of the computers seem to be able to see that shared file. When I go into Work Group, the current computer is the only one that exists in the work group. Was there something I missed out also?

Please help me! I have been doing this for 4 days and I am beginning to go insane! Lol. Your help will be greatly appreciated!

[Nerwin]

You might get some more information in the Networking Forum. Wow.. This is a little strange. I never heard of this happening. Open CMD and type in "ipconfig/ all" To make sure all the settings are the same on other computers.

For the computer that is using the wireless adapter, Are you using the D-Links software? or Windows to manage the Wireless configuration? If it was me, I think I would start all over and do one computer at time. Make sure all the computers can connect without the WEP, if it can, thats a good sign. Then try the wireless WEP, Make sure your SSID and WEP key is correct, If it doesnt work, then check the settings on the Netgear router.

Its hard for me to solve problems over the internet..

[cuddlyp]

Well, first off, thank you for your kind response. I really do appreciate someone taking the time to try and help me out.

In terms of the software, I was using the D-Link software to begin with and it was all fine and dandy (without the security applied.) After implementing the security, the software only asks me for a key. It does not even ask whether it is a WEP key or a WPA key. Which gives me a bit of worry. Nevertheless, I enter my key (which is a 10 character numeric string) and viola! No internet connection! Lol. So currently, I am using the window's software for LAN connection and that is the one that is offering only the 40/104 bit encoding. Which sadly, does not allow me to connect to the internet. How saddening.

In terms of ipconfig /all, I know how to run that in cmd but I have no idea what to do after that as I am still a beginner. So perhaps you or someone can shed some light as to what I am suppose to do or look for in there?

Thanks very much for the help offered here. I am really glad I joined this forum.

[Nerwin]

Are you using XP Pro Sp3? That is interesting. I never seen 40/104 bit encoding before, on my laptop its works fine, but I got a linksys router. It sounds like some configuration is wrong or it could be hardware, but that is unlike from your story. You probably didn't set something up right.

Let me sleep on it. Its late here. I gotta get some rest.

Take Care

- Nick

[Mijzelf]

I configure the router so that it uses a WEP key. I type in a 10 digit passphrase, generate, then apply on the netgear web page (from a different computer).

There are two ways to enter a wep key. Typing a hexadecimal code, or typing an alphanumeric passphrase. This passphrase is converted internally to a hexadecimal code. It's not a good idea to use the passphrase option, since the algorithm which does the conversion is not standardized. So different brand NIC can use different algorithms, generating a different key.

When I go into the advance property to enter the key, it asks for a 40 bit or 104 key, whereas, for Netgear, it uses a 64 or 128 bit key.

64 bits wep uses a 40 bit (10 hexadecimal characters) key. The remaining 24 bits are created internally. The same is true for wep 128 and 104 bit (26 hex characters).

If you have the choice, you should not use wep, but wpa, or even better wpa2. Wep can be cracked in minutes, these days.