Hi peeps and thanks for looking in

Basically, Im tearing my hair out (not that theres any left) trying to even get WPA security working on any of my machines. WEPs fine, but theres a number of other networks nearby and I dont like to leave it unsecured.

Heres a quick rundown of things I have (hardware wise) and the things Ive tried:

I have a Sony Vaio laptop running XP SP2 with a Netgear WG511v2 PCMCIA card, using last known drivers.

I have an XP SP2 desktop with a Linksys WMP55AG wifi card (I dont think this one will even do WPA so Ill leave this one out).

I have another XP SP2 machine with a Netgear WG111T usb stick and last known drivers.

I also have a Wii that wont connect using WPA but will do just fine first time on WEP.

Ive set up WEP on all machines no problem at all, all working first time on both WZC and using the utilities that come with the wireless guff.

However as soon as I try WPA or WPA2, nothing. The machines can see my AP is running WPA(2), but will not connect to it or give a reason why it wont.

The DG834Gv3 is running the latest firmware.

Basically Id appreciate any insights you networking types may have, Id be especially interested to know why the Wii cant even do WPA even though it is an option by default, its as though the DG834G isnt interested in doing WPA.

Hi Cheule,

Check what type of WPA encryption you are using on the router, e.g. TKIP or AES

Then make sure your wireless cards are set using the same type aswell.

Double check you are typing in the passphrase correctly.

What type of key are you using on the router ASCII or HEX? I find some applications have difficulties if i use a hexadecimal passphrase. Throw in an ASCII character into your passphrase (e.g. any character apart from 0-9 and A-F), that way the application wont think its dealing with a HEX key and force to using ASCII.

You should probably look into using at least a 20 character WPA passphrase to make it secure but you can use a shorter passphrase for testing purposes and then go back and change it to a more secure one later when you know its working.

My encryption is TKIP is that is the only one the DG834G currently supports.

Wireless cards are set to the same.

Passphrase is correct (AFAIK), for testing purposes I set it to "whyhellothere12" (minus the quotes), as far as I can see all those characters are ASCII as you cant use HEX with WPA.

Sadly I have tried everything between super-easy eight letter words as the passkey, up to the 63 character limit with all letters and numbers randomised and with varying case. Didnt work in either case.

Also I beleive I have added the WPA and WPA2 updates from microsnot.com, I am able to now see other networks operating as such from the WZC.

One thing thats got me though, is the Wii. It doesnt have all the silly steps needed to get WPA working like the PCs, everything should work out of the box (minus the passkeys of course), but it doesnt. Weird.

Any more thoughts please?

theres a wireless access control checkbox on the wireless page,
if thats checked it limits by MAC address, make sure thats off, or click "setup access list" button and add em.

Thanks old lad

Ive tried both leaving the checkbox off, and having it on with the MAC of the wifi card in the allowed area. Both times I get the same result, no joy with WPA but WEP will work instantly.

Im puzzled.

odd is all i can say,

i use the WPA-PSK+WPA2-PSK setting at work,
admittedly ive not got a Wii here i can try on it but the lappies and usb sticks work ok with it.


id setup the shared key, save it all and reboot it from the diagnostic page.

have you checked to make sure its in a clear wireless channel btw ? if thats possible.

Hi mate,

Ive checked the nearby wireless channels, Im on 6, two others are on 1 and one other on 11. Now that you mention it, I have heard some reports of people saying they couldnt get WPA working unless they were on a specific channel, but I thought it was heresy.

Thats one thing I havent tried, will give that a go on Saturday morning

I have tried WEP, WPA, WPA2 and WPA+WPA2 but only WEP goes thus far, hopefully I can coax it!

With regards to the PSK, what I do here (presumably the only way to do it as its so blindingly simple) is I enter the  WPA key in the appropriate box on the netgear, press Apply (after which obviously I lose contact with the router while it reboots the wireless), then enter the same WPA key into the WZC (or the Netgear utility). Then, Ive waited for the USB stick to associate with the router, most times it goes round in circles, sometimes finding channel 6 for a second then moving round again, but never asking for the PSK.

On the rare occasion it does ask, entering the correct key does nothing.

dont worry about the wireless channel if thats the case, all i meant was not using 10-12 if someone was using 11 for instance.

hmm ive had it a few times where itll challenge for the WPA key but sit there and do nothing, those times was due to the access control list being on still and the router kicking you off when your MAC key didnt match, then the usb key would re-connect and so on....

the few times it has played up with the WG111 was using the original drivers on the CD, getting the lastest drivers for the usb stick has solved that though.

sorry i cant be of more help atm

No youre being helpful as is everyone else. Im just stumped as to what could be causing the problem!

I let Windows detect and install the drivers for the WG111T, which proceeded without a hitch.

Right Ive tried the suggestions here without any luck, the router just seems not willing to do WPA. Or Im missing really fundamentally critical.

Could be faulty. I had a safecom one that simply refused to do WEP.... same issue, couldnt connect to it wirelessly if I turned it on.

Aha... after much searching.......

http://forum1.netgear.com/showthread.php?t=10683

Basically people are having problems with firmwares 4.01.27 and 28, on V3 units. People with non-PC hardware such as PS3s cant connect using WPA.

Unfortunately I deleted the old firmware which apparently does work with WPA off my drive ages ago, and bizarrely netgear have deleted it off their servers.

Does anyone have V4.01.20 for the DG834Gv3 knocking about on their hard drive?

Never mind, I tried 4.01.20 but still no WPA.

Quote from: CheuleNo youre being helpful as is everyone else. Im just stumped as to what could be causing the problem!

I let Windows detect and install the drivers for the WG111T, which proceeded without a hitch.

are you using windows Zero config, or are you using the utility?

I loath the netgear wireelss USB dongles, they dont work very well.  

Yeah Im just finding that out myself, sometimes the dongle will just cut out, and no amount of fiddling with the settings helps, only a full reset does it.

I was using the WZC for the config side of things, went back to using the utilities that come with the cards/dongles. Still no joy.

As I mentioned before, I find it really strange that the Wii wont connect either, even though it doesnt have all the extra problems that PCs do (drivers, etc).