Wifi: open Encryption works , WEP doesn't

[redrum]

I managed to get my Netgear MA521 wireless pcmcia card to work by mounting the r8180 driver. After spending some time trying to figure out why I cannot connect I disabled the encryption for testing reasons. I managed to get DHCP at once and get into the net. Strangely when I use the WEP encryption I cannot join the network. Key is checked (dozen of times) and surely this key is transmitted from the router. So I am stuck with what can I do since the whole situation is totally bizzare. Any help ?

[Flash]

Are you able to get on this network some other way (in Windows for instance) so that you know it works with WEP encryption using your hardware?

[redrum]

Yes , with the same card . I have a dual boot laptop . One is Win2K the other is Puppy. With windows it works. That's why I am lost and don't know what to do !

[Béèm]

I managed to get my Netgear MA521 wireless pcmcia card to work by mounting the r8180 driver. After spending some time trying to figure out why I cannot connect I disabled the encryption for testing reasons. I managed to get DHCP at once and get into the net. Strangely when I use the WEP encryption I cannot join the network. Key is checked (dozen of times) and surely this key is transmitted from the router. So I am stuck with what can I do since the whole situation is totally bizzare. Any help ?

In my opinion, when you can go on the net without the WEP encryption, this means that your access point isn't working with encryption.
So if you try with encryption, it seems logic to me that you can't go on the net.

Are you really sure that your access point is setup for encryption and that you have the right key?
It could also that when you don't use encryption that you make connection to another access point not using encryption.

I have that case in my neighborhood.
My access point has WEP encryption, and I use it to connect.
But my WiFi card picks up other access points in the neighborhood and I can on the net as well without encryption.

Look at the essid to be sure.

[mysticmarks]

my wep is a manual ascii key. I had to prefix the passkeyline with s: for it to be recognized as ascii keycode. If you manually set the code to be exactly what you typed, try this.

(ie) if pass key is 1234567890123
enter it in the pass key line as

s:1234567890123

I forget who told me, but thanks again.

[redrum]

In my opinion, when you can go on the net without the WEP encryption, this means that your access point isn't working with encryption.

That's because I disabled it in order to locate the issue .

Are you really sure that your access point is setup for encryption and that you have the right key?

It's been working like this for some years now and no client pc ever had any issue. I keep my hex keys in my usb flash so no mistype here since I copy paste.

It could also that when you don't use encryption that you make connection to another access point not using encryption.

Not really ! If you use Puppy's Network wizard for wireless you will see that first you scan , then select the network and the data remain there .You choose the security and an extra parameter appears to put the key. Can't go wrong with that (pretty straightforward) and no err in different network is possible.

my wep is a manual ascii key. I had to prefix the passkeyline with s: for it to be recognized as ascii keycode. If you manually set the code to be exactly what you typed, try this.

My key is in hex.Just for the information though, here do you put this "s"? Do you use Puppy's network wizard or the network utility ?

[mysticmarks]

i do it through the desktop wizard.

[Béèm]

@redrum
If I had the problem, I would go into the settings of my access point (in many cases 192.168.1.1) either by connecting via a cable or the unencrypted connection and see if the key is still what you think it is or generate another one. But from your first post I see that normally you use the one sent by the router, but one never knows.

If this still don't work, I had success by using RutilT, as there is some usefull information about signal levels and through this you can connect also.

As the connection works without encryption, needless to ask if you have a good IP adress.

So if by using RutilT you don't get connection with encryption, I don't know either as if I understand well, with W2K is works with encryption and that rules out a faulty router.

[ugm6hr]

Has anyone got the r8180 driver to connect with WEP? I ask, because my acx100 chipset PCI card (D-Link DWL520+) connects to my wireless network without encryption, but will not connect with either WEP or WPA encryption on Puppy either (but works fine in XP). Presumably it's something to do with the driver? Had no problems with the various other laptop cards I have used. I don't use the card now, although I have heard that MAC filtering alone is probably sufficient security for most home networks.

[tempestuous]

... my acx100 chipset PCI card (D-Link DWL520+) connects to my wireless network without encryption, but will not connect with either WEP or WPA encryption on Puppy

Are you asking about WEP with the acx100 or r8180? These are 2 separate issues, because the acx100 chipset is supported by the "acx" driver. It is not compatible with the r8180 driver.

Regarding the r8180 (for Realtek RTL8180 devices):
The official README from the source code says to load the dependent modules first. Maybe module dependencies are not properly resolved? Anyway, this is the sequence -

modprobe ieee80211_crypt-r8180
modprobe crc32c
modprobe arc4
modprobe ieee80211_crypt_wep-r8180
modprobe ieee80211-r8180
modprobe r8180

Also ... you could try the 64 bit encryption setting at your router, because I see some suggestion on the web that the r8180 driver does not work properly with 128 bit encryption.

Regarding the acx driver: this driver is not supported by wpa_supplicant.
To use an acx100 device with WPA encryption you would need to use ndiswrapper.

[redrum]

Surely it is a driver issue. I bought a WG511T with atheros chipset and it works fine with ath_pci driver.