How do I get my new wireless LAN card to access my router?

CliffWalker_2

Hello Everybody.I'm hoping someone out there can help me.I recently managed to blag a wireless router from AOL (the usual story, I threatened to cancel, so I got the router and halved my monthly bill - result!)The router is the bog standard speedtouch one.My daughter's shiny new laptop (well, newer than my five year old Advent 6522) was wireless enabled and she was wireless and online within minutes.I took a week or two to get my finger out and finally bought a cheapy 108Mbps LAN card from ebay last weekend (I used the £10 voucher they sent me, so the card only actually cost me 88P -bargain!)I installed it with the supplied disc, went through the AOL wireless procedure for my laptop and then...Nothing.After a lot of messing around, I managed to get the laptop to see the network but it asked for WPA number.The password my daughter set up doesn't work as it isn't a hexdecimal one (or something). After reading through a few posts on this site and generally mucking about with it (although I may be doing more damage than good) I've sort of figured out that there's WPA and WEP (???).Somehow, I managed to get the laptop to 'see' the network through the yellow ethernet cable and then it carried on working when I unplugged it (don't ask me how I managed that).I did this for a day or two (not really a problem, as I've had to be fully connected by the cable for years anyway, so starting off hard-wired and then unplugging it wasn't a big deal - I tend to sit in the same place I always did when I'm on the interweb anyway) and then yesterday my laptop 'saw' the network without having to be plugged in...I have absolutely no idea how it managed that one!It worked perfectly fine, wireless and everything!Today it's a different story. Now the laptop sees the network but won't connect and I'm back to being permanently connected, the dreaded password message appears again.Help!I've gone bonkers trying to go through all the different connections, set up screens, etc.If anyone can explain what I need to do (let alone how I got it working through sheer ignorance) I'd be eternally grateful.Words of one syllable please...Thanks

espresso

You need to log into the router and go to the Wireless Setting page and copy the WPA key. This needs to be pasted into the laptop to connect i.e. to make the wireless connection secure.

CliffWalker_2

Thanks for your help Espresso, but it's still a bit technical for me!How exactly do I get to what you mention?I'm pretty sure the problem is to do with the fact that my daughters laptop set up a WPA key and my laptop is trying to access it with a WEP password?My daughter's password was just a six letter, 2 digit password and the message I keep getting is:'The password needs to be 40 or 104 bits and can be entered as 5 or 13 ASCII characters or 10 or 26 hexdecimal.'I've seen her password, and I know its not any of the above 5, 13, 10 or 26 etc.I'm guessing its because her laptop is much newer than mine and is automatically more security conscious?There must be an easy way around it, as I've had it working once.At the moment I'd settle for being semi-wireless (ie; starting off on the ethernet cable and then unplugging it once I'm running)Any help would be appreciated, please break it down into easy to understand terms!

CliffWalker_2

Another quick thought, can I only access the router settings from my daughters laptop, as that was the one that originally set it all up? I seem to remember fiddling with it before I got everything to work...?If that is the case, maybe its her laptop that has thrown mine off the system?Is it possible that her laptop has let the system revert back to the previous settings and that's why it's not allowing me on?

jje_2

Possible easy reset the router to have no security settings . Likewise the laptop & computer . Once you get the two of them talking to each other then you can set security on the router and set the same security on the laptop .I would not be to bothered about the security until they are happy .
Normal log in to a router is something like 192.168.1.1 into web browser address bar password admin user admin .
details vary from router to router .Google model if in doubt

jje

Poppycat

I have a problem with a PC. I have tried both a netgear pci wireless card and a usb wireless thing which I got yesterday. The netgear loses signal as it is weak, fair enough I had pc in a corner behind a chimney breast which may make a poor signal

The usb thing despite signal being 75% as it stick out much further (I even used a usb extension cable to get it closer to the router, the signal just disconnects then reconnects and I cant go on net at all.

I have set it up in both software and windows xp wireless thing in the network with WPA PSK and router. I have other pcs using wireless fine with no issues. I have also allowed router to allow mac code of that pc. It does appear to connect but it wont and connection drops and then reconnects all within 5 secs