WPA problem on R40, asking for HEX key, need to enter Ascii?

[pcumming]

My girlfriends child has an R40 and can connect to the Linksys router with no security.
If I enable WPA (AES) Personal on the router (like I do at my own house) and enter an ascii key (there is no passphrase or Hex conversion here)--BUt....the Thinkpad always asks to enter a Hex key. If you do not, it says the key must be in hex form from x to xx characters.

Not sure why this is happening only on the Thinkpad and not other laptops we tried or brought over.

I thought I had all drivers updated as of 2007 and currently I do not know what wireless card is in the computer but will look this weekend.

Thanks for some advice.

I really want to make it easy and stick with WPA for the time being (AES or TKIP)

[beGi]

Yes, use WPA, because WEP can be cracked within minutes (if enough packets are captured), for better security I recommend to use MAC filtering (if you are paranoid or have unfriendly neighbours). As for hex code, if you have problems converting use HEXwrite 1.07for conversion to ASCII.

[pcumming]

SO you are saying that the notebook does not allow you to enter Ascii even under WPA when all other notebooks do????

Thanks
Peter

[beGi]

Well, I'm not an expert in this field (it's my hobby) so I can't give you 100% correct answer... What do you use to configure WLAN properties, Acces Connections or Windows? If you have problem with AC, configure it through Windows...