Any experience with 802.1x authentication for a/b/g cards?

[WilsonF]

At my office, we have some WiFi areas with Netgear G access points configured with WPA 802.1x authentication. All of the wireless users with DLink and Netgear a/b/g PC cards can authenticate. NONE of the ThinkPad t4x users with a/b/g cards can even associate with the access points, whether they are using the Access Connections software or have it uninstalled and the WinXP Pro hotfix to add the WPA supplicant installed.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to fix this. I am pretty sure that my guys have the settings on the network configured propertly because the laptops with PC cards can associate and authenticate. Strangely, the DLink cards that associate and authenticate OK have (I think) the same Atheros chipsets as the IBM a/b/g cards.

[jkirch]

Hello Wilson,

I have had some problems connecting via WPA to my Linksys router, but since the new Access Connection Software came out (fixed several problems) and using the recent driver everything is fine. There are some glitches configuring the WPA. First you have to choose the right encryption. Do you have a Pre-Shared Key (WPA-PSK)?
Is it TKIP or AES ciphered?
You can enter the code in hexadecimal or alphanumeric. Maybe there is a problem exchanging the key with the router.

Hope this helps a bit.
Chers
Jens

[WilsonF]

802.1x is provides a unique key for each session from a server after the server recognizes the ThinkPad as a member of a domain. This eliminates the minute risk that someone will be able to obtain the PSK by sniffing wireless traffic. The a/b/g devices work OK with WPA PSK and TKIP, but not with 802.1x.