T61 wireless works as unsecured but not with net key

[wardwill]

I have a new Thinkpad T61 that will properly connect to my wireless network when the router is configured as unsecured but CANNOT connect when I set up a network key.

In my router config I have tried using both the WPA-PSK and WPA2-PSK authentications. I enter a 9 character network key made up of ordinary numbers that is accepted by the router, and save settings. The other settings on the screen are:
WPA Group Rekey Interval = 0
WPA Encryption = AES
WEP Encryption = Disabled

In the Windows wireless interface I select the network, type in the key, and get to the “acquiring network address” stage but no further. The connection window shows that packets are being sent and received. As soon as I go back to my router config and set it as unsecured, the wireless connects no problem. I have tested another laptop on the network with a passkey and it connected without any problems.

Occasionally when I am tinkering with the wireless settings (especially after clicking on the wireless tray icon) the system locks and I have to reboot. Before the reboot I get a program “not responding” dialog box where it asks me to end explorer.exe and a program called CiceroUIWndFrame.exe

The system came pre-loaded with Linux but I’ve changed to XP Pro. I have done all Windows updates, through SP3. I am using Windows to configure wireless, but thinkvantage ver. 4.52 is also running. I tried disabling Windows networking and configuring through thinkvantage, but this fails also. Then I tried uninstalling access connections altogether.

Also tried reloading the drivers, both downloading the wireless driver again and reinstalling that, and also reinstalling the original drivers I found on my C drive

Any ideas??

Cheers,
Will

MOD EDIT: Moved from A, R, and G forum to T6x series.