WPA does not work under Windows XP

Message

mog · #1 Post by **mog** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 3:12 am

I have a T43P with an Intel PROWireless 2915ABG. I also have a Linksys router running with WPA-PSK.

I have downloaded the latest drivers off the Intel website, and I know that it works, because if I set the router to have no encryption, I can connect.

The hardware is also fine, because I can connect to the router using WPA under Linux on the same machine.

It's only WPA that doesn't work. Am I missing something here?

* Edited - search of forum for "2915 WPA" didn't throw up anything useful. guilty of posting before searching (because I couldn't find the sarch link, I'm embarrassed to admit), but still stuck I'm afraid.

#2 Post by **GomJabbar** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 4:55 am

This might be your problem.

Intel wireless adapters have limited connection methods and cannot be controlled via Fn + F5 - ThinkPad

mog · #3 Post by **mog** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 8:28 am

Thanks for the suggestion- tried it, but unfortunately no luck either.

#4 Post by **GomJabbar** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 9:40 am

I suggest you uninstall the wireless drivers you downloaded from Intel's site and instead use the Intel drivers from Lenovo's site. See following post by antera309 to try and fix your setup. Be sure and uninstall Access Connections first if it is installed. You can reinstall Access Connections at the end or else use Windows to manage your wireless connection.

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 458#215458

Drivers and software - ThinkPad T43, T43p

Here are some other links that may be useful.

How to troubleshoot wireless network connections in Windows XP Service
Pack 2

How to recover from Winsock2 Corruption

Using the Network Diagnostics Tool

#5 Post by **RealBlackStuff** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 9:50 am

I got that 2915 card in my T23.
I installed the Intel driver and Intel Proset/Wireless and WPA/PSK works flawlessly.
I have also uninstalled Thinkpad's Access Connection program.
My card is a 'wild' one, NOT the IBM-variety, which might make the difference.

mog · #6 Post by **mog** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 11:30 am

Thanks for the suggestions- trying them now. Hopefully will be back with good news...

mog · #7 Post by **mog** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 12:56 pm

Unfortunately, after going through the whole long list of rebooting and reinstalling drivers.. I am back to square one, with WPA still not working.

dr_st · #8 Post by **dr_st** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 9:15 am

Let's start at square one, then.

How exactly did you configure WPA in the router and in Windows?

aldenb · #9 Post by **aldenb** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 11:28 am

On my X41 Tablet with 2915ABG I've run into a similar problem after updating to the latest drivers/access connections. All updates were made via the IBM Updates tool.

Driver version 9.0.4.36 seems to have some problems. I began logging things in the diagnostics tool and will upload some results soon.

I was able to connect (WPA-PSK) after rebooting on one occasion after messing with some Comm port settings in the BIOS. Unfortunately, it was a one-time fix. Now it's back to not working. I reset BIOS settings to defaults...but still no luck.

It also seems that the LAN port is now not operating properly, too. Orange light is on in port, but it indicates as being disconnected...enable/disable/enable/release/renew....nothing seems to work....

I also tried rolling back the WLAN driver yesterday and it worked....I'll try that again in a bit. It's funny, because in their changelog, the driver update indicates that its purpose, in part, was to work with the new version of Access Connections....

Let me know if your LAN port is working.

Anyone have ideas????

mog · #10 Post by **mog** » Sat Jul 07, 2007 10:27 am

dr_st wrote:Let's start at square one, then.

How exactly did you configure WPA in the router and in Windows?

Sorry, didn't check this till now (using wired connection for now).

WPA in the router is set up as WPA-PSK / TKIP, with an 8-character password. MAC address filtering is not enabled.

WPA in Windows is set up using Access Connections (I got rid of the intel Proset software because it was screwing up my Ethernet as well- WHY, i do not know, but after I removed it Ethernet stopped misbehaving). SSID is confirmed to be the same as the router, as is the password, as is the encryption method (WPA-PSK / TKIP)

I am wondering if the router is just old and dodgy, because every now and then it just stops recognising any wireless connections at all- all the computers in the house will just stop being able to connect. It's a Linksys BEFW11S4. However, the same adaptor and router work fine when this machine is running Ubuntu.

mog · #11 Post by **mog** » Sat Jul 07, 2007 10:30 am

aldenb wrote:On my X41 Tablet with 2915ABG I've run into a similar problem after updating to the latest drivers/access connections. All updates were made via the IBM Updates tool.

Driver version 9.0.4.36 seems to have some problems. I began logging things in the diagnostics tool and will upload some results soon.

I was able to connect (WPA-PSK) after rebooting on one occasion after messing with some Comm port settings in the BIOS. Unfortunately, it was a one-time fix. Now it's back to not working. I reset BIOS settings to defaults...but still no luck.

It also seems that the LAN port is now not operating properly, too. Orange light is on in port, but it indicates as being disconnected...enable/disable/enable/release/renew....nothing seems to work....

I also tried rolling back the WLAN driver yesterday and it worked....I'll try that again in a bit. It's funny, because in their changelog, the driver update indicates that its purpose, in part, was to work with the new version of Access Connections....

Let me know if your LAN port is working.

Anyone have ideas????

Interesting you should mention this- my Ethernet port stopped working with similar behaviour as you after I installed the Intel Proset wireless software.

When I switched back to having Access Connections manage the connection, this stopped happening- I am typing this connected by Ethernet with no problems.

#12 Post by **GomJabbar** » Sat Jul 07, 2007 10:56 am

@mog

If you uncheck the box "Disable BBCode in this post", your quotes will show up as quotes. This will make your replies easier to read. You can set this up as the default in your profile (click on the Profile button at the top of the page) and/or you can modify the default settings on selected posts by checking or unchecking the appropriate boxes underneath the text as you are composing your post. This can be edited after the fact as well.

mog · #13 Post by **mog** » Sat Jul 07, 2007 10:39 pm

Anyone knows where I can get older versions of drivers?

#14 Post by **GomJabbar** » Sat Jul 07, 2007 11:37 pm

Two places...

First you can look in C:\IBMTOOLS\drivers\WLANCX2A\ for the original installation files.

Another option is to download the back level version of IBM Access Connections + wireless LAN driver pack.

IBM Access Connections (Back level version) for Windows 2000, XP (WARNING: See document for critical installation limitations) - ThinkPad General

Be sure and uninstall Access Connections, reboot, then uninstall your current wireless driver software from Windows Add or Remove Programs, reboot again. Now you are ready to install the the above. Alway install Access Connections last (if you decide to install it).

mog · #15 Post by **mog** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 1:12 am

GomJabbar wrote:Two places...

First you can look in C:\IBMTOOLS\drivers\WLANCX2A\ for the original installation files.

Another option is to download the back level version of IBM Access Connections + wireless LAN driver pack.

IBM Access Connections (Back level version) for Windows 2000, XP (WARNING: See document for critical installation limitations) - ThinkPad General

Be sure and uninstall Access Connections, reboot, then uninstall your current wireless driver software from Windows Add or Remove Programs, reboot again. Now you are ready to install the the above. Alway install Access Connections last (if you decide to install it).

Trying that now- I do not have the directory C:IBMTOOLS\drivers\WLANCX2A. Trying older Access Connections now, the download page doesn't seem to have 2915ABG drivers included in the pack.

#16 Post by **GomJabbar** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 4:36 am

mog wrote:the download page doesn't seem to have 2915ABG drivers included in the pack.

There are 2 downloads on that page. One is Access Connections by itself, and the other includes the wireless LAN drivers. Look for the largest file size - that is the one you want.

mog · #17 Post by **mog** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 7:13 am

GomJabbar wrote:
mog wrote:the download page doesn't seem to have 2915ABG drivers included in the pack.
There are 2 downloads on that page. One is Access Connections by itself, and the other includes the wireless LAN drivers. Look for the largest file size - that is the one you want.

OK, just took another look - looking at the readme, ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/pc/pccbbs/mo ... cna3ww.txt - 2915ABG isn't even listed in the list of wireless adaptors.

This package contains the following drivers:

-IBM Access Connections Version 3.53
-IBM Wireless LAN Adapters Software(11a/b,11b/g,11a/b/g) Version 3.1.102.27
-Intel PRO/Wireless LAN 2100 3B Mini PCI Adapter Software Version 1.2.3.14
-Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network Connection Software version 8.1.0.28
-Hotkey features Version 1.06.0482 (On Screen Display version 3.12.00 only)
-IBM PM Driver version 1.26

I guess I won't be able to use the older version after all.

I just tried uninstalling and reinstalling everything as detailed in the instructions given by antera309 - the problem I have now is that I can never get Access Connections to manage the wireless connections. Intel Proset wireless always takes over. (and WPA still doesn't work)

#18 Post by **GomJabbar** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 7:51 am

Sorry for the Red Herring.

Where I am right now, I have the following 54MB Intel Wireless driver (filename - 7awc24ww.exe) installation program backed up on my hard drive. If you like, I could email it to you, split into about 6 zip files.

Version 10.5.1.0 API (Package)
- 10.5.1.72 (Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG/3945BG
Network Connection)
- 9.0.4.26 (Intel PRO/Wireless 2915ABG/2200BG
Network Connection)

I probably have some even older versions at home, but I won't be there for a few days yet.

mog · #19 Post by **mog** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 8:26 am

GomJabbar wrote:Sorry for the Red Herring.

Where I am right now, I have the following 54MB Intel Wireless driver (filename - 7awc24ww.exe) installation program backed up on my hard drive. If you like, I could email it to you, split into about 6 zip files.

Version 10.5.1.0 API (Package)
- 10.5.1.72 (Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG/3945BG
Network Connection)
- 9.0.4.26 (Intel PRO/Wireless 2915ABG/2200BG
Network Connection)
I probably have some even older versions at home, but I won't be there for a few days yet.

I would indeed appreciate it if it's not too much trouble. I will try to figure out how to use the PM functionality on this site (if it exists) to give my email address. I'm also going to have a look at the ftp.ibm.com server to see if I can track it down by, um, guesswork?

#20 Post by **GomJabbar** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 9:57 am

Files sent in a split zip archive. I hope it works out for you.

mog · #21 Post by **mog** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 10:02 am

GomJabbar wrote:Files sent in a split zip archive. I hope it works out for you.

Just waiting for the last of the split to come through (for some reason, all the others have but not this one). If this works I'll be sure to document my exact router / wireless card / etc configuration so that someone else might be able to look it up in future

mog · #22 Post by **mog** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 11:01 am

GomJabbar wrote:Files sent in a split zip archive. I hope it works out for you.

Much appreciated for sending the files- it half works, which is that I can get Access Connections to manage the wireless, which is handy because I can then look at diagnostics. The latest version of the Intel Proset software off the IBM site (11.1.0 at time of posting) comes with the Proset Wireless connection manager which, try as I might, overrides Access Connections.

However, WPA still does not work. I think this might be because of my router, which is quite an old model (Linksys BEFW11S4); some Googling has unearthed information that the 2915ABG and BEFW11S4 might not play nicely with WPA. I need to get a new one anyway, so I will explore that for the moment.

Many thanks to GomJabbar / DKB for providing a lot of good advice.

#23 Post by **RealBlackStuff** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 5:00 am

AFAIK your router can not/only poorly handle WPA.
See this thread about that same router: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=41765

#24 Post by **GomJabbar** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 6:18 am

I realized that I assumed you are using XP SP2. If you are still at SP1 or earlier, you may need to install the WPA rollup package. {Right-click on My Computer and choose Properties to see which Service Pack level Windows is at.]

Microsoft wrote:For wireless clients that are running Windows XP Service Pack 1 (SP1) and that are using a wireless network adapter that supports the Wireless Zero Configuration service, you must obtain and install the Windows WPA Client. For wireless clients that are running Windows XP service pack 2 (SP2) and that are using a wireless network adapter that supports the Wireless Zero Configuration service, the Windows WPA Client is included in Windows XP SP2.

Overview of the WPA wireless security update in Windows XP

Wireless update rollup package for Windows XP is available

Also, you should check the following again since you are using an older driver.
Intel wireless adapters have limited connection methods and cannot be controlled via Fn + F5 - ThinkPad

Dodge DeBoulet · #25 Post by **Dodge DeBoulet** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 6:37 am

If you're considering a new router, I urge you to take a look at the Buffalo models. I have a WHR-HP-G54 with the 3rd party dd-wrt firmware installed, and it's a fantastic combination. With my T60, I get a strong signal virtually anywhere on my property. That model is readily found under $50, and the dd-wrt firmware is free.

WPA-PSK/TKIP works fine, although I have the IBM (Atheros) wireless adapter and not the Intel.

Paul Unger · #26 Post by **Paul Unger** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 9:59 am

If you're running 3rd party firmware, you might want to have a look at Tomato: http://www.polarcloud.com/tomato. It's swell

mog · #27 Post by **mog** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 10:56 am

RealBlackStuff wrote:AFAIK your router can not/only poorly handle WPA.
See this thread about that same router: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=41765

Aha- thanks for that. Odd thing is, I have used WPA-PSK with a different (older) laptop. I did have to upgrade WPA on XP as that was running XP SP1 (as indicated by GomJabbar), but that was 3 years ago. That machine was a Fujitsu which came with an Intel Pro/Wireless 2100.

(This Thinkpad is running XP SP2)

I tried an interesting experiment-- I had to buy a wireless USB card anyway, as I have a PC that I will shortly need to network. So I tried it plugged into this, but the strange problem there is that I can't connect to the internet unless I start with the USB wireless and cabled Ethernet at the same time! Then I can pull out the Ethernet cable and it'll all work. If I try to connect with USB wireless alone, I get the error "You are connected to the access point but the internet cannot be found".

Edit: I suspect that a very old (from 2004/2005) version of the 2915ABG drivers will solve the problem, as the drivers for 2200BG / 2915ABG are the same at that point. I will test this theory out as soon as the opendrivers site starts to work again.

#28 Post by **RealBlackStuff** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 5:40 pm

You can continue trying to get that router to work, but you'd be better off buying a new router now, and get it over and done with.

#29 Post by **bill bolton** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 8:30 pm

mog wrote:WPA in the router is set up as WPA-PSK / TKIP

As a matter of interest, have you tried setting your AC profile to WPA-PSK / AES instead of TKIP?

I am running 220BG (in T41) and 2915ABG (in T43) WiFi cards with Linksys routers (WRT54G and WRT350N) using WPA-PSK / AES without any problems, using both XP SP2 and Vista on the ThinkPads.

Cheers,

Bill B.

mog · #30 Post by **mog** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 10:58 pm

bill bolton wrote:
mog wrote:WPA in the router is set up as WPA-PSK / TKIP
As a matter of interest, have you tried setting your AC profile to WPA-PSK / AES instead of TKIP?

I am running 220BG (in T41) and 2915ABG (in T43) WiFi cards with Linksys routers (WRT54G and WRT350N) using WPA-PSK / AES without any problems, using both XP SP2 and Vista on the ThinkPads.

Cheers,

Bill B.

The router doesn't support AES. Believe me I am in full agreement with what RBS said- get a new router- but I'm staying with parents now, and it's theirs, and mine is the only machine that doesn't work with it so I can't just ask them to get a new one! No matter, it's only three more days.

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