Win 7 connects to one wireless (WEP) network, but not another (?)

Hello All -

Anyone ever seen a situation where a Dell laptop Inspiron E1505, recently upgraded to Win 7 Home Premium 32 bit, from XP, will connect to one wireless network, but not another, both using WEP and with credentials and WEP key verified correct?

I recently upgraded a friend's laptop while he was visiting. Used my own home network to test the ability to connect wirelessly, but when he got the machine home, and tried to connect to his own wireless network, he was presented with not only a request for the WEP key (as expected) but also what sounds like a request for his Windows credentials (which he supplied), and to which Win 7 then responded with the generic, "Unable to connect to network...." message.

So I retrieved the laptop and, as expected, had no problem connecting to my home wireless network again, using either the User account that I had set up, or the Admin account on the machine. In fact, I'm using that very machine now, connected to my home wireless network via a WEP connection, to enter this post.

Given all of the above, it seems to me:

• It's not the wireless adapter or driver
• It's not the WEP passphrase (we went over that MULTIPLE times on the phone - I KNOW he's got it right)
• It's not a more general conflict between Win 7 and WEP

Absolutely open to arguments about any of the above, but I'm out of ideas....

Thanks,

Bob

drwob said:

Hello All -

Anyone ever seen a situation where a Dell laptop Inspiron E1505, recently upgraded to Win 7 Home Premium 32 bit, from XP, will connect to one wireless network, but not another, both using WEP and with credentials and WEP key verified correct?

I recently upgraded a friend's laptop while he was visiting. Used my own home network to test the ability to connect wirelessly, but when he got the machine home, and tried to connect to his own wireless network, he was presented with not only a request for the WEP key (as expected) but also what sounds like a request for his Windows credentials (which he supplied), and to which Win 7 then responded with the generic, "Unable to connect to network...." message.

So I retrieved the laptop and, as expected, had no problem connecting to my home wireless network again, using either the User account that I had set up, or the Admin account on the machine. In fact, I'm using that very machine now, connected to my home wireless network via a WEP connection, to enter this post.

Given all of the above, it seems to me:

• It's not the wireless adapter or driver
• It's not the WEP passphrase (we went over that MULTIPLE times on the phone - I KNOW he's got it right)
• It's not a more general conflict between Win 7 and WEP

Absolutely open to arguments about any of the above, but I'm out of ideas....

Thanks,

Bob

It is a general conflict between Win 7 and WEP security which is very outdated and completely insecure.

It is a handshake problem between certain older routers/firmware's and much newer Windows 7 drivers which were actually made to work WPA2 personal security and AES encryption which relates to the final draft for wireless n.

In other words, just because it works with one router doesn't mean it will work with another, depends on the firmware etc.

OK - thanks for the thoughts.

So I'll set up in Win 7 networking to use WPA....Can't recall whether I have to make router changes to do that, or not, but we'll give it a go.

Thanks

drwob said:

OK - thanks for the thoughts.

So I'll set up in Win 7 networking to use WPA....Can't recall whether I have to make router changes to do that, or not, but we'll give it a go.

Thanks

Yes you would need to change the security and encryption in the routers settings then remove the old wireless profile and create a new one using the new security settings.

Network and Sharing Center> look left to "Manage Wireless Connections" where you can access all the wireless connection profiles.

OK - thanks for the help. Will try to get that accomplished this weekend, and then post back with results.

Thanks