Wireless network setup on HP Pavilion

[tpman3]

I am trying to help a friends daughter get her wireless set up on her laptop. She has an HP Pavilion, not sure if the exact model, with Vista. Her dad has a wireless router that other PC's in the house are connected to. Router is a Linksys wrt110. It supports vista and from what I have read, is a very good router. He also has an older DSL modem that also has wireless turned on. This wireless is not used as it constantly drops connections. The Linksys router is plugged into this modem. I have WEP turned on the Linksys.

When the laptop is turned on, I can see the Linksys wireless (A) and the DSL Modem wireless (B). I try to connect to A and it says that the pass phrase is invalid. I can go to a different PC and type in the same pass phrase and connect. I have checked the encryption level, thinking that maybe Vista defaults to a higher level. I will assume that both are at 128.

Navigation in Vista isn't as easy as XP, which is what I am most familiar with. What else can I check on her laptop to get the connection working?

Thanks!

 

[Trana]

My first action would be updating the wireless drivers on the HP Pavilion.

Other thing you could try is to set it up manually via Start -> Connect To -> Set up a connection or network -> Manually connect... Next -> Type in the SSID/Network Name and choose WEP and type in the key -> Next

 

[linney]

Whereas the PassPhrase may be correct, is the Router using WEP or some other security type such as WPA2-Personal etc, and is the Encryption Type AES or TKIP?

You may have to check this wireless configurations by accessing the Router via its' IP address and your browser (by wireless or cable), or by checking the configuration (wireless) of a machine that can connect to the Router. See the documentation which came with your Router for IP address and passwords.

Connecting to Wireless Networks with Windows Vista

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb878035.aspx

 

[smah]

There seem to be several references to only using HEX instead of ASCII for WEP keys with Vista. However, I'd strongly suggest that you reconfigure the router to use WPA authentication at minimum. WEP is easily cracked. It might also be worthwhile to turn off the wireless function of the DSL modem.

 

[tpman3]

IU have not been able to get back to the laptop as of yet, but will post back my results when I am able to do so. Thanks for the tips.