Help connecting work laptop to home wireless network

I have a home network installed with an SMC 7004AWBR router. My kids
each have a desktop that connect wireless to the network. And I have
2 more machines that connect wired to the network. I had a Dell
laptop that I used an SMC PCMCIA wireless adapter to connect to the
network. That all worked fine.

Now, I have been given an IBM Thinkpad T30 running Win2k Pro by work
that has a built in adapter and I can't connect to my network
wirelessly. I've tried using the old SMC PC Card but I get the same
problem.

1) When I boot up, I get a balloon that tells me that my wireless
connection is unavailable.

2) If I click the icon, I launch the Wireless Network Connection
dialog box which identifies one "Available wireless network" called
"default". I get a warning telling me the network is not secure
because WEP is not enabled.

3) The "connect" button is greyed out until I click the box that
allows me to connect to the "specified wireless network even though it
is not secure". I check that box and click connect and the dialog box
disappears.

4) A couple of seconds later I get another balloon on that icon
telling me that "one or more wireless networks are available". I
click the icon and the whole thing starts over again from point 2
above.

I am never able to connect wirelessly.

Any assistance is appreciated.
Robert

I'm confused because you mention a T30 running W2K but describe wireless
networking on XP.
What operating system is on the thinkpad?

If this is XP, have you applied 815485? If you don't have WPA
compliant/enabled hardware, youcan uninstall this update. It may help. If
802.1x authentication is marked, you should unmark it in a home environment.

However, you really should establish security on this network by enabling
encryption and not run in such an unsafe manner.

Robert Brown wrote:

> I have a home network installed with an SMC 7004AWBR router. My kids
> each have a desktop that connect wireless to the network. And I have
> 2 more machines that connect wired to the network. I had a Dell
> laptop that I used an SMC PCMCIA wireless adapter to connect to the
> network. That all worked fine.
>
> Now, I have been given an IBM Thinkpad T30 running Win2k Pro by work
> that has a built in adapter and I can't connect to my network
> wirelessly. I've tried using the old SMC PC Card but I get the same
> problem.
>
> 1) When I boot up, I get a balloon that tells me that my wireless
> connection is unavailable.
>
> 2) If I click the icon, I launch the Wireless Network Connection
> dialog box which identifies one "Available wireless network" called
> "default". I get a warning telling me the network is not secure
> because WEP is not enabled.
>
> 3) The "connect" button is greyed out until I click the box that
> allows me to connect to the "specified wireless network even though it
> is not secure". I check that box and click connect and the dialog box
> disappears.
>
> 4) A couple of seconds later I get another balloon on that icon
> telling me that "one or more wireless networks are available". I
> click the icon and the whole thing starts over again from point 2
> above.
>
> I am never able to connect wirelessly.
>
> Any assistance is appreciated.
> Robert

--
Barb Bowman
Expert Zone Columnist
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
MS-MVP (Windows)

a. 815485 is an update - see add/remove programs
b. start, run
ncpa.cpl [ok]
1.. Right-click the wireless connection, and then click Properties.
2.. Click the Wireless Networks tab.
3.. Select the network name in the Preferred networks window, and then
click Properties.
4.. Select the Authentication tab.
5.. Make sure that the check box for authentication is not selected.
c. the T30 does not have a driver for WPA for the built in wireless as far
as I know
d. see if you can enter a HEX key manually in the access point/router, or
copy the actual key that the passphrase produces. these passphrase
generators are interoperable. just use a HEX key.


Robert Brown wrote:

> On Sun, 17 Aug 2003 17:11:00 -0400, "Barb Bowman [MVP-Windows]"
> <barb@nospam.com> wrote:
>

>
> WinXP Pro, sorry my mistake.
>

>
> Is 815485 a service release for WinXP? I didn't install anything on
> this machine, my IT dept. did. How can I confirm that this is
> installed (and therefore, uninstall it if necessary)? Or, how can I
> determin if my hardware is compliant? Also, how do I unmark 802.1x
> authentication?
>

>
> I turned on encryption by selecting "128-bit automatically" on my
> router. It prompted me to create a PassPhrase which I did. Next time
> I tried to access the wireless network using the Thinkpad, I am
> prompted for a password which I enter using the same word as the
> PassPhrase and get an error. The error I get on the Thinkpad is:
>
> The network password needs to be 40bits or 104bits depending on your
> network configuration. This can be entered as 5 of 13 ascii
> characters or 10 or 26 hexadecimal characters.
>
> Again, any help is appreciated.
> Thanks.
> Robert
>

--
Barb Bowman
Expert Zone Columnist
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
MS-MVP (Windows)