Acer Aspire 3610 wifi problem

[kipper]

Hi
I've kindly been given help here before and hope someone has the time to help again. I've just purchased a new Acer Aspire 3610 and have problems with wifi connection. The aspire has an atheros AR5005G wireless network adaptor. My wireless network is established and requires a network key to connect. I can enter the network key with no problem and can get limited connectivity but the status of the connection says "acquiring network address" and can get no further. I have contacted my service provider and checked the ipconfig which seem to be fine - they tell me its a problem with my card - but the card appears to be working otherwise I wouldn't get any connection. I have connected the laptop using a usb key and it works fine so it does suggest its nothing to do with the network - just the connection between the card and the network.

When looking at windows wireless network connections - change advanced settings - wireless network - properties - network key - there appears to be only space for 30 characters for the key but my key is 32 characters long. Despite typing in all 30 / 32 characters it defaults automatically to 8 *.

I have tried to repair this using the repair function - it disableswireless adaptor - enables - connects - renews my ip address - but gets no further.

Any help would be appreciated.

Many thanks

[Terrister]

Please tell us about the access point or router you are trying to link up to.

[kipper]

Hi Terrister - thanks for replying so quickly - I'm connecting to a wanadoo livebox in france.

Thanks

[kipper]

Hi Terrister - have also just noticed by viewing the network connection details that there is no default gateway / dns server or wins server value.

[Terrister]

Try disabling encryption and see if you can connect.

[kipper]

Hi Terrister
Sorry for not replying sooner - we must on different time zones. I cannot see where to turn off the encryption on the laptop - but I have looked at a couple of other things and will try to give you as much information as possible - comparing the pc connection using the wanadoo key and the laptop connection using the built in adaptor.

On the laptop I have
Wireless network connection properties - wireless networks
Preferred network - Wanadoo (automatic) - properties
Wireless network key
Network authentification - set to WPA-PSK - other options are open/shared/wpa
Data encryption - set to TKIP - other option is AES - no option to remove this

This tab is unavailable on the pc connection. Wireless connection properties only has general and advanced - no wireless network tab - presumably because it was set up differently - using the software provided by wanadoo.

I have tried also to setup the laptop using the software provided by wanadoo. However I get to a point when it tells me I have and error (509) - adaptor not found - adaptor 802.11g or connection with cable usb not found. The cause is that I have not connected the adaptor during the limit of detection (sorry french translation).

I then can get a window with network connection details - these are
physcial address - this has a value
IP address - this has a value
subnet mask is set to 255.255.0.0 (this is the same as the pc using ipconfig /all, but when I looked at the ipconfig on the laptop this value is 0.0.0)
default gateway - no value
dns server - no value
wins server - no value

On the laptop I have
Wireless network connection properties
Connect using - atheros AR005g - configure - advanced - properties available
802.1 1b Preamble - Long and short
Map register - 256
Network address - not present
Power save mode - on
Radio on / off - on
Scan valid interval -60

None of these values have been changed.

On the pc I have
Wireless network connection properties
Connect using 802.11 usb wireless lan adaptor - advanced - properties available
HW Proble 000
Network address - not present
and thats all

I have also compared the ipconfig /all for both computers I don't understand what these mean but here are the values-
When connected using the key adaptor on the pc I have
Description (descripton present)/ physical address (value present) / dhcp enabled (yes) autoconfiguration enabled (yes).
When trying to connect using the built in laptop adaptor I have
Description (description present) / physical address (value present) / dhcp enabled (yes) autoconfiguration enabled (yes).

But then on the pc I then have IP address / sub- net mask / default gateway - all with values but on the laptop the ip address and subnet mask is 0.0.0.0 and the default gateway has no value at all.
The value set against the DHCP server on the laptop is 255.255.255.255 but this is set against the subnet mask on the pc. Also on the pc the values for ip address / default gateway / dhcp server and dns server are all the same.

Hope this helps
Many thanks

[Terrister]

I am going to transfer this post to our networking group. I am hoping someone over there knows more about your router than I do. I think the problem lies there.

[kipper]

okay - thanks for your help

[Terrister]

Your welcome.
Hope someone in this group can help you out.

[kipper]

If anyone can help the ADSL modem router is an Inventel dv4210-wa and it does not seem to recognise the atheros adaptor.

[johnwill]

I've never even heard of that router.

First stop for debugging wireless is to disable encryption and get the link running, then add the encryption back as a separate step. I suspect that's where the problem lies. Also, if you're using WEP, use only the HEX key option, not the passphrase.

[kipper]

thanks very much for your help - managed to figure it out -reconfig the wireless connection -and am now typing from a wireless configuered connection. if anyone else has this problem would be glad to pass on the configuration that worked for me-but maybe its unique to france

[johnwill]

Glad you got it working.

[freescotfr]

Originally Posted by kipper

thanks very much for your help - managed to figure it out -reconfig the wireless connection -and am now typing from a wireless configuered connection. if anyone else has this problem would be glad to pass on the configuration that worked for me-but maybe its unique to france

and same answer from wanadoo. I would really appreciate some help - what is the trick?

[johnwill]

I suggest you start a new thread and post all the network and system details, as well as the exact symptoms. It makes it a lot easier to help you.