D-Link DWL 650 defaults back to 128 bit Hex

[azscary]

I have a D-Link DI624 wireless router and the D-Link DWL 650 wireless PCMCIA card. The wireless card is in a new Dell 5150 with XP Pro.

I had no success connecting to the router letting Windows handle the connection, so I am using the software that came with the 650 to make the connection.

I have WEP keys enabled, using a shared key and am trying to use 128bit ASCII 13 character encryption.

Every time I reboot the computer or boot it up from power off, or bring it out of Hibernate or screen saver, it defaults back to the 128 bit 26 character Hex and I have to go to the software and change it back to 13 character ASCII. Clicking apply after changing the encryption type back to 13 character restores the connection.

I have downloaded the latest firmware for the router, and the latest drivers for XP for the wirelss card. I have uninstalled and reinstalled until I am blue in the face and still no love.

The Dell web site is no help, neither are the D-Link boards because they just parrot the FAQ to install the latest drivers or firmware.

I have tried shared key and open key. I thought about the Key Lime pie I had eaten in Key West... but I digress.

As perhaps a side note, the other odd thing is that according to D-Link, the "link" light on the wireless card is not supposed to blink, but it is blinking in sequence with the activity light. Again according to D-Link this means the router and the wireless card do not have the same settings. I have opened a window for the D-Link software, and a browser window to the router from the laptop and compared settings side by side and they are identical. The lights are blinking merrily away as I type and send this.

If anyone has some insight into this frustrating and aggravating issue I would appreciate it.

[glc]

Have you tried using a hex key on both? That's all I ever use and never have problems.

[azscary]

I had considered doing that, but I have enough passwords and user names committed to memory now to make me crazy. My network login at work has to be 12 characters minimum, a combination of Caps, lowcase, numbers AND special characters and that changes every 90 days and I cannot use any of the previous 12 passwords. That alone keeps me crazy trying to be creative enough to keep up with that. Thirteen ASCII was do-able as I just combined 2 things I use elsewhere. On the other hand, trying to remember 26 HEX characters is mind boggling especially since I do not know Hex.

And as a tech, it just plain puts my panties in a wad that an optional setting refuses to be an optional setting.

If worse comes to worse I will admit defeat and go with 26 Hex characters and *shudder* write them down, but I would prefer if possible to fix the bloody thing.

[azscary]

OK.

I finally broke down and set it to the HEX.

However I still have to manually connect to get the wireless connection to work. I have the softrware set to open at start up but that ain't happening either.

Any ideas?

[glc]

Are you using the D-link utility or XP Zero config? Have you saved your profile and told it to try it first?

[azscary]

I have used the D-Link utility which connects, but it won't autoconnect even using 26 bit HEX and if I use 13 bit ASCII it does not keep it and reverts back to the HEX. I have also used the Network Connection Wizard but could not get a connection at all. I have no idea what XP Zero config is. And when you are talking about a profile are you talking about a hardware profile such as a docking station profile? If not I have no idea what you are referring to there either. More information would be appreciated.

[glc]

Zero Config is what you have in XP when you tell it that you want Windows to manage the wireless configuration instead of the cardmaker's utility.

Zero Config and all cardmaker's utilities allow you to save profiles for multiple wireless networks and Zero Config lets you put them in a specific order to try to connect to.

A lot of people swear at Zero Config, but I've had pretty good luck with it with D-Link and Linksys cards - and builtin wireless in the newer notebooks.

[azscary]

I have not been able to get Zero Config to work either. It will not connect even after uninstalling the D-Link software. Not only that, but it also will not save the 13 character ASCII password but reverts back to some preselectd password that I assume to be the Windows password only because they have the same number of characters. Changing the password does not get it to connect and when I go back to the configuration, it has again reverted to whatever the stock password was. Also the documention for the card under the FAQ at the web site says that if the link light on the wireless card is blinkg that it does not have the same settings as the router. Opening the router window side by side with the Zero config or the card software shows that they are the same so I am really confused. For now I am having to make the manual connection in the software to even be able to get a wireless connection.

[glc]

Something is nonstandard here - 128 bit WEP uses a 20 character hex key on all the wireless setups I've seen.

[azscary]

All I know is I have the option of 10 character 64 bit (40+24), 26 char 128 bit (104+24)or 32 char 152 bit (128+24) in the D-Link software.

[glc]

Here's something to think about - I have a customer with a DWL-650+ card in a Win2K notebook (using the D-Link utility of course - 2K doesn't have the ZCU). He's been connecting at home to a DI-714+ router with a 64 bit key and it's been holding its settings. The other day, he got a Linksys WAP54G at the office and wanted to connect to it - he's been connecting wired all along. We set that up to 64 bit also but used a different key (different SSID also). Even with 2 saved profiles, he has to re-enter the key every time he goes from one to the other. I don't know if this is by design or whether there's a setting somewhere that we are overlooking. If you call D-Link and get an answer, please pass it on.

I'm thinking of trying the following..........putting the other network's key in as Key 2 into each profile. This will only work if both networks are using the same key strength and authentication method (we are using shared key on both).

EDIT - I *just* this minute got an e-mail from the customer - he told me that it's now reconnecting at both sites without re-entering the key - go figure!

[azscary]

bump me up

[Statica]

Hang in there azscary; when you get XPSP2 (if you havent already) you should find your wireless network performance VASTLY IMPROVED. and you should be able to run WPA without a single hitch. Be careful not to use that crap Dlink utility!

[azscary]

I know this is WAAAYYYYY late but I hate never finding out what worked in others posts so here we go.

statica hit it on the head. After the SP2 upgrade, in Sept 2004 I uninstalled the crappy D-Link utility and Windows now auto-connects with or without the Hex and is working beautifully.

I must admit however that I did start using 128 biEP shared keys and just keep a hidden text file with the key.