Can't always sign on to wi fi networks

[King Bee]

I just joined and I noticed you helped someone with a wifi prob today. Some advice.
1. How do I post a question for the universe to answer? I can see nothing that says 'post' nor any info on 'how to post'.

2. I have a Lynksys G WiFI 54 card in a Dell Inspiron 3700 running Win98. It works everywhere. Except at home. We have a new Belkin router that works with my wife's new laptop. I can't read the asscess point. Nor can I change the passphrase. Is the passphrase generated by the software? I always enter an 11 character code and the asterisks in the final profile are always 8 characters. Any thoughts?

Thanks

[glc]

Belkin routers do not use passphrases compatible with Linksys. You have to use the raw hexadecimal key. If it's 64 bit WEP, it's 10 characters.

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[King Bee]

I know my wife read something about this. I don't know exactly what it means. However, that said, my specific problem seemed to be that I could not change an incorrect password I typed into the profile of my home network on my Lynksis software. Thus, it wouldn't connect.
We created a new name for our home network and I created a new profile in that name with the correct password, put our respective MAC codes into the router, and I'm on.

Now, however, I just went to a new coffee shop with a code-less, unencripted site. I could read the access point but not connect to the internet. I walked down the street to a coffeeshop I use daily, and I'm here, now, writing to you.

Any thoughts?
Thanks, KB

[glc]

The new coffee shop may be using a pay-for service, which should present you with a login page when you associate with the access point and open a web browser. This is what you get when you use Starbucks and McDonalds.

[King Bee]

The service is free. The guy behind me told me the SSID, which I could see on my site survey. He said there was no password, it just worked.

But not for me.

Thoughts?