WIFI Key not working with XP. Help!

[gawguy]

But I am not sure we know what GawGuy is doing. When signing on to a network, depending on the adapter in your PC, some accept direct keyboard input of a password like "Johnsmith" and others (I actually have one)require you to input the password in hex designation of the ascii equivalent.

 

Yes, GawGuy is a confusing fellow! He thought ASCII was same as "direct keyboard input." But now he tells all:

 

My former MAC techie roommate set up wifi 2 years ago. He had an Airport Extreme wifi router. He said the key was "belle101" but the Airport Ex would not accept direct keyboard input, so he gave me what I thought he said was hexidecimal (26 Digits):

A1BD7D56E7ECD85772133B7EB5

 

NOW HOWEVER he moved and I have equipment from Comcast and it would not accept hexidec. But it does accept "belle101", which the Netgear driver program will put in. However the WIFI driver that came with my used Thinkpad computer with built-in antenna and running XP will not put in "belle101" cause of the digit problem. The hex key yields little or no connectivity msg.

 

Well...maybe I should change the key, although it is entered in about 10 harddrives that go with 5 laptops. But I'm thinking of changing the security key to one with a correct direct keyboard entry length. I have downloaded the manual and firmware for the Belking Wireless G Plus MIMO router, so I'll have a look in the next couple of days.

 

I did try entering 192.168.62.1 in the address line of IE, but that didn't do anything. Was that what I was supposed to do? It wasn't clear to me.

 

And, BTW, the unsecured wifi network that I can access is not mine. It must be coming from a neighbor.

 

Any more hints and info appreciated. Thanks.

Gaw Guy

[shygye]

Hook your computer to the router via ethernet cable and type in the IP address. Try 192.168.1.1 and/or look in the manual for the router.

 

Be aware there are several different protection standards like

WEP 32

WEP 64

WPA

WPA-PSK

WPA-PSK2

 

Make sure the same standard is selected for the router and computers. Not all WIFI equipment support all theses standards.

[manaomaiminam]

To get into your router, you will need to know the manufacturer. This is why you are getting so much conflicting information on the IP address to get into the router. You mentioned in your initial question that you used to have an Airport Extreme and now you have a Comcast router. Comcast does NOT manufacture their own routers. Look on the router for a manufacturer name like Motorola/Linksys/Netgear/Cisco etc. The IP address that you need to type in for each of these is different depending on the manufacturer (for instance Linksys/Cisco traditionally has been 192.168.1.1, Motorola is 192.168.15.1, and so forth). Next, each of the routers has a default userid and password (exampler Linksys, no userid, pw admin; Motorola: userid router, pw router).

 

Once you know the manufacturer, you can download the pdf manual for the model from the manufacturer site or do a lookup in Google to get the IP and default pw. Once you are in, you can look to reset the router. Also, many of the routers do have a reset button (well not really a button) that you can reset with an unfolded paper clip--see if yours does. That's why its a good idea to download the user guide pdf. Finally, good suggestion above to double check what kind of encryption was set. You might be mixing apples and oranges, in which case you will never get through.