I am having problems connecting my wifes laptop to the net

To begin with - I am only using WEP rather than WPA (I have other "older" gear to connect) - but that is another issue !!

My netgear wireless router allows me to connect the laptop "wired" - but on running the network connection wizard - it see's NO wireless connections at all - previously (before rebuild) - the laptop connected straight away and also "saw" all my neighbours connections

Even when security is disabled on the router - it does not see anything

The OS is XP home

The broadcom 802.11 g connection appears to have the drivers installed correctly - what have I missed ?

Hi Twee,

Does your router have a setting called something like Enable SSID Broadcast?

If you do not broadcast the SSID, the laptop will not be able to find the router unless you manually configure it.

Hope this helps...

Thanks - done it and it now connects - using WPA

This is the first time that I have used WPA and it is simpler than using WEP

Simpler but less secure!

But not too much you cna do considering the older equipment - just ensure you have disabled the SSID broadcast if you had previously enabled it.

1. WPA is much more secure than WEP (WPA2 is best but older kit won't allow its use)-WEP can be cracked relatively easily with tools downloaded from the Net. Having said that any form of encryption will deter all but a determined piggybacker. I can see 2 totally unprotected networks in my immediate area out of 5, so ..........

WPA can be cracked but its a lot more complicated, and currently not available to your average neighbourhood hacker!

2. It doesn't add much at all to " security" by disabling SSID broadcast - in fact with Vista PCs all it does is muck up your wireless connection!! There is a learned article on the M/SOFT site.

Well that's just earnt my so called in-house IT expert (read as my brother) a kick in the nutts, bugger obviously doesn't know as much as he thinks he does.

Is there a known problem setting up WPA on a Netgear Wireless router - when trying to set Access control On - I lose wireless connection - this is using the correct MAC address....
It works fine using WEP
Should I use WEP with access control on
or WPA without access control ?

Use WPA without access control - Access control (MAC filtering) isn't a lot of use as a security measure and as I've said WEP is nowhere near as strong as WPA.

You are using the MAC address of your wireless adaptor ??

I set up the network without *any* security - just to check that it all connected and at then I slowly tried different combinations
I found the MAC address of the laptop via ipconfig/all - this I tried adding to the Access Control - but I was unable to connect when using WPA PSK - only able to connect using WEP - hence the question - is there an issue using WPA PSK and Access Control on a DG834GT router ?

Sorry Twee - can't help you specifically with Netgear router - never had one - suggest you ask the question on a specialist forum.

Just a thought you know that MACs can contain the number 0 but not the letter O ? Could it just be a misstype?

Hi Twee,

If I use Access Controls with my Netgear router, I do it via currently attached devices.

If your control panel is the same as mine, go to Wireless settings~Set up Access List

Turn off Access Control and let the laptop connect.

Add new device and select the attached machine.

Then you can turn on the Access Control.

This will get around any typo issues as it will use the MAC address directly.