WEP no 'open' authentication option

[sroberts88]

Hello,



I have had sky broadband for about 6 months. Everything was fine until our router packed up. Sky sent a new one and we set it up, one of my housemates computers will not work with a WPA key so we have to use WEP.



I have a wireless printer, it worked fine with the last router (also using WEP) but since I got the new one it will not connect.



A google search has led me to believe that this is because our authentication type is 'shared' and it should be 'open' but there is no option on the drop down menu to change this. Encryption Strength: 128 bit and changing to a 64 bit doesn't give the option of 'open' either.



The printer does work however if the security is disabled so I do think this is a router problem. If anyone can shed any light on a solution I would really apprieciate it.



(PS I'm not very computer literate, I just google things and try them so I may not have given useful information, sorry)



Many Thanks

Susan

[I_Hate_Sky_Awnsers]

Is your new router a F@ST 2504N?

The biggest problem with WEP is that it is simple to hack.
It only has 16.7 million possible combinations.

Is your friends computer running windows vista?

[sroberts88]

Thanks for your quick reply, yes that is the router. I know WEP is rubbish but her PC is oldschool and it's not vista, it may be XP but I think it's the one before that.

It was quite dramatic trying to change 6 computers over to WEP in the first place, I got complained at a lot that housemates comps weren't working and they're all different OS so it took me quite a while to work out how to sort everyone out. So if possible I would like to avoid changing it back to WPA as I know it won't go down well and I'll have to run a laptop clinic again (I'm pretty computer illiterate- just google things, as is the rest of my house-without the googling).

Thanks
Susan

[Scubbie]

A couple of things to note:

Firstly another member complained that his WiFi printer wouldn't connect to his Sky Sagem router. Later he reported back that the router had received a Firmware update and that all was now well.

As for the use of WEP, this is strongly advised against now. It is easily cracked and almost as bad as having no security.

You could add all your WiFi devices to the 'Wireless Station Access List', this would prevent unauthorised PCs, etc., from accessing your router.

I have found in the past that changing the WiFi security key to lower case actually often resolved issues when a Laptop or two hasn't been able to connect via WiFi. Could I therefore suggest that you try this yourself for your house mate.

[I_Hate_Sky_Awnsers]

The reason that i asked was because i was using Forum Runner for iOS and it didn't show it.

Think i remember being told something before about that router not allowing WEP.

Might be a good idea to check for driver updates to see if it has been updated to support WPA.

No security is illegal. WEP is just a legal way of having no security.

Sounds like windows 98 or ME.

There is a manual way to update the router on that router.
I cannot remember of hand how it is done though.

If you call sky and tell them that you have an issue with only the power light on the router i'm sure that they will take you through it.

Note if you do decide to call might be a good idea to remove the ADSL cable from the router. If you don't they will be able to tell that your port is up in the exchange.

[Scubbie]

Sounds like windows 98 or ME.

The two Laptops I had issues with were both up to date and were running Windows XP Home and different brands & ages.

Changing the password to lowercase resolved the issue in both cases.

[I_Hate_Sky_Awnsers]

The two Laptops I had issues with were both up to date and were running Windows XP Home and different brands & ages.

Changing the password to lowercase resolved the issue in both cases.

I was referencing to the below comment lol

It may be XP but I think it's the one before that.

[sroberts88]

Thank you for your help. My housemate with the non-WPA compliant laptop is not here at the moment so I will try you suggestions this evening.

Does anyone know why the 'open' authentication is not showing up? The router help things at the side seems to think open should be the default.

[sroberts88]

and also why the printer would suddenly not work with WEP, when it worked fine with the old router?

I'm slightly skeptical that my housemates laptop will ever work on WPA, We tried a lot when we first got the last router 6 months ago and a friend who is an IT technician came round and tried and coudn't manage either which is why we changed to WEP. So ideally it would be great if I could get the printer working. I've tried a firmware update but no luck with that. Am currently using no security just while I print stuff!

[Scubbie]

and also why the printer would suddenly not work with WEP, when it worked fine with the old router?

As implied above, this appears to be a Firmware issue with the Sky Router.

If you have your old router available Susan, you could extract the login details from the Sky Router and configure you old router to connect to Sky.

Technically it is against Sky's T&Cs but there are many people who do this.