[kgusta1970]

Hi there i am new, i just found this forum. Here goes, I hope someone can help me. I have a small home network using a Hughes modem and a WRT54GS v.5 router. I have never secured it before now. How ever because of network magic i see intruders on my network that is causing my internet to slow very much due to some deal hughes says if i use to much they will slow it down. Anyway i have never had wireless problems before. I have two xp's and a new vista. All wireless. With the network unsecured all internet works fine on all the computers. When i try to wep secure it through the utility page only the xp's work not the vista. I take off the security and bingo it works again. I wish i new why this is happening. I really would like to secure it due to the neighbors using my internet. The vista just won't let me on even when i try to repair. I have tried the wpa secured but one of my xp's won't let me put all 26 digits on it only 23, and when i set it up it says i have to use 26. Weird. I would be very thankful if someone could help. please

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Hey kgusta1970 and welcome to GeeksToGo

First of all, WEP security is pretty much useless now-a-days, so I'm going to suggest we put our efforts towards getting your WPA encryption working.

I have tried the wpa secured but one of my xp's won't let me put all 26 digits on it only 23, and when i set it up it says i have to use 26

When you say "it says i have to use 26", what exactly are you referring to by "it"? Because a WPA passphrase can be anywhere between 8 and 63 characters; I'm not sure where you're getting this error from? A passphrase of 20 characters would be more than adequate in this situation. Can you please go into a little more detail in regards to where you're receiving the above issue, and also the exact wording of the error?

Thanks,
- Dan

[Dan]

Hey kgusta1970 and welcome to GeeksToGo

First of all, WEP security is pretty much useless now-a-days, so I'm going to suggest we put our efforts towards getting your WPA encryption working.

I have tried the wpa secured but one of my xp's won't let me put all 26 digits on it only 23, and when i set it up it says i have to use 26

When you say "it says i have to use 26", what exactly are you referring to by "it"? Because a WPA passphrase can be anywhere between 8 and 63 characters; I'm not sure where you're getting this error from? A passphrase of 20 characters would be more than adequate in this situation. Can you please go into a little more detail in regards to where you're receiving the above issue, and also the exact wording of the error?

Thanks,
- Dan

[kgusta1970]

I was setting it up through Network magic and when i did so it said use 26 digits. Thats probably the problem huh. I also read that if my xp's don't have service pack 2 they will not take wpa? Is this correct? I do know how to get into the utility page so i should go in there and set up right?

[Dan]

Is there any reason why you do not want to install SP2? Windows XP SP1 can support WPA encryption (although not WPA2) by downloading a client patch -- for more information, please read this article.

I do know how to get into the utility page so i should go in there and set up right

Yes, I would recommend manually setting it up; although once you apply the above patch, the Network Magic program will more than likely work.

- Dan