I'm having problems with a Linksys WRT310N, I hook it up about three weeks ago, work fine until Saturday. It wouldn't let my wife laptop (Dell, almost four years old) hook up via wireless, I could still use wired for desktop and second PC laptop.

I messed with it today for a few hours while working, I took that crap ass software off that linksys had me install on her laptop. Still couldn't connect, I changed the security protocol from WPA, WPA2, Personnel and WEP. I couldn't get it to connect with any of them. When hooked up first it had to use a passphrase, so it had hooked up with better than WEP.

I just killed the protocol and set to MAC address only, connected fine.


I'm I OK leaving it at MAC address only? I should kill the SSID broadcast as well??? Also how do I figure out what the built in wifi card is using for protocol?

Then something simple here, but I just can't see it.

Thanks

 

Nope, you're not OK leaving it with just MAC address filtering. All that's doing is restricting who can establish a connection to your router. Unless you have WPA or WPA2 working, the data you're sending over the air is still unencrypted and can be intercepted/read by anyone that can even see the signals passing between your computer(s) and your router. WEP is technically also a method of encryption but it can be cracked in a heartbeat and is effectively worthless now days.

 

After rereading the original post, it sounds to me like the pre-shared key (aka passphrase) on the router isn't matching the computer. Have you tried resetting this to a new value on both the router and the laptop? Also, does the second laptop in the house have any problems connecting to the wireless?

One last thing, does the router maintain a log? If so, does it show any events for failed connections?

 

The log was turned off by default. I've turned it back on. I just killed the SSID broadcast and will try again with better security protocols tomorrow. Even with the best security protocol, we always use the desktop for online banking and shopping.

 

Anybody, know how I can which protocol my wifi card uses?

 

^all of them.