Wireless network encryption keys

[boingo]

I've just set up a brand spankin' new modem/router and added in the MAC address for my PDA. The router and PDA can communicate enough for me to get an error message saying the encryption key I've entered is incorrect. However I've put it in verbatim as it is shown on the screen. I've even tried two other keys with no luck.
The only characters in the key are letters and numerals, however during the brief period of saving the initial keys in the modem/router setting the encryption keys momentarily flashed with evenly space colons amongst the alpha-numeric keys.
Does anyone know if I should be putting those colons in? If not, can anyone help me with another solution?
Thanks in advance.

[Greg39]

I've just set up a brand spankin' new modem/router and added in the MAC address for my PDA. The router and PDA can communicate enough for me to get an error message saying the encryption key I've entered is incorrect. However I've put it in verbatim as it is shown on the screen. I've even tried two other keys with no luck.
The only characters in the key are letters and numerals, however during the brief period of saving the initial keys in the modem/router setting the encryption keys momentarily flashed with evenly space colons amongst the alpha-numeric keys.
Does anyone know if I should be putting those colons in? If not, can anyone help me with another solution?
Thanks in advance.

Boingo,

Have you managed to get the router and PDA working "in the clear" first? i.e. no encryption (WEP/WPA/WPA2) - I would try and get that working first. Once that's done choose the encryption that both PDA and the router support - I assume they're using the same method at the moment (WPA etc)? Also, are they using a pass-phrase that gets converted into a key or are you entering the key directly?

Feel free to PM if you prefer.

[boingo]

I've just set up a brand spankin' new modem/router and added in the MAC address for my PDA. The router and PDA can communicate enough for me to get an error message saying the encryption key I've entered is incorrect. However I've put it in verbatim as it is shown on the screen. I've even tried two other keys with no luck.
The only characters in the key are letters and numerals, however during the brief period of saving the initial keys in the modem/router setting the encryption keys momentarily flashed with evenly space colons amongst the alpha-numeric keys.
Does anyone know if I should be putting those colons in? If not, can anyone help me with another solution?
Thanks in advance.

Boingo,

Have you managed to get the router and PDA working "in the clear" first? i.e. no encryption (WEP/WPA/WPA2) - I would try and get that working first. Once that's done choose the encryption that both PDA and the router support - I assume they're using the same method at the moment (WPA etc)? Also, are they using a pass-phrase that gets converted into a key or are you entering the key directly?

Feel free to PM if you prefer.

Thanks a lot for your help.

Yep. That's exactly what I've done.
I'm using WEP and a passkey created by a pass-phrase. That generated four pass keys. I've tried each of the four pass keys while also choosing the corresponding key index that the PDA asks for. I've tried the Hex key in both upper case and lower case. The router and PDA definitely detect each other because the router has the PDA's MAC address.
My sister works in IT and managed to set her PDA up with the same model of router, so I'm sure she'll know what the other weird settings are on my PDA. I hate burdening her with all my computer questions though.

It's a bit strange that the instruction manual for my PDA doesn't explain what all the wireless settings are. It's not a cheap PDA either. It's an HP rx5965 with built-in Wi-Fi, Bluetooth & GPS.

[Greg39]

Ok so the router and PDA are both definitely using WEP; When no encryption is used, they connect and work fine?

With WEP the router will be encrypting at either 64 or 128bit.
With the hex, I'd input the characters exactly as shown without changing the case. Does the router want the hex notation prefixed with anything by chance e.g. 0x???? Don't type it in unless it mentions it somewhere! If you can give me the router make/model I can try and find an _ user guide for it.

Another angle, I assume the Router is set to act as a DHCP server to give the PDA it's IP address and you have input the network identifier/SSID into the PDA?

Also, check if the SSID is set to be "hidden" on the router. My iphone (PDA) for example, won't connect to the wireless lan if the SSID is hidden.

[boingo]

Ok so the router and PDA are both definitely using WEP; When no encryption is used, they connect and work fine?

With WEP the router will be encrypting at either 64 or 128bit.
With the hex, I'd input the characters exactly as shown without changing the case. Does the router want the hex notation prefixed with anything by chance e.g. 0x???? Don't type it in unless it mentions it somewhere! If you can give me the router make/model I can try and find an _ user guide for it.

Another angle, I assume the Router is set to act as a DHCP server to give the PDA it's IP address and you have input the network identifier/SSID into the PDA?

Also, check if the SSID is set to be "hidden" on the router. My iphone (PDA) for example, won't connect to the wireless lan if the SSID is hidden.

Thanks again.
I've got it set with 128bit encryption and just while I'm setting it up, the router is set to be visible to any computer within range, but not accessible unless the specific device's MAC address is listed in the router's safe devices list.
The modem/router came with a manual of around 130 pages in PDF format and doesn't say it requires any extra bits added to the security key when inputting them into a connecting device.
I think it's all down to my PDA playing up. Using the virtual keyboard on the touch screen could be the problem. I can't be certain it's getting the correct letters and numerals I'm pressing because it only shows asterisks for each key I've pressed in the encryption pass-code window, plus it won't allow me to copy and paste the code in. When using the same virtual keyboard to write things in Word, it often gets a couple of the characters incorrect and adds in random spaces when I've pressed a letter key just above the space bar. This may be largely because of the thick screen protector on it.
Just as well I've also got a Bluetooth keyboard for it, so I'll set that up and see if that makes a difference.

[boingo]

It's all sorted now, thankfully. My sister took a look and fixed up the connection. Part of it was I kept putting in the wrong code from the list. I didn't realise the router had a check box to tell it which of the four generated encryption codes I wanted to use. I thought I had to use a separate one for each device. Oh well. I've learned all about it now.

[cruze]

hi try using wpa as opposed to wep its more secure and anyone who is tech savvy could break wep encrytion within an hour or 2