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SMC2835W work with WPA security?

I have a SMC2835W EZ Connect g 2.4GHz 802.11g Wireless Cardbus Adapter on my Sony VAIO PCG-F350 laptop. The laptop is running WinXP-H-SP2. The drivers for the SCM card are their "latest", i.e. from June of 2003.

My Linksys router is configured to use WPA security with MAC address filtering. It connects just fine to my other laptop (HP Pavilion zt3000) with a built-in Intel 2200 wireless adapter. (I have checked and rechecked to MAC address list for accuracy.)

The SCM card sees the router signal, and will connect to it if the router is configured without security or with 64-bit WEP. It will not connect with WPA. (Nor with 128-bit WEP, for that matter.)

If I disable the built-in adapter on the HP Pavilion and use the SMC card in it instead, the behavior is exactly the same as on the Sony VAIO; so I don't think it's the computer.

I have spent much time on the phone with SMC technical support, and they haven't been able to help me connect.

My question would be, then--before I toss this card into the dustbin--has anyone been able to make the SMC2835W work with WPA security? If so, were there any tricks involved?

Your help is appreciated

Reply to
Willy Nilly
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Try WPA Assistant. Worked for me using all LInksys gear. Was able to use WPA-AES using a WRT54G.

Reply to
Bob Schmidt

As far as I can tell, WPA Assistant runs only on Win2000. I am running WinXP SP2, which has the WPA support built in.

Reply to
Willy Nilly

Maybe it'll work anyway as win2k and xp are pretty close cousins. You'll have to make sure that you only use the WPA Asst connection software when you first install and setup. Turn off the xp and whatever proprietary software for the wireless cards that you have. Don't uninstall the drivers, just turn off the software and uncheck it from starting up in msconfig.

Once it works, if it works, see if the xp and/or proprietary software can be used to monitor the connection. You may have to play with the hardware settings in the card (device manager) on each client to get the proper channel and sharing (ie you'll want to pick shared key if it has that setting available--see my earlier posting on how I got it to work with win2k).

I know it doesn't seem to be a very elegant solution but, if you can get it to work with xp, it'll give you WPA.

dustbin--has

Reply to
Bob Schmidt

Oh. Well, I guess that does it for WPA Assistant, didn't know you had gotten to that point. Since your model of PC card is apparently WPA-capable

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it might be an issue of router/PC card compatability where WPA is concerned. I looked on SMC's website and they don't seems to offer any drivers for XP and that card-they're relying on XP to provide that I guess. I also googled your model and xp drivers and not much came up that was of any use. Probably best to just get a Linksys PC card.

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Reply to
Bob Schmidt

Willy

Do you have SSID broadcast enabled on the router when trying to connect? I found that, at least when making the intitial connection with my WPA situation, I HAD to have SSID broadcast enabled.

Reply to
Bob Schmidt

Well, if you can tell me how to fake out the installation procedure, I am quite willing to try. However, I downloaded the installation package for it, and it refused to install, with a message to the effect that "WPA Assistant only runs on Windows 2000".

Reply to
Willy Nilly

I am truly on the verge of tossing this SMC card into the dustbin. But I'm not sure what to replace it with. I had no a priori reason to suspect that the SMC offering wouldn't work. If I go Linksys, that would be semi-superstitiously assuming it would play better with my Linksys router. Motorola has a reasonably priced card, too, and the name resonates well with me. My DLink print server works reasonably well. Belkin used to impress me, but I had quality problems with one of their ethernet PCMCIA cards. What to do, what to do...?

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Reply to
Willy Nilly

Reply to
Willy Nilly

I have a SMC 7804 wbrb and it works perfect with WPA I can switch it on and off just like that. No problem at all.

It does WEP/WPA too which I haven't tested yet.

On the client side no problems with WPA but my Belkin only wants WEP. So far, I had to struggle with Belkin.

hansR

Reply to
hans

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