Linksys WPC11 (v3) on W2K, WPA: any hope?

Dec 04, 2007 9 Replies

I have a Toshiba 'Satellite' laptop, running Win 2K. It had a 10/100 (wired) network PCMCIA card, which worked. My router is a D-link "Air Plus G" 802.11g (2.4 Ghz). It's set for WPA-PSK, which works with other PC's.



However, when I try to use a Linksys WPC11 (v3) wireless card in this Toshiba, I get nothing but trouble. Short story: when installed from the Linksys CD, the network is sometimes detected; but, I can't connect to it. When I install the new (supposedly WPA-compatible) driver, I get no network operation, and the laptop regularly locks up, so that I have to use the reset button to recover.



In more detail, ...



- Old driver (from CD): 1.7.37.1098



- New (WPA?) driver : 3.0.4.205



The 'hangup problem' seems strongly associated with the Linksys "configuration utility". That is, it almost always locks up when I try to run the utility with the new driver. Not so, with the old driver. It has sometimes locked up even when the utility is not running. I've tried various installation schemes, including un-installing everything first. I can provide more details, if that would help.



I'd appreciate any thoughts on this. If this is not worth pursuing, it would be helpful to hear that.



TIA, George


The WPA driver found here;

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has some very specific instructions for XP found by clicking on the version info link. Have you tried them?

From the 3.04.205 firmware:- Driver Version 3.0.4.205 (Windows XP and 2000 user only and No WHQL Certificed) - Supports Wi-Fi Protected Access (TM) (WPA) with additional supplicants from Microsoft (WinXP only) - Supports Wi-Fi Protected Access (TM) (WPA) with additional supplicants from Funk Software (Win2000 only) So unless you installed the supplicant from Funk as well it won't work.

McAfee used to have a "WPA Assistant" but it looks as if it is no longer free but part of their security package.

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Your only other options seem to be :-

  1. WPA Supplicant for windows
    formatting link
    a new Wireless card that supports WPA in Win 2000.

I think so. However, the only instruction I see there for 2000 is to "uninstall the current WLAN Monitor", and I'm not certain what that refers to. But, I've uninstalled everything I can find - namely, the driver and 'configuration utility'. Whether the "WLAN Monitor" is the same as the 'configuration utility', I am not certain.

WRT the XP instructions, the capability (ie, update (or delete) the driver) describe in that URL is available in W2K from the network connection's properties dialog. Which I used, in various magical combinations with other actions.

So, I think I've done what they're talking about. And, per the network connection's properties dialog, I do have the driver in question (3.0.4.205). And it seems to lock up the system.

Thanks, George

I can do that, I think. But, ... would that fix the lockup I get, when I run 3.0.4.205?

Thanks, George

You wouldn't need to run the Linksys s'ware.

That sounds appealing, but I must have missed something. What driver would I be using?

Thanks, G

It's still there. They just make you look for it...

Go down to the bottom of the page mentioned in the quoted text above and klik the link there named (without the quotes):

"Download Free WPA Software"

The link to the actual supplicant on this new page is (without the quotes):

"Windows XP / 2000 / ME / 98 McAfee Wireless Security Installer"

You can check; the the name of the file with the supplicant inside the link on this second page should be (without the qoutes):

"McAfee Wireless Security 4.1 McAfee Setup.exe"

You'll want the documentation from the download page as well.

There's also been a supplicant fra Buffalo that works with most cards that have a WPA/PSK-TKIP driver under W2K, ClientManager2 (v2.1) but Buffalo has since pulled it. It came in a zip file, about 2.2MB.

What is a bit of a bummer with the "McAfee" is that according to their compatibility list it only works with the WPC11 ver4 which was a different chipset to the ver3.

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that applies to the WPA assistant or the whole Wireless Security suite is anyone's guess. Try it and see I suppose.

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