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Netgear DG824m help please.

[alt.comp.networking.connectivity deleted as Newsguy claims its an invalid group]

Beware of such friends. They should have installed XP SP2 and subsequent updates. 64 bit encryption is marginal at best. The prefered encryption level is WPA-PSK (pre-shared key) which one of the post XP SP2 updates would have installed on your machine. Unfortunately, the DG824M router does not support WPA-PSK so you'll have to live with either WEP 64 or WEP 128.

This might help:

formatting link

Connect to the Netgear DG824M router with: http://192.168.0.1 I think it's on the "Basic Settings" page (not sure). It will show an ASCII text string of exactly 5 characters and a hexadecimal string of exactly 10 characters. Write BOTH of them down. That's your WEP key.

If you can't extract the existing WEP key, then change it to a new one. If so, select HEX and not ASCII, as Hex always works, while ASCII sometimes does not because of differences between different manufacturers ideas of how to convert ASCII to Hex. If you do this, you'll also need to change the WEP key in the old computer.

When your new computah requests an encryption key, set it to 64 bit ASCII and give it the 5 character ASCII key. If it's Windoze XP, the

64/128 part is automatic. If ASCII doesn't work, set it to 64 bit HEX and give it the 10 digit Hex key. That always works.

I suggest you contact someone that can help you setup and update your machines properly. Your first machine will require updates and you should probably switch to WEP 128 bit encryption for slightly improved security.

The manual is online at: ftp://downloads.netgear.com/files/dg824m_ref_manual.pdf The instructions for setting up WEP are under "Wireless Settings".

The only think this router is lacking is WPA-PSK encryption. Whether you need or want that is determined by whether you're worried about someone borrowing your bandwidth or breaking into your system via wireless.

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann
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Pleeeeeze don't do that. When you post questions and answers to usenet, blogs, or mailing lists, everyone learns from the exchange. When you convert your problem into an email exchange, then only you benefit from the answers. There's also no opportunity for others to make corrections as the answers are often not exactly correct. (Hint: I screw up all too often). I'm in the consulting business and I consider email tech support to billable consulting at $75/hr. I suspect that's not what you intended.

In the distant past, I would answer all the email questions as time permits. The volume increased to unmanageable levels, so I had to stop. Unless your email contains proprietary information, trade secrets, is unsuitable for general consumption, contains huge attachments, or offers fame and fortune, I really don't wanna deal with it.

Try my suggestions, and post the results. If you're stuck or unable to understand my technobabble, then either post a question, or ask someone locally for onsite help.

Incidentally, I decide to take 5 days off for the Christmas holiday and the very first thing that happens is my office mail server goes insane. I tried to "fix" something after midnight on Friday evening. Bad idea. I wanna see if I can live without email for a few days.

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

Hi

Am very new to this so pls be patient

I currently use a laptop with a wireless LAN card and the above router which works fine - I had this set up for me by a friend so am not too familiar with how he did it but understand the basics. Basically he disabled Windows handling the networking on the PC as it's only running Windows XP SP1 and he set up the router for my home network making it secure using 64 bit encryption and hexadecimal (sp?) keys. I have set up the card with the same settings after formatting the PC and it works fine.

Problem is that I have now bought a new laptop with built in wireless capability running Windows XP Service Pack 2. The new PC can see my home network but can't access it as it's secure and, when prompted for the key it won't accept the hexadecimal key and instead asks for a different one. It says the password needs to be 40 bits or 104 bits and can be entered as 5 or

13 ASCII characters or 10 or 26 hexadecimal characters - what? How do I

(a) generate the required type of key or find the existing one in the format require by the new PC to access the network.

(b) view the key within the router so I can just input it as requested?

I can't see anywhere on the router gateway where this is stored and the bloke who installed it originally is scratching his head also. The router firmware is the latest one and still works perfectly on the old PC with the LAN card.

Question is whether anyone can help me through this - it's been suggested that I may need a new router as this one is a few yrs old now. If that's the case can anyone recommend an up to date equivalent (inc firewall) to the DG824?

All help appreciated as it's annoying that I can't use my new toy yet.

Thanks in advance.

Paul

Reply to
Paul

surely you can plug in with a cable for now :-)

Reply to
Peter M

Hi Jeff

Thanks for your reply - I have mailed you separately.

Regards,

Paul

Reply to
Paul

Looking at the photos in the manual, there's a page where you enter an ASCII key, which is then converted into 4ea Hex keys for 64 bit encryption. Looks like you found the page, although it's not exactly as I would have expected it to look.

That's the page. All you need is the first of the 4 hex keys.

Bingo. You're done. That's the Hex key I was mumbling about. You're sorta secured with 64 bit WEP, which is not very secure, but better than nothing. Congrats.

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

OK my apologies - just ignore the email if/when you get it as I am not sure whether it got sent anyway.

I looked at what you suggested but it hasn't really solved the problem per se, although I have now managed to get access. In the basic settings there is no 'key' as you describe, or ability to enter or amend one it at all. The only thing barely resembling one is in the 'Wireless Settings' where there are 4 x 4 boxes of the hexa keys which acted as the 64 bit key for my old PC/LAN card set up. There appears to be no other way of inputting different keys.

Ironically, when the new PC asked for the 'key' I just tried inputting the first 4 boxes of the hexa keys contained in the router and it worked and connected me to the network - does this mean it's now secure? There doesn't appear to be any other way to do it.

Regards

Paul

Reply to
Paul

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