Has anyone else noticed problems with Netgear Wi-Fi adapters when used with WPA/WPA2 secured networks? Is there a solution?
A long while back, I set up a Belkin access point/router with a Netgear Cardbus Wi-Fi card. No matter what I did, the card simply wouldn't link up with the Belkin router. The Netgear software would try, but as soon as it started to associate with the access point, it appeared to give up and would start "scanning" for networks again.
This would continue on forever until it was interrupted. I tried all methods of WPA and WPA2 and got no improvement. Finally I turned the encryption off completely and it worked! (I did not try WEP to see if it would work.) Eventually I returned the Netgear card and got a different brand that worked fine. The computer in this setup was running Windows 2000 Pro SP4 and the Netgear software provided on CD with the card.
Now here I am again, this time with a Netgear WPN111 Wireless USB Adapter. The router this time is a Buffalo high power 54G MIMO model running DD-WRT firmware V23 SP2. The behavior from the Netgear Smart Wizard is the same...with an open network, the adapter links right up and works nicely. With any form of WPA enabled, it tries connecting to the network for a moment, fails, scans the channels briefly and tries again. This cycle would continue on forever if I'd let it.
This computer is running Windows 2000 Pro SP4 and the latest (01/2006?) software from Netgear's website.
I was not able to determine anything with NetStumbler, but that may be a result of my not fully understanding how to use it.
Any and all help would be appreciated. This Netgear adapter works the best of any I've tried for the application I have in mind...now if only it would get along with WPA wireless security!
William