Dell Inspiron 1720 Vista Wireless Problem

i have been able to locate wireless networks and connect to unsecured ones,
but i have been unable to connect ot my WPA-PSK wireless lan network.

I tried removing the security, and this works, but as soon as i re-enable
the security, it's not having it.

i've tried using different forms of encryption but still no luck.

it's vista home premium if thats any help.

I have an Inspiron 1525 Laptop, with the Dell 1395 (Draft-N) Wireless
Mini-card. If you could let us know which wireless card you have, we
could advise you more.

1) I am connecting to my brother's Apple Wireless router, and I
required the Windows upgrade which allows Wireless "Personal"
authentications before I could login to the Network.
2) I suggest you make sure the latest updates for your Inspiron are
installed.

Also, as much as we might hate it, the BEST place for Dell support is
(SURPRISE!!!), "http://www.dell.com/support".

You might check out their forums to find how others are handling the
same problems.

You will have to register with the Forum before you will be able to
post there.

I suggest that you connect to your router with a cable and get everything
working with security and then try wireless with broadcast SSID enabled.
After that is working you can turn of SSID broadcast.

I am having the exact same problem with the seemingly exact same computer.

Using my new Dell Inspiron 1720 running Vista Home Premium w/a Dell Wireless
1395 802.11g Mini Card, I have tried to connect to my WPA-PSK wireless
network coming from a Qwest DSL Actiontec router with not much success. I
can pick up and connect to other networks in my neighborhood just fine, only
not my own, even if I manually set it up to do so.

Dell support last night had me connect to my wireless router via ethernet
cord and then manually ran the wireless card which worked, and I could then
detach the ethernet cord and still remain online. However, once I shut down
or restarted, I lost the network and could not reconnect.

Through grueling trial and error, I determined that I have to be within one
meter of the router upon start-up if I want internet capability; I can then
go anywhere in the house and still remain online, so long as I do not
restart.

A side note, my other notebook, a new HP Pavilion 17 incher (I dont have the
wireless card info at this time) is able to pick up my wireless router just
fine throughout the house.

Is it the Dell wireless card and capability issues with my type of wireless
network and my type of wireless router??? I think I'll have to take it to
work to see what it does there since they're running Qwest as well.

I am going to have another long bout with Dell support tonight to see about
this one meter distance issue.

That makes sense, since the network connection will always be broken
anyway when you shut down or restart your machine. It's certainly not
unusual.

It also makes sense for Dell support. You should not have to start
your wireless connection that way. It is very convoluted. It should
be straightforward.

Personally, it looks to me like you either have a faulty wireless card
in the machine in question, or one which is not up to the task. Or,
you've just faced Dell Support, which can be a rather daunting
experience in itself.

Why they are trying to get you to start your wireless connection via
an Ethernet cable is totally beyond me, and leads me to believe they
just don't have the necessary information available to them. I would
certainly not settle for their jack-leg "tech support", and would
attempt to elevate the support Level until you get a qualified person
to help you the right way.

Also, remember that Dell has been suspected of sending used
replacement parts in the past (and even of putting used parts in new
machines), so watch your back there.

A question: How do you have your security in the router set up? Do
you add a sub-node via a routing table? Perhaps you've forgotten to
add the MAC address of your wireless card to the allowed addresses.

Hmmmm.

I have the Dell 1505 Wireless Draft-N mini-card in my Inspiron 1525
Notebook. I can connect to the Airport Express network in our house
from anywhere in the house, and from considerably further away than a
meter. But our connection is via Comcast High-Speed cable.

You might try extending the range of the wireless radio in the Qwest
router, if you have access to the setup program of the router. But be
very careful, and only extend it as far as the dimensions of your
house or apartment.

By the way, an Ethernet cable can be removed and replaced at any time.
All that will do is cause your wireless card to lose the Network,
until the cable is replaced, at which point the card should
auto-negotiate a new IP via DNS IF you've set your connection to
auto-start. It is usually not necessary to reboot to restart the
connection, and I certainly advise against it unless Windows instructs
you to do so.

I would also check with them about replacing your 1395 Wireless-G
mini-card with the 1505 Wireless Draft-N mini-card.

Also, make sure you've installed the update which enables Windows to
allow WPA-PSK and WPA-PSK2 authentication types.

We use WPA-PSK2 authentication, with the AES protocol. But Windows
also offers the TKIP protocol, if that is what Qwest.net requires.

If you've installed Service Pack 1, this shouldn't be necessary.

May I suggest that connecting to outside networks is kind of rude? I
mean, how would you like it if some stranger came in your house at
suppertime, and sat down and started eating off your son or daughter's
plates?

That is basically what one does when he connects to unsecured networks
in the neighborhood (or anywhere, for that matter). The people who
have the unsecured networks are obviously unlearned (or very, very
stupid), and you are taking advantage of their ignorance by
encroaching in their bandwidth space.

They say that what one doesn't know won't hurt him, but I disagree
vehemently.

Are you sure that your router has SID broadcast turned on when you try to
connect to via wireless the first time? It does not appear to since you can
see other networks but not your own.
After you have connected to it then you can disable SID broadcast on your
new laptop and you have identified it as your primary router.
This is probably how you other laptop got set up.

Somewhere I read that while having SID broadcast turned off as a means of
added security it is actuallly compromizing security. The reason is that the
client must broadcaset the SID to find if it is within range of the router.
This broadcast can be picked up by any monitor that can receive this client
broadcast.

The recommendation was to keep SID broadcast activated at all times and rely
on other security measures on the wirless network.

Thanks for everyones replies. At the end of troubleshooting with Dell,
changing the channels, new passwords, etc, they said that it must be
something with the router...and so it was. It took a while as well,
troubleshooting the current state of the router and my laptops, but once all
avenues were exhausted, they had me upgrade the firmware (software) of the
router from their website, which was what I was kind of suspecting; and I
even mentioned it off the bat, that it was an older router, I think i need to
upgrade something. None the less after wasting a couple hours going by the
book, the 15 minute upgrade at the end did the trick, and the signal has
never been stronger. It has something to do with the old firmware/signal not
being very Vista friendly.

I recommended that you only keep Sid broadcast on for the couple of minutes
that it take your laptop to see it and logon to it.
I have used this procedure for several years and it works fine since once I
turn SID broadcasting back off now one else sees it and it would be very
unusual for any of my neighbors to be looking for a network during the
couple of minutes I had it turned on.

Why? the OP should not have to do this. PERIOD. Workarounds are just
that: They attempt to "work around" limitations. Instead, he should
use a router/wireless card which does not require this jack-leg
idiocy, and which allows him to use his wireless devices properly.

You would really be surprised. Even the most moral users are willing
to access the networks of other wireless owners, just to have fun.
That they sometimes wind up causing damage to your network is
unfortunate, since they are probably not attempting to cause you
damage, just have a little fun.

[bubbastagg]

I have had this problem for a while, when I bought a new router, it told me to install Cisco's Network Magic Pro, you could download a free trial version from their site to see if it works. So far it has for me.

Once it was installed, I could pick up wireless signals again and connect to them, whereas before I was only able to internet access through direct connection to the modem. Whether it is this program or another, this could be a quick solution, seem happy with it so far.