Wireless X30 setp up with WEP

rmdillon · 08-15-04, 12:33 PM

Folks, New to the site. I am having an issue with having WEP turned on and having access with my laptops and my axim x30H . It seems if I have wep turned On (MN-500) router My axim will not log in correctly I recive an incorrect IP address. I am also woundering what types of encryption levels can the Axim do. 10 bit 128 bit ...etc....

any help that you can provide would be great

Thanx

Rob

ikehiker · 08-15-04, 01:20 PM

The X30 can use 64- or 128-bit WEP and WPA. The main thing to be aware of is that passphrases probably will not work on the PPC. You need to enter the WEP key in hexidecimal format.

rmdillon · 08-22-04, 04:54 PM

Thank you , I will have to give that a try

Rob

PhaiHocBai · 09-14-04, 06:05 PM

Originally Posted by ikehiker

The X30 can use 64- or 128-bit WEP and WPA. The main thing to be aware of is that passphrases probably will not work on the PPC. You need to enter the WEP key in hexidecimal format.

Well, the owner's manual (or pda help, I don't remember which exactly) says that you can enter it as hexi or passphrase. HOWEVER, I'm using a passphrase right now and am having a rather odd problem that I've noticed in a couple other threads in that I can't get an IP assigned from my router (2Wire brand) even though the Ax indicates that I have an "excellent" signal. So... Will do some more testing on that. But, that's for a different thread...

Howard2k · 09-14-04, 11:42 PM

The passphrase for WEP is not vendor consistent. Use the key.

ikehiker · 09-15-04, 05:48 PM

Originally Posted by PhaiHocBai

...But, that's for a different thread...

In fact, the problem you are having is exactly how a problem due to WEP would be manifested (and thus is appropriate for this thread) since the PPC will associate with a network even if the WEP key is wrong. Do as Howard says.

PhaiHocBai · 09-15-04, 06:05 PM

The reason I think that it wouldn't matter either way is because I couldn't get either to work. The results I'm getting is the same for both cases, hex or alphaN. I was just pointing out that it was written, from Dell, or MS, or whoever, that it didn't matter. Doesn't mean it was correct though. Regardless, I'm thinking that maybe it's a 2wire thing? Any ideas? Maybe it's the 64 v.128 bit encryption?

ikehiker · 09-15-04, 06:29 PM

Are you sure you entered it exactly the same on both devices? I'd probably work with 64-bit since the 10 characters will be easier to get right and the weakness in WEP isn't really improved by using the higher level.

Howard2k · 09-15-04, 07:52 PM

Don't confuse passphrase, hex key and ascii key. They're all different.

You need to be very clear about what you are using.

I would suggest using 64 bit WEP with 10 digit hex keys on all devices.

PhaiHocBai · 09-16-04, 03:30 AM

Well, guess what. Not to jinx what I already have; however, it works... Who knows why, but, eh, it works. Let's see if it'll stick. I had to go in and delete my old profile and start from scratch. I...

(just for those that may run into the same situation, I'm going to list out the steps that I went through)
- Ax -> Start from Dell's WLAN -> Wireless Profile
- Ax -> Deleted old profile that I had previously created on the Ax
- Ax -> Disabled the Wireless radio
- Homeportal -> Disable ALL security features on the Homeportal (Enabled SSID and DISABLED WEP) I basically made it wide open.
- Ax -> Turned on the Wireless Radio -> Went to profile -> Found my portal -> Selected "connect"
- Ax -> WLAN indicates that I an IP (via Network Troubleshoot)
- Ax -> Disabled the Wireless radio
- Homeportal -> DISABLED SSID
- Ax -> Enable the radio
- Ax -> Add New Profile -> DISABLE WEP (still not enabled on portal), OPEN network, no IEEE 802.11x authentication -> OK
- Ax -> OK on the wireless profile
- In WLAN -> The Ax will search for a bit (give it about 5-10 secs) and it should connect. Check IP through Network Troubleshoot and it found IP.
- Ax -> Disable radio
- Homeportal -> Enable 128-bit WEP
- Ax -> Enable radio
- Ax -> Modify profile -> Enable WEP -> Enter WEP in Hexadecimal - should be 23 characters (haven't tried passphrase yet - which is like a 13 character password) -> OK
- Ax -> Ok on Wireless profile
- In WLAN -> The Ax will search for a bit (give it about 5-10 secs) and it should connect. Check IP through Network Troubleshoot and it found IP.

Voila! FINALLY! Don't know why, but that works. Maybe it gets used to rejection or maybe my router just needed to see a normal connection to get itself primed for it? Dunno why, just grateful that I HAVE WIRELESS!!! Should it be this difficult? Anyway, WHOOP!

Thanks for all ya'lls help and ideas. On to Wireless back-ups and sync...

niteriderxp · 09-16-04, 03:47 AM

Is this a common issue with the Axim and encryption. I am lucky that my hardware supports Wireless Protected Access (WPA). Anyway I configured everything and guess what it didn't work. I reconfigured my whole WAP and all computers for that matter. After about 25 tries it connected and kept the connection. I didn't touch that setup in fear of having to go through that again.

I swear Dell should really make more reliable software. And what is uo with the Power Save on the wireless not turning off. Though today I checked and it wasn't on, it has a mind of it's own.