Need wireless security help

audiobliss

We've been having problems with connecting wirelessly, so I'm resetting our router and setting everything up again.

We have a Linksys WRT54G for the router, and all the wireless devices are 802.11g except for two desktops which are 802.11b.

In setting up the router, I noticed that I can select WAP2 with TKIP and AES (whatever those are!) so I can still connect with WPA devices (such as the two 802.11b desktops. So, I set it to that, set the password to a 10 digit combination of letters, and it worked fine on the one wired desktop and a laptop I tried it on. However, it would NOT work on one of the WPA 802.11b desktops. Why not? It said I needed an 8 or 13 digit (some kind of term inserted here that I can't remember) or a 5 or 10 digit hexadecimal code.

Can I not use WPA2 and WPA? Should I not worry with it and just use WPA on all the computers?

I'd greatly appreciate any advice you can offer on how I should set things up!

disneyjoe7

No expert here on that one, but I had an similar trouble once. I think you need to lower your security to the lowest type being used.

bobman1235

WPA and WPA2 are not compatible with each other. If you're 'b' devices only have WPA support, you won't be able to use WPA2 encryption.

mmadden28

TKIP and AES are encryption algorithms/technologies-doesnt really matter which you use on a home network. Both are fine. Some wifi routers will work with both.

Check to ensure that the OS on each OS is up to date.
IIRC WPA2 support in WinXP has to be manually downloaded.

If I had any devices that would not work at the latest WiFi security standards (esp those that require the lowly WEP encryption), and they had to be wireless, I would hook up a second WiFi router just for them and set some rules on the router to allow the traffic to pass. Or upgrade the hardware in those devices if that were easier.
In some cases the application software that comes with the WiFi adapter will work with WPA2 when the OS doesn't support it. You might also check the Adapater manufacturer website for any firmware, driver or application updates.

Note,
Some wifi routers will work with both 802.11b and 802.11g (etc) at the same time without any compromise. Some older routers will slow the whole network down to the slowest device.
Some wifi routers will work with multiple wifi security standards as well.
Some will only work with one type at a time (i.e. all have to run WEP, or some can run WEP and some can run WPA/WPA2)

audiobliss

Thank you very much for all the information. I actually found a newer 802.11G USB adapter that I'm going to use on my desktop, and Mom's going to go pick up a new WMP54G desktop adapter for her desktop. We should be all set with at least WPA encryption, then.

Thanks so much!