Wireless encryption/security hassle

It took me over three hours, but I finally got my mum connected to our home's wireless network. Ordinarily, I wouldn't blog about something as mundane as this, but because there were no obvious answers in Google or Yahoo! searches, I thought that I'd do a public service favour and write down the solution.

The main point is this: third-party encryption solutions, e.g. Odyssey, can cause you to be disconnected from a wireless network that uses built-in security features, e.g. WPA. Keep that in mind.

Read moreThe saga began at 1pm. I started the notebook... and was faced with a BIOS error. The date and time had been reset to the default. This is what happens when you don't use a computer for months and with a suspect motherboard battery that's low on juice. So I updated the date and time and restarted. This time, Windows ME complained that some Windows Protection thingie had failed and required another restart. This brought me to Windows' Safe Mode. Figuring that this was all due to the reset date/time, I restarted a third time and this brought me to the familiar Windows ME desktop.

Now, I installed the Linksys WPC54G notebook adapter software. It took me almost a minute to find the "Install" button. Note to Linksys: white text on lime green background makes reading difficult. This went without a hitch, followed by restart #4. I plugged in the Linksys PC card and Windows ME went about its plug-and-play routine.

And then panic struck. I needed to install some Windows files... and I didn't have the original installation discs! See, this is a second-hand notebook and I took what I got, which meant no original installation discs for anything. If something ever messes up, I'll be stuck. So I hoped for the best and told Windows to skip those files. Everything seemed to work fine.

Except that I couldn't get onto the network. My home's access point could be "seen" by the notebook, but the two just weren't "talking". Maybe it was due to those required Windows files. Half-resigned to fate, I dug around in the computer's files... and found the Windows ME installation files in a folder! Woo-hoo!

So I decided to start from round one again. I removed the wireless adapter from Windows' list of devices, then uninstalled the Linksys software too, followed by the fifth restart. Resinstalled the Linksys software, restart #6, plugged in the PC card, let Windows do its thing and installing the required files, and... nothing.

Like before, the access point was visible, but there was just no connection. Maybe I had reentered the network's WPA password wrongly? I checked and found that only eight characters were showing for the password. Our network's password is longer, so I retyped it. Still nothing. Checking the password field again, I found only eight characters again. Was the Linksys software not saving my password? A check in Windows' Registry Editor showed that, yes, the password was set correctly. It's just the Linksys software that was being a doofus for not showing the correct number of characters.

BTW: did you know that "password" is eight characters long? haha

My next line of attack was the wireless network's setup. Being the paranoid person that I am, I not only have a WPA password, but also filter wireless connections by MAC addresses. So I disabled MAC filtering -- no go. I disabled all passwords, and...

Voila! Network connection!

So I thought: maybe Windows ME was screwing up the WPA encryption somehow. Anyway, I reenabled the WPA password, and true enough, I was locked out again. Was I really resigned to my fate? I refused to believe that. This was when I searched Linksys' website, Google and Yahoo! for possible solutions or hints. There was nothing everywhere... except something that was buried in a forum thread.

Someone was facing the same problems as me and had listed some programs that he was running. One of them caught my eye: Odyssey. And another person who had replied said that Odyssey is a network encryption program. Hmm...

This notebook that I was using had been discarded by my company. Being a company computer, it was loaded with network stuff like iPass and Sphinx VPN and what-nots. So I uninstalled these programs and went through a seventh restart. After all, it was now a home computer and my mum had no need for these programs. To ensure that I had got rid of everything, I checked Windows Add/Remove Programs control panel. And there it was:

"Odyssey Client".

I uninstalled it quickly. But now, I was getting Windows Exception Faults from the Linksys software. I thought I was in trouble again, but decided to go for broke one more time. It was back to round one for me. I removed the wireless adapter device, uninstalled the Linksys software, which required an eighth restart.

I went through the motions of reinstalling the Linksys software (restart #9) and the PC card. And now I was connected! I double-checked to make sure that I could surf websites. Yes! Everything was working as expected! Hallelujah!

So there it was: Odyssey + WPA (+ Linksys?) (+ Windows ME?) = no wireless network connection. I don't know if this is limited to Linksys devices or Windows ME or even Odyssey. But that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

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Technorati tags: Linksys, WPA, Odyssey, Windows ME, security, encryption, wireless network