Problems connecting desktop to Sky Broadband on Windows XP?

Question

my computer is currently running on XP in classic view. I've recently signed up with sky broadband, and after a few hiccups with the connection we got a wireless connection on the laptop, however my desktop is still not connecting. we've tried to manually connect it through settings, wirelessly and ethernet port, but we keep getting the same pop up error:

“The network password needs to be 40bits or 104bits, depends on your network configuration. This can be entered as 5 or 13 ascii characters or 10 or 26 hexadecimal characters.”

we've searched online high and low for answers on how to resolve this as we need the desktop to connect as well. Any specific help would be appreciated.

Also, Sky itself has NOT been as helpful so we need to find our own resolution.

Answer 1

You must have WEP encryption on your router. Usually your router software generates a network password (40 or 104bits depending on the level of encryption) from the passphrase of 5 or 13 characters that you enter. You need to go back and login to the router and look at the router settings, - the level of encryption and, enter your passphrase again  and click on generate and note down the characters in key1. Apply and save the settings and logout.

Go to the wireless settings on your PC check the level of encryption and SSID is the same and try entering the key1 network password that was generated. That should work

Answer 2

Sounds like your router needs to be properly configured.

I would assume that sky put in some default settings, which are probably utterly useless and that you will need to change to get it working properly.

Have a look at the label on the bottom of your sky router (the box you got from sky) or in the user manual. Does it give you any instructions on how to log in?

It will often say something like...

"Default access

Address: 192.168.0.4

Password: admin"

once you find that, just type the address they give you in to firefox (because only carrots use "internet explorer" these days) then type the password and this will take you to a configuration page.

Fiddle around with the settings until they are the ones you want, then everything should be fine!

Answer 3

It sounds like you are not entering the correct encryption key for the wireless. Try typing it in Notepad or Wordpad so you can see what you are typing, and then copy and paste it into the encryption key field when you are trying to connection.

Remember, encryption keys can be case sensitive.