Why wont my laptop recognize my WPA PSK key when it works with my Ipod Touch and my PSP?

Question

Hello. My laptop's wireless picks up my access points (2 of them), and it wants a WEP key, when the encryption is WPA PSK (personal). Therefore my key won't work with either access point.The key works with my Ipod Touch and my PSP. How can i make it so that instead of it bieng WEP and wanting a hexidecimal code, to accept my personal code ( which is a word), or eitherwise accept WPA PSK codes?

Thanks

Answer 1

WEP and WPA are two different types of encryption. It's not possible to use them together or convert from one to another. Not all laptop's built-in wireless adapters support WPA encryption. The first thing I would do it make sure you have the latest drivers for the wireless chipset you have, since adding WPA encryption can have been done after the initial drivers were out.

I've also found it better to use the manufacturer's own software (Intel PROSet/Wireless in my case) to manage the wireless adapter rather than to let Windows manage it. I get more options and better stability with the Intel software.

Since WEP is very easily crackable, if you can't get your laptop to do WPA/WPA2 encryption, you might want to consider getting a PCMCIA/Cardbus or USB wireless network adapter that does. They are fairly inexpensive.

Answer 2

its possible your laptop doesn't accept wpa. This usually happens in older computers.