Tag Archives: wpa

billion 7300G wireless wpa fault

Computer Aid Posted on by

After upgrading my internet connection to ADSL2+ (TPG), I decided to upgrade my network to an all-in-one wireless modem router.

After some research, I decide that the billion 7300G seems like the best all-rounder.

The initial setup went without any problems.

I even setup some QOS settings (to limit all the P2P thats happening in my household).

The next day, I try out the wireless with my laptop.

Hmmm, it doesn’t want to work.

The XP wireless connection keeps starting and stopping… it looks like it continuously connects, then disconnects.

I try no WPA security, and the laptop connects first time (and stays connected).

A quick browse of some forums reveals the answer: the 7300G cannot handle a WPA password that has a comma (,) in it.

I experiment with a few different ascii characters, and as far as I can find, the problem is only with the comma… I tried:

!@#$%^&*()-_=+[]{}|;’:”,./<>?

So I just recreate a new 63-character password, but without a comma.

Note: I noticed this fault while the 7300G had the latest firmware available to me: 1.36-698-80.3_sso_billion

setup an asus eee laptop with wpa wireless security

Computer Aid Posted on by

A customer needed to get his wife’s eee laptop on the internet.

So I install a wireless router (and setup wireless security).

All pretty standard stuff so far.

But I knew that the Eee would be interesting.

Research seems to show that the Eee could have some problems with wpa, but I thought I’d give it a try anyway.

Some guides on the net seem to guide you through using the network icon to setup a wireless connection (and you get advised to stay away from the “Wireless Networks” icon.

First, I made sure the wireless is on (blue light on the bottom right hand side… activated by pressing Fn + F2.

Well, after stuffing around for about 20 minutes (and getting nowhere), I eventually decided to try the wireless networks icon.

Well, it worked really easily.

First, I got a view of available wireless networks (Don’t disable SSID broadcast of your wireless access point!):

eee wireless Select the wireless network, and hit the connect button.

You then get another window, where you select the wireless encryption type, enter the password/key.

And thats all it takes!

At some point, I made sure the new wireless connection was set to run at startup, so that it would always run when the pc was switched on.

Netgear WPN824 WPA versus WPA2

Computer Aid Posted on by

Ah, another wireless stumbling block…

This customer couldn’t get his laptop (he is visiting his daughter) to work on on her wireless router (a netgear MIMO WPN824… apparently, a previous tech had setup the wireless, but didn’t tell anyone what the wireless password was (It seems to happen a lot, unfortunately).

He eventually mucked up the second wireless PC… but the 3rd PC used ethernet, so there was a way out of this.

I connect to the router, and get to the wireless section.

I see it has WPA-PSK-TKIP enabled. I prefer WPA-PSK-AES (better security), so before I change, I make sure all wireless PCs have XP at SP2.

I change to (what I think is) WPA-PSK-AES, but I cannot get any wireless access… after a lot of stuffing around, I eventually realise that this router has 3 different WPA encryption methods:

  • WPA-PSK-TKIP
  • WPA2-PSK-AES
  • WPA2-AES

Its amazing how the mind will sometimes see what it wants to see…

I didn’t notice the little number “2”, and assumed the router would be like most others, and support WPA-PSK-AES (but it doesn’t).

So after reverting to WPA-PSK-TKIP, and changing the wireless PC accordingly, the PC is finally on the internet.

Next, I go for the laptop.

Oddly, it still refuses to connect. I look at all sorts of settings, and after 5 minutes I get a message about the radio being off… I look at the lights on the laptop… the small blue wireless LED is off…

I find and press the little wireless button, and within 10 seconds, the laptop is on the net at last!