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Changing a WEP Password
Dunnroamin
Posts: 2,437 Forum Member
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I've just lost an hours work on DS when my post just disappeared. So I have to condense a necessarily long and complicated problem. I've just left BT (Infinity) and joined EE. I needed the help of Indian advisors to set up my desktop pc using XP, after a lengthy couple of session, they succeeded. The next day I tried my laptop, using Vista, and found it could not connect to the internet. Internet Explorer could not connect to the net. Skype worked but not DS. I called India again but could not get the laptop to be remotely controlled, even when using an ethernet cable, so the call was aborted. I then realised I had two other accounts on this laptop, neither of which I use much, but, I thought, maybe they might connect to the internet. They did. I got back in touch with India, established a remote control connection and left it to the Indian advisor. Eventually, he said he had had to create a new password for the laptop, but the existing one first had to be removed. I wrote down the steps he told me I had to take: Start button>Control Panel>Network and Sharing Centre> Right click on Wireless Network Connection, select Connect/Disconnect. This should reveal a button showing Disconnect, but when I got to this bit the button that should have said Disconnect, actually said Connect, so I couldn't complete the instructions, Does anyone know how to change what I think is called a WEP password. Phew! , let's hope this gets through.
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First thing to check is that it is the correct one. Unless you live in the middle of nowhere or no-one within a hundred yards has WiFi there are likely to be several listed.
Second thing to check is that you know the WiFi password to enter when you do press Connect. It should be written on a label on the router or in the paperwork. It should also show the network name (or SSID) that it uses so you can double check you are selecting the right network.
Once you are sure it's the right network and you have a note of the password press Connect.It should then prompt for the password.
Oh and I sincerely hope you are not using WEP. That is the least secure of the options. One would hope that EE would pre-configure their kit to use a variant of WPA at the very least.
Five minutes ago (literally), I finally managed to correct the laptop's failure to connect wirelessly to the router by typing in the password intended for my desktop (pc1).
In my sessions with the Indian helpline, they took remote control of my laptop (pc2) on three different occasions to try to get it to connect wirelessly to the router. To achieve this they eventually gave me a new password - to replace the one given to me when I first signed up with EE. Both the new and old passwords consisted of a combination of upper case letters and numbers. Entering either password on the laptop (for which they had been intended) failed to rectify the laptop's problem, only when, in desperation, I typed in the password intended for pc1, which was made up of only lower case characters and hyphens, did I finally have success.
As regards your final comment, I'm afraid EE has provided me with WEP. How insecure can that be, and is there an antidote.
Unusual that a desktop is using WiFi,they are normally connected via a cable, for which no password is required. But not impossible.
As for what security you are running. As I said I would be very surprised if EE gaveyou a router set up for WEP security. You can check this on the laptop by opening the Network and Sharing Center from Control Panel. On the left you'll see manage Wireless Networks.Click on this and it will show your connection.It should also show what security type you are using.
If it is WEP you should really change it to WPA.for the best security. Unless your desktop is running a very old version of XP that has never had any Windows updates ever it should support WPA, (as far as I can tell WPA support for XP was introduced over 10 years ago!).
To change it however will involve diving into the set up of the router.And must be done using a cabled connection not wireless. Because as soon as you change the WiFi mode it will disconnect any devices. But won't affect a cable connection. But you only need do this if the router really is using WEP. Which I doubt as all the information on the EE website suggests they ship the routers with WPA set.