Windows XP SP2 and ASCII WEP keys

15 Nov 2006 4:41 PM

Gordon

just spent AGES trying to get my friend's Wireless network to work - the BT
Voyager wireless modem/router came pre-configured with a 128-bit ASCII WEP
key. On trying to set up a new Wireless Network on my laptop, I noticed that
there was no facility in the Wizard for ASCII WEP keys - only HEX. Changed
his network to HEX WEP key and bingo! Everything worked. Is this correct,
that Win XP SP2 wireless has no ASCII WEP key capability?

15 Nov 2006 4:53 PM

David Hettel

Basically yes. WEP works best when the keys are hex based, if you are using
different brands of equipment, (and sometimes within a brand) the way a
ASCII key is converted to the actual key the equipment uses is not uniform.
So keys like My dog Is brown don't always become the same value, and when
they are different they don't work.

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David Hettel

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"Gordon" <gbpli***@gmail.com.invalid> wrote in message
news:%232yocSNCHHA.4808@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> just spent AGES trying to get my friend's Wireless network to work - the
> BT Voyager wireless modem/router came pre-configured with a 128-bit ASCII
> WEP key. On trying to set up a new Wireless Network on my laptop, I
> noticed that there was no facility in the Wizard for ASCII WEP keys - only
> HEX. Changed his network to HEX WEP key and bingo! Everything worked. Is
> this correct, that Win XP SP2 wireless has no ASCII WEP key capability?
>