Toshiba e740 and Wifi WEP question

[rvollmer]

Have my e740 working great with a Linksys WAP11 Wifi access point with WEP disabled. The e740 is able to reach DHCP and get an IP address for the home network, etc... and can access the internet.

When I activiate 128bit WEP on the access point, and on the e740, I have a strange problem on the "advanced" settings dialog. When I turn on 128bit WEP on the e740, the Apply button is un-greyed. After I type in the password, the Apply button becomes gray again. I click OK and it seems to take (at least the 128WEP setting).

When the e740 accesses DHCP, it comes back with a strange IP address (outside the range the DHCP is configured for) and a different subnet mask. I cannot access anything with WEP turned on.

128bit WEP on the access point works works fine with my other WiFi devices, so it seems to be something with the e740.

Anyone encountered/solved this problem?

[the_rapture]

Have you tried forcing an IP?

[MobiliT]

Try releasing and renewing the IP address. Perhaps the CEIPConfig utility will work...
http://www.furrygoat.com/Programming/ceipConfig.html

[rvollmer]

Tried forcing the IP address, subnet mask and gateway, but had same result - no access. Tried ping and trace route and neither worked with WEP turned on. Worked fairly well with WEP turned off, but had a fair number of dropped packets.

I'm starting to think it might be the Linksys WAP11 access point because in the last 24 hours the signal has diminished and the access point seems to be ignoring a lot of the requests from the wifi devices. I'm going to try replacing the access point prior to trying to correct e740 WEP issue.

Thanks for the tip on CEIPConfig. I will definitely give it a try...

[Thinkingman]

Try correcting the access point, it should be that the e740 will follow along with what you are doing. Or as is stated, a process of elimination so start at one spot and then start ruling out what is not the problem. So start with the access point and then from there work your way to the e740.

[Dave Beauvais]

I'm starting to think it might be the Linksys WAP11 access point because in the last 24 hours the signal has diminished and the access point seems to be ignoring a lot of the requests from the wifi devices. I'm going to try replacing the access point prior to trying to correct e740 WEP issue. ...
I use a Socket CF WLAN card with my Casio E-200 to connect to my WAP11 (v1.0) access point. I found that in order for it to work properly, I had to set my access point "authentication type" to "Open System." I believe it defaults to "Both," with the other option being "Shared Key." I also turn off "auto rate fall back" since the WAP11 seems to want to drop back to a slower speed when it really isn't necessary.

Also, make sure your WAP11 has the latest firmware version that's available. The newer v2.2 WAP11s just got a firmware update (http://www.linksys.com/download/firmware.asp?fwid=163) last week. The current firmware for v1.0 and v1.1 WAP11s is v1.4i.1 (http://www.linksys.com/download/firmware.asp?fwid=11).

Do you have any other WiFi devices that you can test with to see if they work? I'm sorry I don't have an e740 to test with my WAP11. (I'm reading up on them, though, because a really annoying sidelight problem with my E-200 is driving me to search for something else.)
128bit WEP on the access point works works fine with my other WiFi devices, so it seems to be something with the e740.
Edit: Sorry, just re-read your post and saw that sentence.

--Dave

[Dave Beauvais]

I just exchanged my Casio E-200 for a new e740 today. After the battery has finished its initial charge in a couple more hours, I'll start getting things set up and will test it with my Linksys WAP11. Hopefully I'll be able to report back with a success story.

--Dave

[logo20heli]

When I activiate 128bit WEP on the access point, and on the e740, I have a strange problem on the "advanced" settings dialog. When I turn on 128bit WEP on the e740, the Apply button is un-greyed. After I type in the password, the Apply button becomes gray again.

I also had a WAP11 (version 1). I recently sold it because I had problems with my iPaq with the Symbol CF wireless networker card when using power save mode. The WAP11 would crash, requiring a reboot, when using power save mode on the Symbol card. Others have reported this as well.

I now have a Toshiba e740 and replaced the WAP11 with a D-Link DI-614+, which seems to work great. It works with the iPaq with Symbol Wireless Networker in power save mode. However, the power save mode on the e740 causes reception problems in the e740. I know it works D-Link is working fine because I can still access it with my iPaq.

Ok, now for your issue. I noticed this greyed out Apply button behavior as well. Here is what I found. The Apply button becomes greyed out when you start typing in a WEP key (either hex or ascii). It remains greyed out until you enter *all* digits required for the key. For an ASCII key, you need to enter exactly 13 characters. When you enter the 13th character, then the Apply button becomes ungreyed.

Before I figured this out, I was using a ascii WEP key that was less than 13 characters. I guess that other devices must pad the remaining characters before they generate the HEX key from ASCII. Anyway, the e740 does not do this. My suggestion is to always use a WEP ASCII key that is 13 characters, or use a WEP HEX key instead.

Entering a 13 key WEP ASCII key in both the e740 and the DI-614+ worked perfectly.

Hope this helps.

[Dave Beauvais]

I also had a WAP11 ... The WAP11 would crash, requiring a reboot, when using power save mode on the Symbol card. Others have reported this as well.
I'm pretty sure this was a problem with one of the firmware releases that Linksys made available a while back. The latest firmware is rock-solid; I've had absolutely zero problems with my WAP11 since the last firmware update several months ago. In fact, the only time I've had to do anything with it is when I change WEP keys or add or remove an entry from the MAC address list.

... The Apply button becomes greyed out ... until you enter *all* digits required for the key. ... My suggestion is to always use a WEP ASCII key that is 13 characters, or use a WEP HEX key instead.
As a new e740 user (as of yesterday,) that is great to know. I always use hex keys because that's the only way to guarantee that the keys are the same when using equipment from different vendors. Linksys gear can all use an ASCII "passphrase" to generate the keys, but that's no guarantee that the same passphrase will generate the same key when used on another manufacturer's equipment. Using the hex key(s) will assure you that they're the same.

I was up and running with my e740 and WAP11 in about two minutes, including the time taken to add the e740 to my WAP11's MAC list and enter the WEP key & SSID into the e740. (Since I don't broadcast my SSID, I had to enter it manually.)

I have yet to go to another location with a wireless LAN, so I'll have to wait and see how much of a pain it is to switch encryption keys and the like. It's really too bad there are no "profiles" to select from when moving from one wireless LAN to another. Seamlessly changing WEP keys, SSID, etc. simply by selecting a profile from a menu would be great!

Thanks for the tip about the grayed-out Apply button!

--Dave

[islandsnow]

was up and running with my e740 and WAP11 in about two minutes, including the time taken to add the e740 to my WAP11's MAC list and enter the WEP key & SSID into the e740. (Since I don't broadcast my SSID, I had to enter it manually.)


i am a newbie with wi-fi. i was just wondernig about all you guys that are running a wireless access point in your homes. is the WEP key or adding your MAC address to the access point list a way to secure your wi-fi? how does that work? and what is SSID? do you enter a passphrase into your access point and need to enter the same passphrase into your client?

i don't want to set up a wi-fi access point in my home, and have someone sitting outside with a wireless card being able to piggy back off of me and surf the net. thanks...

[Dave Beauvais]

... is the WEP key or adding your MAC address to the access point list a way to secure your wi-fi? ... what is SSID? ... i don't want to set up a wi-fi access point in my home, and have someone sitting outside with a wireless card being able to piggy back off of me and surf the net. ...
Well, here's a little guide to basic wireless LAN security. Okay, it's a bit long, but I hope it's complete enough to help clear up what this stuff is all about.
SSID - Service Set Identifier
Sometimes also called an ESSID (Extended SSID) or BSSID (Basic SSID), this is the name of your network. On some level, this is the most important aspect of wireless security, which is why I placed if first here.

In order to connect to your network, a person must know the SSID. Unfortunately, almost 100% of all wireless routers and access points are factory set to broadcast this name to anyone that will listen. To make matters worse, most people don't even bother changing the SSID from the factory default. Linksys equipment's default SSID is "linksys", for example.

This is how people discover wireless networks in the first place. They drive (or walk) around looking for wireless networks that are advertising their presence. Think of the SSID as the address of your house. It's like you putting an ad in the classifieds section of your local newspaper that reads, "Potential intruders: stop by my house at 1234 Some Street. The door is locked, but feel free to try and get in!" Broadcast SSIDs make it brain-dead simple to find wireless LANs.

In fact, if you enter the SSID "ANY" (in capital letters) your wireless device will try to associate with the first wireless network it hears advertising itself. (Did you notice that the SSID in our e740s defaults to "ANY?")

To prevent this, you need to make sure your access point or router isn't sitting there broadcasting its SSID every few seconds. This makes it very difficult to see that a wireless network even exists. If the access point isn't broadcasting the SSID, you have to know what it is so you can type it into your software. That's the first step before trying to get past the other two main security features of wireless LANs.

MAC Address List
A MAC address is also known as a hardware address or network address. Every Ethernet card, router, access point, etc. on the planet is supposed to have a unique MAC address. (This isn't always the case, and it's often easy to "spoof" a MAC address. More on that later.)

By setting up a list of MAC addresses in your access point or router, you're basically adding another level of security. To return to the house analogy, the MAC address list is like having a security guard at the end of your driveway. You have to show the guard your ID to get up to the door so you can pick the lock; in this case, in the form of a MAC address. (Okay, so the guard is stupid.)

Now, not only does a potential intruder have to crack your encryption key (more on that in the next section), their wireless network card also has to have a MAC address that's on your list of allowed cards. If your MAC address isn't on the list, you won't be allowed to associate with the access point.

But, many network card drivers allow you to enter your own MAC address that overrides the hardware address built into the card, itself. See the attached screenshot, below, which is the properties window for my laptop's internal Ethernet adapter. In the highlighted box, I can type in any MAC address I wish, and that'll override the hardware address of the card. If someone can sniff your wireless network traffic, they can also very likely grab a valid MAC address of one of your wireless devices. While the two can't be used at the same time, if they drive by your house later and the device they are impersonating isn't in use, they're in. It's like showing the stupid security guard a fake ID.

WEP - Wired Equivalent Privacy
When it was conceived, WEP was supposed to give you the same level of security over your wireless connection that you'd have with a physical cable connection. (i.e., it's difficult to "listen in" on a hard-wired network unless you're physically plugged into that network.) However, as with just about every security system ever devised by man, WEP was broken with relative ease.

WEP is a set of encryption keys that encrypt all the data packets going across your wireless network. All devices on the network must have the same WEP key(s) defined in order to communicate on the network. If you have the wrong key (or no key) on one PC, for example, that PC won't be able to talk to the other devices on the network and vice-versa. It didn't take hackers and crackers long to realize that if they sit and listen in on the network traffic for long enough, eventually they'd get enough encrypted data that they could feed to special software, that the encryption keys in use could be broken. Once they have the key, they can simply enter it into their software, and they're on your network. (Keep in mind it does take a lot of data, but if there's heavy traffic on your network that they can listen to, a 64-bit WEP key can be broken in about twenty minutes on a fast laptop. 128-bit WEP is equally vulnerable, but takes significantly longer to crack due to the increased strength of the encryption key.)

Now, WEP is just like the lock on your front door. It will keep most people out since they won't want to take the time to pick your lock (or don't know how to), but if someone really wants to, they'll get in. If an intruder responded to your classifieds ad, they're now sitting outside your house, trying to pick your lock. Eventually, they'll get in.

Always use 128-bit WEP if your device supports it. It won't guarantee that nobody can get in, but it'll make their break-in attempts a hell of a lot harder!
Well, there you go. My two-minute intro to basic wireless LAN security. :D From a security perspective, I wish every piece of wireless LAN gear that people buy came with the security features enabled by default, but that'll never happen for support reasons. Advertising the SSID, having no WEP keys defined, and having the SSID of all the equipment set to a default setting assures you that your customers will have minimum difficulty when setting up your products. They may be opening themselves up to malicious users, but your support calls will be minimal.

Hope that helped!

--Dave

[islandsnow]

thanks "yet another" dave! :D

that really helped clear things up...

[ithoughtpocketpc]

Can someone tell me if you can access a share folder on your network and also be able to save and retrieve data files from the shared folder?

Thanks

[Viper118]

I had all sorts of problems with my WAP11. But I upgraded the firmware, and since then it has worked perfectly.

[lonewolf69]

I 2nd, Ithoughtpocketpc's inquiry about access a share on the network... Afterall that is ONE of the paramount reasons of having a WIFI on your POCKETPC aside from surfing the net from your backyard BBQ or "Ivory Throne room" (please excuse the boorish humor) BUT I had to throw that last one in there!!! :D

Seriously though, I have a FULL WIFI & Hardwired network setup in the house and I'm thoroughly enjoying the WIFI aspects of the E740 for websurfing, BUT I still haven't yet figured out how to:

a.) Active Sync wirelessly
b.) Transfef files wirelessly from E740 to Server or Workstation1/Workstation2... (WIN2K server)

Thanks in advance!!!



-Alex

Decius, EXCELLENT explanation of the WIFI security measures!!! :D [/quote]

[the_rapture]

I enjoy logging in to my Desktop with Terminal Server app and using my destop programs from my Toshiba. With the final explorer that comes with PPC2k2 you can access network shares just like you do on a desktop to desktop. I use Resco's File Explorer to do this. The Active Sync, have you set it up to allow Network connections? What all have you tired? Static IPs, Adding IP to WINS?