Solved Vista compatability with WPA-2 [HELP!]

My mum has a Dell Inspiron 1525 with Intel 3945 A/B/B network adapter.


More towards the end of the day when she turns it on, the computer is stuck at identifying network. This is normally fixed by turning off the router and back on again. This causes problems for the 4 others who use the network.

I have tried a number of fixes e.g: windows update, swapping the network adapter with others, making sure the settings are correct...

During the day the computer is fine. So you know: this doesnt happen EVERY day there is not even a patern, it just happens.

My solution was changing the encryption to WEP and what do you know???

IT WORKS... BUT I dont want to use wep because it is easy to crack and cancels out the Wireless N features...

Also My Vista pc works fine BUT when at my friends house it is stuck with a yellow exclamation point by the network taskbar icon... It stays like this and i cant connect even though his room is 1 room away......


WINDOWS 7 and Mac works fine in both occasions...


Please help...

Your mum's problem is possibly hardware or driver problems - go to the manufacturer's website and get the latest drivers for the Wireless unit.

The problem with yours is less simple
You need to try using the Network Troubleshooter and see what it reports - it's possibly an interconnect problem, but I think you'd possibly have more progress by removing the connection in Manage Wireless Connections, rebooting and trying again. The Yellow flag indicates that the system is probably using the default IP of 169.154......., rather than the proper on issued by the DHCP server in the router, so make sure that your Network Connection is pulling the DHCP, rather than being on a fixed IP.

Thanks for the reply!

I went to Dells download page and got the drivers for here Inspiron model... Still happens I also have every update (recommended / optional) installed...

I will try my option when I am next at my friends house.


I also found something... Vista has issues with WPA-2. I did a bit of googling... apparently there are no solutions except WEP but we don't want to lose N features..


I guess our only option is to Upgrade to windows 7 or downgrade to Windows xp.

You may have to reset router, i have WPA/2 security on my router and i have Vista SP2 and i have never had any issues at all, If resetting router does not work, try a DNS flush in case you have a corrupt one. Then restart computer and re try to connect as the other user has suggested, See this : http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/74209-dns-resolver-cache.html

Thanks I tried the DNS flush, just need to see if it works! DO you mean like a hard reset as in: all settings to default? We normally do have to turn off and wait 10 secs then turn on on the days it wont work.

As for my friends router not letting me connect with vista (yellow exclamation) are their any other options to try as well?

nostaw5 said:

Thanks I tried the DNS flush, just need to see if it works! DO you mean like a hard reset as in: all settings to default? We normally do have to turn off and wait 10 secs then turn on on the days it wont work.

As for my friends router not letting me connect with vista (yellow exclamation) are their any other options to try as well?

Click to expand...

For the reset, yeah, a hard reset using the reset button. As far as friends router, you should just need to have password to access the internet. I have WPA/2 and i have a password that i let my neighbor use to access my internet service with and he has no issues, neither does his niece, they both connect just fine.
When you reset your router, you will need to be wired to it, and then reset your password and security settings, it should work just fine.
Having SP2 should not have made a difference at all, quite odd that you are having these issues, so, my thinking is to reset it all and have it make new connections.

Thanks yard dog,

with my friends, I put the password in, It says successfully connected to internet, then in taskbar, stays on the yellow exclamation no matter how long i wait. something to do with ip.

nostaw5 said:

Thanks yard dog,

with my friends, I put the password in, It says successfully connected to internet, then in taskbar, stays on the yellow exclamation no matter how long i wait. something to do with ip.

Click to expand...

This is wireless ? Try using cable and see if you get internet then , tis strange it says you have successfully connected , but, then does not connect. Ya got me scratching my head here.

Yehp... the only thing else i could do is ask them to lower it to WPA or WEP... but they probably wont.

Ill just mark this as solved for now. you all get rep.

They could take your Mac Addy and put it on the allowed list . There is a setting in the router for that.

ok thanks

Your most welcome, but, someone else may have a better idea as to why this does not work out perfectly, it may be a service not running that should. You would need to double check them and see if any that are related to network and such are set to auto or auto delay, very least manual . Sometimes this gets overlooked.