Problems connecting to network with integrated internal wireless card

[LABachlr]

A buddy of mine just got a Toshiba Satellite A35-S159. It came with XP on it, but I reformatted and put Win2k on it because he prefers that OS, as do I. I got everything working fine except for the internal wireless card. It is made by Atheros and its model number is AR5001+.

I tried calling Toshiba on this, but since I changed the OS, they will not support the call. I then tried calling Netgear, the manufacturer of the router that he is using (model# MR314), but they said that I had everything configured correctly, and to call the manufacturer of the Wi-Fi card. Tried calling them eariler, but only got recordings.

Anyway, I have configured the name of the network, and also the 64-bit encryption code. And I took into account that they are both case sensitive. It says that it is getting "excellent" signal strength, but for some reason, I can not activate the network. That option is grayed out in the software utility.

It says the link status is "connected", but is giving the IP of 169.254.XX.XXX, which is pretty much a dummy IP. When using a router, it should be in the neighborhood of 192.168.XX.XXX.

Any ideas on this one?

[BipolarBill]

There's not much you can do without Win2K-specific drivers. I would suggest restoring the laptop and turning off System Restore and the desktop eye candy. Once you do that, you essentially have Win2K. They are very similar operating systems and it's not worth regressing - especially not on a laptop.

[LABachlr]

Hey Bill,

Actually, I just disabled the 64-bit encryption and she worked beautifully. It has something to do with the encryption. For some reason, the Wi-Fi card's software will not allow me to type a lowercase encryption code, only upper case. And when I type an uppercase encryption code via Netgear's software, it saves it as lowercase. Not sure what to do about that, as the encryption code is case sensitive.

[BipolarBill]

Can't argue with success...

[LABachlr]

LOL. And Toshiba tech support said that it was not compatible with Win2k.

[BipolarBill]

It isn't. They are right.

[tantone]

I'm going to second the suggestion to revert back to XP on the laptop. The built-in driver support base alone is worh going to XP.

I think a lot of people see the eye candy in XP and assume it's a jazzed up WinME, when, personally, I think it's the most stable workstation Windows OS to come out of MS to date.