Wifi Configuration with WEP and Apple Airport

[wintermute1]

I just got my Zaurus SL-6000 and am having a hellish time configuring the wifi connections. I should say that I am using an Apple Airport access point (snow white). The access point is being used by a 17 inch powerbook and a thinkpad 600, so I know that it is functioning correctly. I use WEP with 128 bit encryption. Per my usual habit when trying to troubleshoot, I first switched off encryption in the airport, and then restarted the device. I was then able to connect to the internet using the name of the access point only in the Zaurus' network settings. I use the airport in "closed network" mode, meaning that "beaconing" is switched off. I have used the airport in this mode for sometime, in the view that it keeps random passersby from wardriving my network. Anyway, to this point I have tried a variety of settings, including using open system and shared key WEP configurations. None of my efforts appear to have made any difference.

This is obviously frustrating, and I am unwilling to switch off all of my encryption and network protections for this one device.

Any and all suggestions for making this work would be welcome. The basic problem seems to be that the Zaurus does not want to work with the WEP settings of the airport. If anyone has worked their way through this one, I would appreciate it. I am basically stumped.

Thanks in advance for assistance/advice.

David Mussington (sorry in advance for the cross posting - i put this in the wrong place originally when the board rejected my login)

[dhns]

Although I have no experience with the SL6000, I had managed to use my SL5500 with the Apple Airport (until that was broken and replaced by a different system).

The main issue was to get the WEP key into the right format. I think you have to translate the Apple key with Airport Admin (there was one tab with a printout) to hexadecimal and type that into the Zaurus settings.

BTW: there is also a "Everything Zaurus -> Mac Issues" forum.

-- hns

[wintermute1]

Thanks for the tip.  I actually have input the hex equivalent of the airport password.  It is also the same password that I use in other computers on my network.  

That is what makes this so puzzling.

David Mussington

[cvmiller]

Thanks for the tip.  I actually have input the hex equivalent of the airport password.  It is also the same password that I use in other computers on my network. 

That is what makes this so puzzling.

IT sounds like you are using a Hex string as your passphrase. Unless you put 0x in front of the password on your Macs. you are using a passphrase.

I believe the Airport SW will show you the pass phrase and the actual hex code key. On the SL-6000 you will need the Hex code WEP key in order to associate with the Airport.

I had the opposite problem, I have a non-airport AP (a SMC) and I needed to get my Macs to use the Hex code key to associate with the AP. Took me a while to figure out the '0x' trick.

I hope this helps,

Craig...

[wintermute1]

This is interesting.  I have used the "0x" trick when connecting redhat linux boxes to my airport, but it had not occurred to me that thiis might be necessary for the Zaurus.  So, just so that I am clear, you are suggesting that a prepend the hex key with '0x' (no quotes)?

Off to try that now with fingers crossed.

[wintermute1]

Well, apparently crossing fingers doesn't work.  There is a limit on the number of digits you can put into the WEP field, and the 0x characters do not fit.

I am starting to think that there is something else going on, but I am at a loss to guess what that might be.  Again, the machine works without WEP, but cannot see the internet with WEP in place.

Help!

David

 

[cvmiller]

Well, apparently crossing fingers doesn't work.  There is a limit on the number of digits you can put into the WEP field, and the 0x characters do not fit.

I am starting to think that there is something else going on, but I am at a loss to guess what that might be.  Again, the machine works without WEP, but cannot see the internet with WEP in place.

Sorry for the confusion. I was attempting to say that the '0x' trick is needed for the MacOS X WEP manager (which pops up a dialog box and asks for a password when trying to connect to a WEP enabled 802.11 network)

Have you tried changing the WEP key to something really simple like: AAABBBCCCD

Also have you tried reducing the WEP to 64 (aka 56) bit mode? Given that both key lengths can be cracked in about the same amount of time (about 5 M packets) you may find that things work in the shorter key length mode.

Given that you say it work with WEP off, I suspect that WEP is the issue rather than something else.

I hope this helps,

Craig...

[wintermute1]

Thanks again for the response.  I had not thought of inputing the password for the WEP key -- I'll try that now.

As for the difference betweeen 128 bits and 56 bits, I was not aware that the difference in "crackabiility" was so small.

That is second on the list.

I am grateful for the suggestions.

More news soon.

David

[wintermute1]

One additional thing.  In your sig. you list bios version 1.12.  Is that the latest version?  Where can it be obtained?  I was under the impression that the most recent version was 1.07.

David

[cvmiller]

One additional thing.  In your sig. you list bios version 1.12.  Is that the latest version?  Where can it be obtained?  I was under the impression that the most recent version was 1.07.

David

David,

On my SL-6000 in System Info -> Version it says 1.12. That is the version that came with my SL-6000L, I haven't seen any ROM updates from Sharp for the SL-6000.

Good luck on your WEP woes.

Craig...

[wintermute1]

Success!!!

I switched the key length from 128 bit to 64 bit and suddenly everything works.  Given your earlier observation about relative crackability with WEP (an already flawed crypto system), I am willing to put up with this.

Thanks again.

 

David

[wintermute1]

First post from Zaurus!

This is great!

David

[cvmiller]

First post from Zaurus!

This is great!

David

Congratulations!

Glad to hear you got it working.

Craig...

[wintermute1]

Just curious, but what do you think the problem is with the 128 bit key?

(No, I won't be changing back to it any time soon!)

D

[cvmiller]

Just curious, but what do you think the problem is with the 128 bit key?

(No, I won't be changing back to it any time soon!)

D

David,

Hard to tell. Some boxes assume key length based what you type in. So for example if you type in a 10 byte key, it assumes you want 64bit WEP. So it could be that one of you devices was in 64 bit all the time, and by explicitly changing the other side, it worked.

Since I have "older" machines with 64 bit only wireless cards, I don't have the option to go 128 bit on my AP. But as I said, given that someone is going to have to camp in my front yard for a week (to capture 5M packets) I am not too worried.

Glad you got it working,

Craig...