# Solved: Company Laptop Connects to Secure WiFi at office but not WiFi at home



## BigUps (Aug 1, 2009)

I've read through hundreds of posts trying to figure out my issue. Unfortunately, I've been unsuccessful. 

Here's the issue, I was given a new laptop for work and it connects fine to our secure wireless network at the office, but when I brought it home it will not connect to my wireless network at home. 

When I try to connect to my network at home the wireless manager sits and spins saying "trying to acquire network address". I have 2 iPhones, 1 eMachine and 1 Macbook connected to my network working fine and dandy. However, the HP laptop from work simply won't connect unless wired. 

I have tried the following:
1. Uninstalled and reinstalled the driver.
2. Power Cycled my Router
3. Power Cycled my entire network
4. WinsockXPFix tool

I'm completely at a loss here. No idea what to do to fix this. I'm running Windows XP and have a 2Wire router.

I appreciate any advice anyone can give me to help solve this annoyance.


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## BigUps (Aug 1, 2009)

I should note that I'm going to run out and do a quick errand and I'll be back to check for responses then. Thanks.


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## vicks (Jan 31, 2005)

Did you set up a connection for the router at home?
vicks


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## BigUps (Aug 1, 2009)

_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## BigUps (Aug 1, 2009)

_Posted via Mobile Device_

yes, the router is set up. I have it running all of our devices and I've typed the password in correctly to my laptop when trying to reconnnect.


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

And you are not using MAC Address filtering to keep the laptop out?


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## BigUps (Aug 1, 2009)

TerryNet said:


> And you are not using MAC Address filtering to keep the laptop out?


Hmm, I don't thinks so, but I'm not entirely sure. There is nothing on my router that mentions MAC Address filtering. I am able to connect to the internet when plugged into the router, just not over wifi.

Does that make sense?


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

Yes, it makes sense, and it is consistent with MAC Address filtering. Not always called that. Another term is access control. What's the brand and model of your router?

What encryption is used at the office and what are you using? If WEP do you use a HEX key or an ascii passcode?

What OS? Vista doesn't seem to like WEP too well, especially with older routers. Sometimes it helps to make sure you have the latest firmware. Then reset the router to factory default settings and reconfigure it.


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## BigUps (Aug 1, 2009)

TerryNet said:


> Yes, it makes sense, and it is consistent with MAC Address filtering. Not always called that. Another term is access control. What's the brand and model of your router?
> 
> What encryption is used at the office and what are you using? If WEP do you use a HEX key or an ascii passcode?
> 
> What OS? Vista doesn't seem to like WEP too well, especially with older routers. Sometimes it helps to make sure you have the latest firmware. Then reset the router to factory default settings and reconfigure it.


I have ATT UVerse and the router they gave me is a 2Wire 38000hgv-b and the firmware is up to date.

Currently the router has WPA-PSK authentication on with TKP encryption.

Works secure network is WPA2 with an AES encryption.

I am using Windows XP.

The odd thing is that my previous laptop from work was also an HP and I had zero issues with any wifi connections at work or at home.

Thanks for they help everyone. I appreciate it.


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

That all sounds good. I failed to find a user manual for your router.

Try disabling encryption on the router and see if can connect that way. If successful you may be able to re-enable encryption and reconnect.


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## BigUps (Aug 1, 2009)

TerryNet said:


> That all sounds good. I failed to find a user manual for your router.
> 
> Try disabling encryption on the router and see if can connect that way. If successful you may be able to re-enable encryption and reconnect.


We may be getting somewhere here. If I take off the WEP-PSK and just open the network I'm able to connect fine, but the second I put the WEP-PSK I can no longer connect.

I don't want to leave my network wide open, but that may be my only option. I have WPA2-PSK and WEP Shared as options as well.


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## BigUps (Aug 1, 2009)

Okay, just tried every encryption option on my machine and the only one that works is WEP-Open. I did some research and XP had issues connecting to WPA2 and -PSK, but supposedly if you have SP3 installed you should be fine.

I have XP SP3 installed.

This is really driving me nuts.


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

Well, I have XP-SP3, and my laptop has connected using WPA, and now I have upgraded to WPA2-AES, and it connects just fine. I use a D-Link 802.11n PCMCIA wireless adapter on that machine. I also have a Toshiba laptop with it's internal wireless connecting with both methods too.

I'm at a loss as to why you can't connect with WPA or WPA2, it's certainly not XP that's the issue.


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

With WPA or WPA2 make sure that you don't specify TKIP on the router and AES on the adapter, or vice-versa. Otherwise, I'm more lost than John.


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## BigUps (Aug 1, 2009)

Well, I'm not sure what happened, but I got it working. I did absolutely nothing different, but this time when I changed my password it took it. Very odd. I appreciate all of your help on this very much.

Thank you!!


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

I think I don't wanna ask what the old password was. 

You're welcome.  You can mark this Solved using the button at the upper left of the page.


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

The mystery deepens.


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## BigUps (Aug 1, 2009)

You'll never know. 

In all seriousness, thanks again. What a great community!


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