Anyone able to help with WiFi problem?

[#1]

Hi, upgraded to fibre the other day and everything is fine. I hit a brick wall when trying to set the wifi up for both my brother and sister who are on Vista.
Now I tried all sorts but realised it's something to do with the encryption that is causing all the problems.
What is confusing me is that the laptop / PC are newer than the PC in the living room yet that can use the wireless fine when it's on WPA2, whereas both the laptop / PC on vista get a DNS lookup error message whilst encryption is enabled.
The same PC / Laptop ran fine on wireless when we were on ADSL and this problem has only arisen since the upgrade. (Was using the PlusNet Thompson router on ADSL, technicolor now we're on fibre).
The only workaround I can find it to disable encryption completely on the router and on the network and sharing centre, which, for obvious reasons isn't the best idea.
I was thinking it might be the network adapters on the PC / laptop but as I said the downstairs PC on XP is older with an older adapter, so that's one of the reasons I'm thinking the problem lies somewhere else.
Any ideas or suggestions would be great, sorry for mithering and thanks for your time.

[#2]

Best to start again from first principles. 
Ensure that the router is set to:
Set the SSID to your preferred name
Tick all the boxes in the configure list
Allow new devices automatically
Security mode is WPA2-PSK
Enter your WPA-PSK key (I suggest the one you used before)
Hit apply
You devices should find the network and connect.  If they don't, then delete the connection in the windows connection manager (or whatever connection manager you are using) and let the computer scan for networks, select and connect to the right one, enter the key, you may have to select the security mode to be the same as the router (I forget), and then set to connect automatically.

[#3]

Another thought.  If you really do have problems with the wireless adaptors, as a workaround you could dispense with the security and limit access either to defined MAC addresses or to registered devices.  I've never tried it myself, but I have encountered it in hotel networks.

[#4]

The devices are finding the network and appearing connected to the wireless via the router interface although there doesn't seem to be any throughput, as in the router is receiving packets but not sending them to the devices in question.
When security is disabled it's working fine so it's really confusing me.
In other words everything is set up correctly but the PC / Laptop aren't receiving packets from the router - The sent / received page is like 200 sent 0 received for example.
One of my first thoughts was the network cards are too old but the PC downstairs is ancient and that's connecting fine. It's not a range issue either because I tried with the laptop sat near the router and still the same problem.
Thanks for the suggestion all the same.

[#5]

Quote from: frank39

Another thought.  If you really do have problems with the wireless adaptors, as a workaround you could dispense with the security and limit access either to defined MAC addresses or to registered devices.  I've never tried it myself, but I have encountered it in hotel networks.

Never thought of that, very smart. Will give it a try

[#6]

Now another problem has appeared using the method frank39 suggested..

When I enter registering mode on the router I try to connect via the Vista PC. It connects but the Connecting to PlusnetWIreless message stays on the screen (Can surf the net but message is still there).
When the registration is finished it just disconnects again even though it's showing as a registered device.
Any ideas?

Ok so everything is sorted, only registered devices can connect. Only problem now is when I try to connect to a network on the PC it connects and can surf the internet but it says this:

Connecting to PlusnetWireless006F79

"Connecting to the network is taking longer than usual"
Then after staying on that screen for a few minutes it gets an error message and disconnects me from the internet.
The error message is "this computer was disconnected from NetworkName because of a user action"

[#7]

Ok so finally got it sorted although the security is disabled on the router which is not ideal.
Do note, if you're having wireless problems it's probably best to do this:
Start-run-cmd- type in netsh int ip reset reset.log  and then type in netsh winsock reset catalog then restart PC (This allowed the PC to stay connected when it was getting booted even though it could access the internet.
Other steps involved disabling the security on the router and setting the security to disabled in the network and sharing centre..

Hope this helps people who run into this problem and will still appreciate any suggestions on how to get encryption enabled again..

[#8]

Quote from: tjd

Quote from: frank39 Another thought.  If you really do have problems with the wireless adaptors, as a workaround you could dispense with the security and limit access either to defined MAC addresses or to registered devices.  I've never tried it myself, but I have encountered it in hotel networks. Never thought of that, very smart. Will give it a try

It's a last resort.
It's trivial for a cracker to observe your MAC addresses (which are unique to each ethernet device ever made);
It's also trivial for him to generate traffic with one of your favoured addresses when your PC is switched off.
This is called spoofing.
He can also observe you type passwords into http web pages (but not https ones).

[#9]

Exactly why I need an answer
*I see there is a patch for XP to resolve a problem with not being able to use wpa2 - see http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=3914
I can't seem to find one for Vista though.
Wouldn't mind a reply from PlusNet to see ifthey have any ideas.

[#10]

Ther's an answer - but it involves using a bit of wire (ethernet cable).
More expensively, but with much less wiring, have you considered the home-plug option?

[#11]

Quote from: tjd

*I see there is a patch for XP to resolve a problem with not being able to use wpa2 - see http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=3914

That patch is very old and only needed because XP was made before WPA existed.

[#12]

There must be a possibility that your new router is duff (or whatever people call it these days).  I have XP,  vista, win7, symbian and mac devices connected and I have replaced my router on many occasions without the problem you describe ( I am sure that my experience is not unique). I have had to deal with packet sizes in XP, but nothing like you experience.

[#13]

But tjd has a whole Vista of problems...
[I expect I'll get banned for being unpleasant about Vista] ....

[#14]

Quote

[I expect I'll get banned for being unpleasant about Vista]

Why. Its the truth. Vista was the most evil piece of carp ever released by MS. ME was bad but Vista very quickly stole the crown.
Ooops OT post

[#15]

Quote from: Mark

Quote [I expect I'll get banned for being unpleasant about Vista] Why. Its the truth.

I agree, it's a complete waste of space, that being said no-one would listen to me and they allowed PC world to con them out of money for a crappy PC with a load of un-needed software.
Such is life
I'll try convince them to get 7 or to get XP on one and report back if it's successful.
Thanks for your help people.