I'm trying to hook my laptop up to my PC's wireless signal. It asks me to enter the key, but there is already an old (unused and wrong) key in the dialog box. I enter the correct key and it won't connect, keeps coming up with the old wrong key. How can I make my laptop recognize the new key? Thanks, Noel

Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> System -> Hardware tab -> Device Manager button. Click on "Network Adapter" and uninstall your wireless adapter. Reboot and XP should detect and reinstall the device. That should clear out all the old settings at the same time. Now when you run the Wireless Networking Wizard you should start with a clean slate.

Hi OrionCA, Twice I tried to reply to you and don't know why but the replies didn't post - here's my last try... I followed your suggestion and it worked, somewhat. The connect box didn't have a key in it, so I entered the correct key, then the program churned a little and came back to say "Connect (again)." So I tried to connect again and voila, the old (wrong) key popped up again. I can't find where this wrong key is stored in memory - the registry doesn't aseem to have it that I can find, although I did find 4 series of WEP keys without any strings in them... Where can I try next? Thanks for your help again. Noel

Click on your wireless networking icon and on the "Connections" tab select the connection you want to use and select "automatically reconnnect when in range" (I believe that's the phrasing). I think you can also delete any other connections from this menu, too.

OrionCA, Thanks, I finally am able to connect my wireless laptop to my DSL-router connected PC and get a great signal strength thanks to your help. But now I can't figure out how to get the laptop on the internet even when my PC is on the internet :-( When I open my laptop's browser, it still tells me I'm offline... Sorry to be such a dweeb, but can you help me out here, too? Thanks again, Noel

If you're trying to connect to the Internet via a PC you'll need to run the Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) Wizard on the PC. This "host PC" will need two ports: one connected to the Internet and another to connect the client(s) to the PC. Since you're using a wireless adapter on your PC to network your laptop I'll assume there's already another NIC or installed modem that the PC uses to connect to the Internet. The wizard will configure ICS which installs a "DHCP Server" on your PC. This assigns local IP Addresses to the client(s) and routes packets to and from the Internet through the host PC. You'll also need to either disable the XP Firewall or make sure it's properly configured for an ICS network on both the host PC & the laptop; that's a setting under firewall configuration. if you're using a 3rd party firewall follow the instructions for that product, basically making sure that the firewall knows that IP range 192.168.xxx.xxx is "local" or "trusted".

Hi OrionCA, I should review my config for you - I am connected to the internet via a DSL modem and a Netgear router. I have no wireless card on the PC, just depending on the router to do the transmitting. My laptop has a built in wireless adapter and I receive the signal from the PC through this adapter to the router. Does this sound correct? The network the laptop sees has a different name from the workgroup name I stuck with - MSHOME - the laptop sees my name instead (administrator) as the network name - I can't seem to do anything about that, or does it matter? Seems if I can take this laptop to a coffee shop and hook up with a "Connect", I should be able to do that at home with my own "hotspot." Why is it so difficult? I plan to read a lot more (again) about all of this tonight and I'll try to hook up with you again tomorrow if you're still willing. Thanks again, Noel