Member Avatar for taniberry

Hello everyone! I am new to this site and hopefully able to get some help!

I have a Toshiba Satellite M35-S359 laptop running Windows XP. I am unable to connect to a wireless network! It detects my WPA encrypted network just fine, but when i type in my password it does not connect. It asks for another longer, alphanumeric password. I have other computers that connect to this same network just fine requesting only my WPA password. I have an UBUNTU disk that I run on the same laptop and I am able to connect to the same wireless network with no problem.
(I will try to answer any follow up questions to the best of my ability as I am quite a newbie when it comes to this)
I would really appreciate any feedback.
Thank You.

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by Xlphos

Dani AI

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Because the same Toshiba connects under Ubuntu, the router and passphrase are almost certainly correct. The problem is Windows XP–specific: either the XP wireless stack or the adapter/utility is mis-negotiating the network (WPA vs WPA2, TKIP vs AES), or Windows is treating the link as 802.1X/Enterprise and asking for credentials instead of the WPA‑PSK passphrase. The angles raised by and (input/format and key representation) are useful—the next steps are Windows-side checks and driver/utility fixes.

Clear and recreate the Windows profile for the SSID. In XP go to Control Panel → Network Connections → right‑click the Wireless Network Connection → Properties → Wireless Networks tab. Remove any saved copy of the SSID and Add it again manually, choosing the correct Network Authentication (WPA‑PSK or WPA2‑PSK) and matching Data Encryption (TKIP or AES). Important: look for any IEEE 802.1X/Authentication option and make sure it is disabled for a home WPA‑PSK network (if 802.1X is enabled, Windows will prompt for username/password instead of the passphrase).

Update/switch drivers and utilities. Identify the wireless adapter in Device Manager (Network adapters), uninstall any vendor/Toshiba wireless client or old driver, then install the latest driver from Toshiba or the adapter vendor. Either enable Windows’ configuration (the “Use Windows to configure my wireless network settings” option) or, if using the vendor utility, clear profiles there—mixing both clients commonly breaks authentication. Also ensure XP has the latest service pack/updates so WPA2 support is available.

Quick tests and cautions: briefly disable wireless encryption on the router to confirm Windows can associate, verify the WPA passphrase length is within 8–63 characters, and check Caps Lock/Num Lock when typing the key. If problems persist, the most likely culprits are an outdated driver that lacks WPA2/AES support or a third‑party wireless client forcing enterprise mode.

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Member Avatar for AdarshN

Does your password contain any special characters? If so, then please check your language settings.

For example, when you enable UK English in Windows, it recognises # as £.

Try this : Go to Regional and Language settings from the control panel and change all your language inputs to English (US).

It worked for me, thought I'd have you try it too.

Member Avatar for taniberry

It has no special characters AdarshN, but I will check the language inputs.
Thanks

Member Avatar for taniberry

Checked language inputs...they were already set for English.
I don't understand why i can connect to the wireless networks under Ubuntu OS but not Windows XP on the same computer?!

SO frustrating...

Member Avatar for Xlphos

Have you tried the Hexidecimal password? you should be able to get this from your router.

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