Setting up your wireless router

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5Click Apply Changes to save the setting.

Caution: If you are configuring the Wireless G Router or access point from a computer with a wireless client, you will need to make sure that security is turned ON for this wireless client. If this is not done, your client will lose its wireless connection.

To set up 128-Bit WEP encryption:

Note to Mac users: The passphrase option will not operate with Apple AirPort. To configure encryption for your Mac computer, set the encryption using the manual method described in the next section.

1Click Security under the Wireless heading on the left menu. The Wireless > Security page opens.

2 Select 128-bit WEP from the Security Mode list.

3Enter your key by typing in the hex key manually, or you can put a check mark in Passphrase, then type in your passphrase.

4Click Generate to generate four different hex keys.

A hex (hexadecimal) key is a combination of numbers and letters from A-F and 0-9. For 128-bit WEP, you need to enter 26 hex keys.

For example: C3 03 0F AF 0F 4B B2 C3 D4 4B C3 D4 E7 = 128-bit WEP key

5Click Apply Changes to save the setting.

Caution: If you are configuring the Wireless G Router or access point from a computer with a wireless client, you will need to make sure that security is turned ON for this wireless client. If this is not done, your client will lose its wireless connection.

Changing the Wireless Security Settings

Your router is equipped with WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access), the latest wireless security standard. It also supports the legacy security standard, WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy). By default, wireless security is disabled. To enable security, you must first determine which standard you want to use. To access the security settings, click Security under the Wireless heading on the left menu.

WPA Setup

Note: To use WPA security, all your clients must be upgraded to drivers and software that support it. At the time of this User Manual's publication, a security patch download is available, for free, from Microsoft®. This patch works only with the Windows XP operating system. You also need to download the latest driver for your Dynex Wireless G Desktop or Notebook Network Card from the Dynex support site. Other operating systems are not supported at this time. Microsoft's patch only supports devices with WPA-enabled drivers such as Dynex 802.11g products.

WPA uses a so-called pre-shared key as the security key. A pre-shared key is a password that is between eight and 63 characters long. It can be a combination of letters, numbers, and other characters. Each client uses the same key to access the network. Typically, this mode will be used in a home environment.

WPA2 is the second generation of WPA, offering a more advanced encryption technique over WPA.