WPA retry failed

Actually what it says in the logs is "WPA retey failed" which is vastly more annoying: that such a constant error message should be misspelt is adding insult to injury.

I had a D-Link G-604-T: cheap & cheerful, and never a problem with WEP security. However, it seemed there were people attempting to associate to it who had no business doing so, and I set the security to WPA PSK. This was the start of a very infuriating episode.

Most of the time, the wireless devices in the house were able to associate just fine, but sometimes, for no apparent reason, laptops would disconnect and stay that way. The logs would fill with the above-mentioned error. The standard reply to the asking of questions would be:

1. reboot computer. This has to be the most irritating advice anyone can give, but apart from that, rebooting every five minutes is a slight hindrance to actually getting anything done.

2. disconnect and reconnect wireless device. Whilst this would often cure the problem, again it is somewhat impractical as per 1,

3. use WEP --> not an option

4. use Windows' "Wireless Zero" --> not an option on Lunix or PDA

5. use wireless device manufacturer's utility --> what if there isn't one

There did not seem to be an easy fix for this problem, so I attempted to research it fully. That was easier said than done given the paucity of information

Using Wireshark in Monitor mode, I could see that the handshake was being initiated, but never completed. The fact that this problem happened at one time or another with all the wireless devices in the house meant that anything Windows-related could be ruled out. The fact that WEP worked meant that there was nothing wrong with the G604T's hardware. The fact that the distance between the DLink and the wireless device seemed to be more or less irrelevant ruled out effects of shoddy reception.

There really was only one option left: there was something wrong with the software on the DLink. This still doesn't explain why the problem should have been intermittent, but there you go.

What I did was flash the device with some new firmware which made it into a D-Link G624T. This cured two problems at once. Firstly, the dreaded "retey" went away for good, and secondly, now it is an ADSL-2+ modem! Incidentally, the wireless connection is completely solid now, using WPA.

Here are the files I used to flash the G604T, in one rar file of about 3 MB. Unfortunately the instructions are in Russian, but it's not too hard to find out what to do.

//* If the G604T is not the device you're having a problem with, or you do not wish to flash the device, which has certain risks associated with it, there are some other things you could try.

Make sure that neither the router or the wireless adapter are close to anything else emitting signals in the same range. Think microwaves, remote controls, central heating controls and so forth.

Don't have the two too close either.

Sometimes just waiting quite a while does it.

Another thing to try would be changing the aerial (on either device) for a larger one. I saw a marked improvement going to a 9 dBi aerial on the router.

Buy another wireless router. This is cheaper than throwing a laptop through the window. Not to mention the cost of Zoloft/Xanax/Lustral.

*//