My apologies if this is the wrong forum section. I wasn’t sure if this should be posted under ‘other security issues’, ‘other software’ or ‘hardware’. I sure hope someone here can help me I have a Sony Vaio laptop that is about seven years old. It’s running Windows XP SP3. I was connecting to my wireless network with WPA2 encryption – ‘was’ being the key word. The laptop came preinstalled with XP SP1 and a partitioned hard disk. Download Beto Cycling Necessity Manual.

With all those years of Windows updates and service packs, the C: drive was nearing full. Add to that the many programs that have been installed/uninstalled (primarily various security suites and programs for work) during this time, I decided to use the recovery disks and start with a fresh system while also increasing the size of the C: partition. After the recovery was complete, I upgraded drivers for my components since most of the drivers were released pre-SP2. I then connected to Windows Update and installed all of those updates. With my system fully patched, I installed my security programs and set up my wireless connection.

Therein lies my problem – I can no longer connect to my wireless network via WPA2. My only options are Open, Shared, WPA and WPA-PSK. I’ve been reading every article I can online and it seems others share this issue, but there are no solid answers to fixing it. I tried removing SP3 and installing Microsoft updates KB893357 and KB917021.

While I don’t recall the exact wording, a message popped up that said they were already installed. My wireless card has the most recent drivers available from Sony’s website. I even ran Windows Hotfix KB953979 per a Microsoft Technet post. Another post said to remove the wireless card from the device manager and let Windows redetect and reinstall – that didn’t work for me, either. I was connecting with WPA2 prior to the reformat. My card does support it.

I had to reformat and reinstall my laptop today. After researching, I discovered that WPA2 was implemented with Windows XP SP3, so I didn't worry about applying the WPA2 patch to my XP SP2 installation. I installed the OS, then installed SP3 before installing the wireless driver for my laptop. Feb 09, 2009 Where do I find WPA2-PSK AES on WinXP SP3? I thought Windows XP Professional SP3 came with WPA2-PSK but I can't find it.

I even had to go into my router’s settings to change it to allow a WPA connection for my laptop to connect to the internet. Is there anything I can do to get WPA2 encryption back?

For what it’s worth, I reinstalled SP3 so that’s my current operating system. A huge thank you in advance for any advice!

Thanks for the quick responses. The laptop has a LAN-Express AS IEEE 802.11 a/g miniPCI adapter.

How to get WPA2 working on Windows XP Published on Oct 27, 2007. (WPS IE) update for Windows XP with Service Pack 2 is available. This will run a small hotfix.

The latest driver is version 3.1.1.54 dated. Yes, I’m aware this is ancient, but it’s the most recent driver on the Sony website. I’m certain this was the version I was using before the reformat, because I only download updates for this PC from Microsoft and Sony’s websites. There’s no upgraded hardware that would send me to a specific manufacturer’s website. This might be a dumb question, but where else would I find a newer driver for this card? I can’t find a website for LAN-Express. Are they still in business?

Once again, thanks. @jdd58: Thank you! I have the Atheros chipset and this sounds exactly like my problem.

Now I know what drivers to look for and where to get started. Once again, a big thank you.

@siljaline: If more recent drivers don't work, I will likely purchase a newer card. Call me stubborn, but it just bugs me that I had WPA2 for a couple of years prior to my reformat (it was there when I set up my wireless router without any additional configuration), yet now it's nowhere to be found in my settings. I have copies of all my drivers (original and updated) saved to a USB drive -- It's been a few years, so if I installed a newer one along the way, I can't recall where I got it. To everyone, thanks for all of the quick replies and asssitance. Sorry for the delay in posting back.

I'm curious -- Why is it not a good idea to update drivers through Windows Update? In my case, Atheros Communications doesn't offer updated drivers directly to consumers; they're only provided to manufacturers. Windows 7 Starter 32 Bits Portugues Iso.

Also, if I did previously get a driver from Windows Update, why wouldn't it show up again after my reformat? This is a learning experience for me, so I'd really appreciate your input. On that note, I have decided to simply purchase a newer wireless card for my laptop. After searching the web for updated drivers, the only sites that I can download them from (CNet, DriverGuide, etc.) include installers and such.