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gradient · 07:34 PM

I've done a quick search of the forums for this problem but didn't seem to find anything...

My problem is this: my iBook (12 inch 1.33 running 10.4.3) can't seem to store the WPA personal password to my wireless router. Everytime I reboot or wake from sleep I have to manually reconnect and enter my password - very irritating.

First off, I have the "Automatically add new networks...." option selected in my airport prefs which makes no difference. It will automatically add the network but not the password. When I try to edit my network in the Preffered Networks list, I get as far as trying to apply the changes (adding the password) and it asks me for my password. A weird problem here is that it won't recognize my admin password and I have never added any other passwords to my system.

Thanks in advance, any help would be much appreciated.

A weird thing is, I know that I was able to do this before but at some point it all of a sudden stopped storing my password - I can't put my finger on when that was, unfortunately.

gradient · Nov 18, 2005, 09:06 PM

anybody have an idea?

ghporter · Nov 19, 2005, 10:44 AM

Do you have your keyring set to NOT save passwords and the like? That sounds like an issue that could give you the same symptoms.

gradient · Nov 19, 2005, 04:54 PM

Sorry I feel like a bit of a dunce here but I didn't know it was possible to set the keychain to not save passwords and can't find that option anywhere. Can you point me in the right direction? Although it does seem unlikely just because I do have many other saved passwords in my keychain.

Thanks.

ghporter · Nov 19, 2005, 05:09 PM

Basically I think the Keyring is supposed to offer to save all passwords, and if you tell it no, it just skips the current one. Has Keyring NOT asked to save your AirPort password?

gradient · Nov 19, 2005, 05:24 PM

If I connect to my network by selecting "other" from the airport dropdown menu on the menu bar (my network isn't broadcasting), enter the network name, protocol and password, it does not ask to save the password.

If I go into my network preferences and edit the network attributes from the Preferred Networks list, it asks for my keychain password when I try to apply changes. This brings me to another problem that I stated earlier because it won't recognize my password at this point - very strange. And yes, my password does work from within the Keychain Access app.

Ambassadeur · Nov 22, 2005, 04:23 AM

Originally Posted by gradient

If I connect to my network by selecting "other" from the airport dropdown menu on the menu bar (my network isn't broadcasting), enter the network name, protocol and password, it does not ask to save the password.

If I go into my network preferences and edit the network attributes from the Preferred Networks list, it asks for my keychain password when I try to apply changes. This brings me to another problem that I stated earlier because it won't recognize my password at this point - very strange. And yes, my password does work from within the Keychain Access app.

Weird, same sort of problem here. My wireless network is sometimes lost when waking from sleep and reentering the name and password does remedy the situation for some time.

PLUS: My keychain app does not recognize my password on startup although I definitely know it's right?! Giving some error like "trying to open keychain 'system' on login, please enter password" which my ibook has never done before -before meaning some months ago, but I can't pinpoint any update to coincide with the start of these problems. But then again the keychain seems to work somehow or the other since I can access it.

Any Ideas?

gradient · Nov 24, 2005, 02:41 PM

Still waiting for some follow-up on this, if possible.

Thanks.

ghporter · Nov 24, 2005, 08:15 PM

I'm all out of answers here. It sounds more like the AirPort software isn't doing its thing correctly, so maybe reinstalling it might help, but that's the best I can do.

Ambassadeur · 06:54 PM

Now, something interesting:
My problems occured while I was using my laptop exclusively in my home network. Some days ago I used it a t university, where it immediately recognized the network and connected. Upon returning back home, same thing: no problem finding and connecting to my home network. his went fine for several wake/sleep cycles and only after 15-20 or so it began to forget about the network again. I'll be at university again tomorrow and see if this change in network helps to "improve the memory" of my airport software...

And I remember reading something similar somewhere. That building a dummmy network and connecting to it remedies the problem somehow once you are back to your standard network.

EDIT: Worked one time but the next time problem is back. so no solution there...

gradient · Nov 30, 2005, 02:38 PM

crap... this problem is really irritating. I'm almost considering opening my network just so that I can connect automatically.

Ambassadeur · Dec 1, 2005, 07:41 AM

Originally Posted by gradient

crap... this problem is really irritating. I'm almost considering opening my network just so that I can connect automatically.

Well, I went there half-way: I made my network at least visible, so it's easily chosen from the drop down menu and no more going through "Other..." and then entering it manually, plus copy/pasting in my WPA key all over again and again!!

rjt1000 · Dec 5, 2005, 11:34 PM

Hi,

I've also had some flaky issues with losing my connection to my airport router that sounds quite similar to yours. (losing connection on sleep or restart, not recognizing the correct WPA password etc). I am also using 10.4.3 with a 1.33 ghz G4 (Powerbook).

Try this: open the keychain access utility in the utility folder (in the applications folder). Delete the "airport network password" from your login keychain and from your system keychain. You might also want to run "keychain first aid" from the keychain access menu to verify all is well.

Now connect to the wireless network and enter your WPA password. If all goes well it should hook up and remember the password.

Hope that helps,

Rich

gradient · Dec 6, 2005, 04:14 AM

Hmm... I've tried that but with no success. When I reconnect a new 'airport network password' entry is created in my login keychain but for some reason it isn't being accessed by the airport software. When I open the airport configuration in system preferences, the password for my network in the preferred network list is still empty and cannot be updated.

rjt1000 · Dec 6, 2005, 06:22 PM

Hi,

Did you delete the "airport network password" from BOTH your login keychain and from your system keychain before relinking? If so, not sure what else to suggest. If you find a solution, let us know.

Rich

attn · Dec 7, 2005, 01:52 PM

I was having the same problems and the found that if I changed the algorithm from AES to TKIP, I was able to join my network automatically. I am connecting a 12" G4 PB 10.4 to a Linksys WRT54G, by the way.

gradient · Dec 7, 2005, 04:13 PM

Originally Posted by rjt1000

Hi,

Did you delete the "airport network password" from BOTH your login keychain and from your system keychain before relinking? If so, not sure what else to suggest. If you find a solution, let us know.

Rich

Yes I deleted both.

gradient · Dec 7, 2005, 04:20 PM

Originally Posted by attn

I was having the same problems and the found that if I changed the algorithm from AES to TKIP, I was able to join my network automatically. I am connecting a 12" G4 PB 10.4 to a Linksys WRT54G, by the way.

I'm actually using the exact same router and was already using TKIP. For the hell of it I switched to WEP encryption but it made no difference. Thanks for the suggestion.

ghporter · Dec 7, 2005, 04:27 PM

Maybe we're all looking at this from the wrong direction. Have you tried doing a LONG reset on your WRT54G to return it to factory settings, and then setting it up a simple WPA passphrase? That would allow you to get running fast and see if it will work without taking a lot of time.

gradient · Dec 9, 2005, 07:15 PM

I had tried that earlier in the troubleshooting but have now done a hard reset on my router for a second time. For simplicity, I set it to broadcast using a simple wep key. Still no dice. It's weird but every second or third time it does prompt me to save the password in my keychain (when joining the network from the menubar) but not always, and when I check to save the password it still doesn't actually save it.

gradient · Dec 9, 2005, 07:16 PM

One thing I never did was actually reinstall the airport software that ghporter mentioned earlier in the thread...how do i do that? I'm not sure what piece of software I'm actually looking for.

Thanks.

slffl · Dec 15, 2005, 01:35 PM

I am having a similar problem. When I wake from sleep or reboot, my airport will not auto join my fav/recent networks. I have to go under the airport menu and select them. It will then join fine and I do not have to re-enter in a password. This used to work seemlessly for me up until a few weeks ago.