Ok, so I got me a nice new laptop, and Acer 7735Z (I wanted something cheap-ish, with as large a screen as possible - for browsing, moves and maybe some freeciv. the 17" screen clinched it, vista didn't - it won't last long)
Anyway, I digress. The main problem I had was with getting Vista talking to perhaps the worst router i've ever ever had the misfortune to use; the Thomson TG585v7. Setup wifi easy enough, too few options to see what's actually happening, but nevertheless - Android/Moto Dext works, Dell D420 / XP works, old linux boxen with really old PCMCIA card works, so looking hopeful.
I'll spare the long winded explanations - suffice to say, it doesn't. Something about the passphrase being incorrect (er, no, copy & paste from wifi config screen - connected via LAN first, disconnect, try WLAN). I think the Thomson tries to be clever with WPS (button on the front seems disabled, at least on my Plusnet one) and Vista tries too - both of course failing.
There's a million and one posts about
a) Vista not liking WPA2/AES (use TKIP)
b) Thomson being pish (upgrade firmware if you can find it - mine was on 8.x.x.x, newer than most posts from years ago)
c) updating to latest Vista drivers (from Atheros)
d) avoiding Vista anyway (booted Ubuntu 9.10 from USB - very nice, waiting for Windows 7 upgrade disks before doing Ubuntu)
e) slinging it in the bin...
I couldn't be arsed with diagnosing it, and dug out an older - but slightly more trusted Siemens Gigaset SE572. I say trusted, it itself is truly nasty cheap pile of crap, but, after 5 minutes rejigging the DSL, it's up and working with WPA2, and everything works just right.
Moral of the story - don't waste your time with a Thomson 585.
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