Why does my wireless network key change on its own?

Ive always had connection problems for the longest time even before this issue but now i just need to know how to fix my current problem. I turn my computer on and I'm not connected(I haven't been for the days) so I open my wireless card's interface screen to try to connect( i have xp the wireless card is called realtek rtl8185 ) after selecting the network I want to connect to the small computer at the bottom of the screen shows the connecting icon for minutes before either show the red, disconncted x, or the lmtd or no connectivity sign. When I put the realtek card into wndws zero config mode(the setting used to view network setting normally on an xp OS) I try to conect Again and it asks for the network key(it didn't ask before because this information was put in prior to this issue back when my connection worked) thats when I noticed that the key was incorrect (wrong # of characters) so i put in the right one and click connect. The connecting screen appears for awhile then one of two things happens: nothing it just goes until it diconnects in the background or it actually says cannot connect. When trying again I noticed that the key was incorrect again. This has happened many times but in the past it usually works after awhile but now I just wanna know what's wrong.



Things I tried: right click the little computer and press repair, reentering the code countless times, moving closer to modem, etc.



Please help. EJWhy does my wireless network key change on its own?
Remove the wireless software, reinstall again.

Your problem could also be caused by firewall/security issues, only last week I worked on a laptop where the problem were just like yours, turned out to be leftover zonealarm modules, even after removing them manually, still had to reinstall the software and reapplied SP3 to get it working again



You can also try flashing the firmware on your router, as well as changing the channel numberWhy does my wireless network key change on its own?
It's always going to show the wrong number of characters. It shows them as asterisks, and the wrong number of them, as a security feature. You don't want anyone looking over your shoulder guessing at what it could be, so it does this as an extra measure. It would be the same thing if you had a dialup internet connection. It would show your password with the incorrect number of characters, and would show them as all asterisks.