fwiw WPA is the security most would use. One passphrase of 20 charatures is recommended by most to make it virtually unhackable. That security is to keep others out of your router or off your internet connection. Many people screw up writing down passphrases on paper and/or retyping it in. Can't connect complaints usually blaming it on other things are frequently solved by whoops, my passphrase was entered wrong. Copy & Paste passphase is virtually foolproof. But requires a bit of though. Dont push the OK button until you've pasted it onto notepad or something. WEP is ok, but there are programs Johnny Jr next door might use to gain access in a few minutes. One of those four WEP keys is designated the primary key with a bullet or check box... that checked key you would copy/paste into your computer for the passphrase or key. You're not going to be automatically given a key in your home. Maybe at work when login & security is handled off a server. When you do credit cards and other secrets online usually its on a secure web page and those web pages are encryped so mr bad guy & neighbor are not able to see anything except googlygoop.

zep516 - Now that you mention it I have at times (but not at the same time my laptop stopped working on the porch) had modem failures and comcast told me I probably needed to have it replaced. But it works fine for about three weeks and then goes down. So i've been lazy and haven't taken it in to swap it out. Comcast isn't my fav company to deal with. pkponder - I have wracked my brain and the only other thing that I know of that has changed is my ADT system got a trouble light a few weeks ago, maybe around the same time, but ADT told me that checking their records, they haven't had a signal from my home in a year... ADT is also not my favorite company since they continued to bill me. But the security system is wired not wireless, if that makes a difference. It is connected to my Comcast phone service though. mikie - Well, I do have an older, refurbished laptop so that could be possible. There is no way to check the internal reception, is there? And windows update has messed me up on other minor settings before. I will work on the things I have control over like the modem and the ethernet cable and see what happens. You guys (and gal) are awesome.

I finally found the Set-Up Assistant CD for the Belkin router. I installed and it had the same name of what I named the router back when I had XP. Towards the end of installation, Belkin was trying to connect to the Internet and it couldn't, providing me with a knowledge base of questions and answers and a Belkin Support phone #. However, I noticed my Vista laptop in the other room was able to connect with a perfect signal. I called Belkin, got a man who I couldn't understand, I tried, through, but when he was wanting to start exploring my computer I declined. I called my ISP and they wanted to charge me $69 because it was a router they didn't support. In the past, whenever my computer wasn't acting right I've always rebooted. Well, I rebooted this time and now everything is working perfectly. I think I'm going to email Belkin and let them know that this may help alot of people, a simple reboot after installation.

Let's take a deep breath and start over. I think for whatever personal reasons you have you've blown this up into much more than it is. It's a "lost password for Gmail" access issue, not a Chromebook one. The Chromebook wants a Gmail address to reference your connection. Among the reasons why that's necessary is because Chromebook has limited onboard memory and MS Office-type docs - word processing, spreadsheets, notes, etc - use software from and are saved online in Google Docs, to an account tied to a Gmail account. You can work on such projects on any device, save it to your Google Docs account, and then access it from any other device, including the Chromebook. What sets your saved docs apart and limits access is that they key is your gmail account name and password. That tie-in gets set up as the Chromebook is set up. There are probably other reasons too. End your suffering by using a Gmail account you can access. Remember for this and all other accounts, use a system (whether on paper, using a password app, a text file, or whatever) that's always available to you and easily accessed so that you can find your passwords and update the list when you change one. There's no need to send Google a photo, nor to worry about consequences of a privacy invasion. I hope your other aborted efforts with Gmail accounts you've lost the password for haven't poisoned the well to prevent an easy setup of this Chromebook with a working account. If so, call Acer Tech Support to get it straightened out. Good luck.