2gnu, thanks for the quick reply.
wlan0 is up, and i even put it down then back up several times just to be safe. here is what the dhclient replies.
Listening on LPF/wlan0/00:11:95:bb:59:a8
Sending on LPF/wlan0/00:11:95:bb:59:a8
Sending on Socket/fallback
DHCPREQUEST on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67
DHCPREQUEST on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67
DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 6
DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 8
DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 15
DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 12
DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 14
DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 6
No DHCPOFFERS received.
Trying recorded lease 192.168.0.4
PING 192.168.0.1 (192.168.0.1) 56(84) bytes of data.
--- 192.168.0.1 ping statistics ---
1 packets transmitted, 1 received, 0% packet loss, time 0ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 0.585/0.585/0.585/0.000 ms
bound: renewal in 48820 seconds.
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the WEP key i entered is correct, but I do not know if the syntax is correct (when i left the network as unsecured I had no problems connecting to the internet). So as I suspected earlier, it's possible that it is something to do with the wep?
sudo iwconfig wlan0 key s
enter Ascii key here) open
then when i do an iwconfig, it lists the encrypted key in xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx form (all numerical).
maybe i'll just try it as hexadecimal too. (didnt 'work before but i'l give it atry)/