Travel Technology - Home router suddenly asking for WEP code?

Just home from a trip where I used another wireless connection that required a WEP code. While we were gone our home building lost all internet connections for a few days - I know about this only since the other owners were chatting about it on the e-mail list while we were gone. When I got home I had to reset both the cable modem and the router to get things back up and running (pretty much par for the course, BTW).

Now, when I fire up the laptop, I'm being prompted to confirm my WEP code, and get a dialog box that already contains the code, I just need to hit enter for the transaction to complete, but since the transaction isn't automatic, the laptop will find another wireless connection instead and try to link to that.

At one point last night I lost the connection to my router while the laptop was in "idle" mode - connected but closed - and the laptop picked up a different router, that I had to close and then manually open my own connection, going back through the dialog box again.

So, either:

1. The use of the "foreign" WEP code in a different connection messed up something.

2. The internet outage in the building did something.

Any ideas about how to put things back to normal, so I just get connected automatically?

In Windows, click on network properties, check box "connect automatically when this network is in range" and uncheck box "connect to a more preferred network if available". Modify appropriately for Ubuntu etc.

It could be a few things, it's probably the post above though, that's most common.

If that doesn't work, remove the other connection and make sure your home connection is the first one on the list.

I have two connections in the house, and if it hits the one without the WEP on it, the next time I connect to the one that does, it does the same thing. It's the laptop not the router.

Once again - the answer I sought. This is the best board for questions like this - other places I've posted similar questions results in techno-speak answers, this board always comes through.

I deleted the router I was getting attached to, moved mine to the number one spot on the list, and changed the settings. All is now fine. Thanks again!