Stupid Wireless Card!

Discussion in 'Wireless' started by Mr.Cheeks, Mar 3, 2007.

  1. Mr.Cheeks

    Mr.Cheeks 1st ever Gold Member! Gold Member

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    Ladies and Gentlemen of the Forum,

    Let me tell you a story...

    It starts with a Tosh Sat Pro lappie, who was happy with LAN connection, then all of a sudden, bumped into a D-Link Air 660W 802.11b CF wireless card... they found the drivers that they both were looking for and made sweet connection, of course with the permission of Miss. AP, who's an 11mb linksys 802.11B.

    Now the "marriage" is now too good, they are have connectivity problems... Miss. AP has been turned off and on, yet no avail...

    The marriage guidance could not connect to the network. The marriage guidance will keep trying to connect. They have tried to repair the connection, but that was no good.

    Does anyone have any suggestions how these could keep their connection nice and strong?
     
  2. r.h.lee

    r.h.lee Gigabyte Poster

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    Mr Cheeks,

    What is connected to the Linksys WAP's Ethernet port?
     
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  3. Mr.Cheeks

    Mr.Cheeks 1st ever Gold Member! Gold Member

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    ethernet cat5 to my switch and one of my other pc's. laptop running xp.
     
  4. Sparky
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    Sparky Zettabyte Poster Moderator

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    What is the exact problem? So you get a connection but no I.P address or does the connection drop now and again?

    Also are you using any encryption on the wireless connection?
     
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  5. r.h.lee

    r.h.lee Gigabyte Poster

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    Mr. Cheeks,

    So let me see if I understand the network.

    [Laptop][D-Link Air 660W Wireless NIC]. ) ) ) ) [Linksys WAP][Ethernet]---------[switch]---------[PC]

    Is that correct so far?
     
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  6. Mr.Cheeks

    Mr.Cheeks 1st ever Gold Member! Gold Member

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    the connecton totaly bombs out, and cant connect back. the wireless card light just flashes...

    Yes...
     
  7. Sparky
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    Ok, remove any encryption on the connection (if there is any) and make sure DHCP is enabled on the WAP.

    Scan for networks on the laptop, connect, any joy?
     
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  8. r.h.lee

    r.h.lee Gigabyte Poster

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    Mr.Cheeks,

    Questions:
    1. So are you saying that the connection used to work but not anymore?
    2. Is it complete or intemittent connection problems?
    3. Which operating system is running on the laptop?
    4. Which operating system is running on the PC?
     
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  9. r.h.lee

    r.h.lee Gigabyte Poster

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    Sparky,

    Removal of encryption may help by increasing the performance issue but it also creates a security issue.

    Also, not all WAPs have DHCP functionality integrated. For example, my Linksys WAP11 is connected to my Linksys BEFSR41 EtherFast Cable/DSL Router. It's the Router that has the DHCP functionality that is extended to the WAP's clients.
     
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  10. Boycie
    Honorary Member

    Boycie Senior Beer Tester

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    Cheeks,

    A lot (although not all) of wireless problems are due to interference.
    Do you know if there are any wireless networks nearby? Although XP will display networks, Netstumbler provides more info such as signal strength, encryption type and channel.

    I take it you are broadcasting your SSID?

    Si
     
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  11. Sparky
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    Sparky Zettabyte Poster Moderator

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    Yes, but he needs to establish the connection before locking it down. 8)
     
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  12. Bluerinse
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    Bluerinse Exabyte Poster

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    I agree and we need to know what encryption (if any) is being used and how it is configured. And we need to know all your passwords and bank details too :p
     
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  13. Mr.Cheeks

    Mr.Cheeks 1st ever Gold Member! Gold Member

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    ok, too much info!
    starting from bootom up.

    • bank details
    • Here are my passwords
    • Encyption used - WEP
    • Near wireless networks? Yes - next door neighbour...
    • Am I broadcasting my SSID - Yes
    • It seems that i cannot connect for long periods of time (before i could) stopped last night, now is working.... (lazy piece of 5hi7!)
    • OS = XP SP2
    • DHCP Obtain Automatically on Router [x] checked and confirmed - picked up and is working, however, good chance it will drop out and wont be able to connect...
     
  14. Boycie
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    Boycie Senior Beer Tester

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    Cheeks,

    Are you and your neighbour's wireless networks on the
    same channel?
    How does XP compare you and your neighbours networks in signal strength?

    Si
     
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  15. Bluerinse
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    Bluerinse Exabyte Poster

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    Well, ok we have more to go on now.

    How is the signal strength?

    if i were you, firstly i would try using XP's built in wireless connection utility as opposed to the utility that came with the wireless adapter - or vica versa.

    Also, you should try using WPA, preferably WPA2 encryption as they are both more secure than WEP and it might help with the intermittent connection issue.

    And you could try moving the AP to a different location, you don,t need to move it far, just a couple of feet might make a difference. Bear in mind that usually, the higher the better.
     
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  16. Mr.Cheeks

    Mr.Cheeks 1st ever Gold Member! Gold Member

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    Regarding Security - Which option?
    wpa pre shared key
    wpa radius
    radius

    I have never heard of none of them!
     
  17. Mr.Cheeks

    Mr.Cheeks 1st ever Gold Member! Gold Member

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    We are on diff channells - me 11 he 6
    the ulit used its windows bulltin service
    signal strenght compared to his is great! netstumbler is green
    Thanks
     
  18. Bluerinse
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    Bluerinse Exabyte Poster

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    You want WPA PSK (pre shared hey) basically a password or unique phrase 13 characters like buggeroffkidd

    RADIUS is a much more complicated method of authentication remote users from muliple remote access servers using a centralised server, know as a RADIUS (Remote Acces Dial in User Service) server.
     
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  19. Mr.Cheeks

    Mr.Cheeks 1st ever Gold Member! Gold Member

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    according to windows, my card doesn't support WPA... so it seems i may have to live with losing connection? :dry
     
  20. Bluerinse
    Honorary Member

    Bluerinse Exabyte Poster

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    Have you tried using the cards software rather than Windows to configure this connection?

    Go to control panel > Network Connections > right click on the wireless adapter icon and select *properties* then click the *wireless network tab* and un-tick *use Windows to configure my wireless network settings*

    then open the utility software that installed from the driver disk and configure it from there.
     
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