Linksys WAP 54G Drops Intermittently

For the Linksys WAP54G make sure you have the latest firmware loaded.

The are three hardware version for the WAP54G 1.0, 1.1, and 2.0. Not sure of the difference but you will nned to check on your product label so that you down loaded the latest firmware.

Also try changing the channel number - the default is channel 6. I lived in a neighborhood where I think every house on the street had a Linksys unit all set to channell 6 so there was a LOT of interference. Recommend you move 5 channels away from default so select channel 1 or channel 11.

Also be aware of other causes of interference like 2.4GHz cordless phones, microwaves, etc.

Without a wireless protocol analyser it can be quite difficult to isolate the cause of wireless connectivity issues. Let us know how you make out.

Sounds like what I ran across.. Turned out one of the employees had a cordless phone and headset in his cubicle that interefered with the network (not continuous but once in a while). Turns out that there are a lot of cordless devices that use the same spectrum as wireless networks and can cause interference.

Just a hint, I keep a Kensington WiFi finder in my toolbox (totally useless for finding WiFi, but great for finding interfernce on the same 2.4 band), if the leds go on, you may have interference from Microwaves, Bad flourescent lights, Pencil Sharpeners

Under properties of your wireless connection, Authentication tab, uncheck "Enable IEEE 802.1X authentication...".

Also check to see if all power saving settings are turned off for the card - this includes the hardware settings on the NIC itself.

Lance

*****

James Wilson said the following on 1/3/2005 12:05 PM:

You're getting interference from something. My guess(tm) from your description is a microwave oven.

Ditto. Are you in a tall glass building with a gorgeous view of lots of other tall glass building full of 2.4GHz RF belching devices? If so, you have the worst case interference nightmare. Try moving the access point away from the window. Note that interference can come in at either end (access point or client radio) and you may need to move both.

The first step to solving a problem is to blame someone. See if there's anyone in the office that wants to accept the blame and move on to some serious troubleshooting. My favorite method is to replace both ends, one at a time, with known working devices. If the "guy that works with me" has a known working client radio, then it's a fair guess that the problem lies at the access point end. Borrow a different model and see if it acts any different. If you agree that it's interference, try: 1. A different location away from the window 2. A different channel number (in the access point settings). 3. A different access point 4. A direction antenna or reflector on the access point to keep the antenna pattern pointing inward, away from the windows.

5. A different boss (last resort).

Assumption, the mother of all screwups. Do some testing or replacement.

Ok, you anticipated me. I hate it when someone does that. Anyway, it's a fair bet that all the hardware is fine and that you have some type of local interference. You can convince yourself that it's all working by sending your boss home with the access point and have him try it in a non-RF polluted environment. However, methinks the results will be predictable and will involve a late night visit by you to set it up. That leaves access point location, boss location (away from the windows), local interference, and playing with antennas or reflectors.

You may also wanna fire up Netstumbler on the bosses laptop and see if there are any other access points in the area. If they're on the same channel you're using, try a different channel. However, Netstumbler will not detect cordless phones, microwave ovens, and such. I have a portable spectrum analyzer for the purpose and it is barely sensitive enough to see much (lack of SS proceessing gain and comatose RX section).

Just a note. I hope you have some sort of security running on the wireless end.

Methinks that eliminates the router. I recently tracked down a microwave oven interference source in a large office building. It took me 2 days of lunchtime direction finding to locate the culprit. The oven was practically in the windows of the office building and had apparently been dropped causing the door to not close properly.

Any chance you bosses new laptop does 802.11a/b/g? If it also does

802.11a (5.6Ghz), you might look into an access point that does 802.11a as there may be less interference.

The boss got a new laptop several months ago. It came with a wireless network card, broadcom or something. I knew I was doomed as soon as he told me about it.

I finally got around to putting in a Linksys 802.11g access point in our office so he can use the damn thing.

He kept complaining that his e-mail would freeze up periodically, and that he would couldn't get to the Internet.

I told him he was imagining things. Maybe it was the power. I told him I'd get a better UPS for his office.

Well, the other day I put in some encryption because we've been running naked these past few weeks. As soon as I did that, all hell broke loose. The boss could not get on the network at all.

I bought my own wireless card, a Linksys 54g. Damned if I don't drop off periodically.

I can set up a continuous ping, and I'll get maybe 100-200 replies. Then, for no reason, I'll get 2 or 3 timeouts, and then suddenly I'll get about

10,000 destination host unreachables. And then, it starts coming back to life with a couple of reply time outs. And then some good solid replies. Lather, rinse, repeat.

I had a guy that works with me plug in an 802.11b card, and he got the same thing.

Linksys tech support was less than worthless, intimating that the problem lies with every piece of my equipment besides their stupid WAP. Which may be, but they aren't very convincing.

Since it's happening to three different machines with three different cards, I figured I must have a bad WAP.

So I went to the store and bought another one.

Still does the same thing.

Does anyone have any idea what this could be? I've got the WAP plugged into a Cisco switch, and we pump everything through a PIX 515 firewall.

But the fact that it's regular and consistent worries me. It's as if the WAP reboots itself every 10 minutes or so. But it's not, because I can stay logged on to it through the management console.

Thanks

Thanks to all for the ideas. Every once in a while I will hear interference on the telephone or a radio that I have attributed to my cell phone. I considered this as a possible source of interference, but thought, Nah.

Anyway, I'll look into interference sources and let you know what I find.

Thanks again.

Actually, that is a possible source of interference. At one site, turned out someone had a older nextel cellphone, and whenever it rang, the network would get errors...

On Mon, 3 Jan 2005 16:15:33 -0600, James Wilson spoketh

Definitely look at the firmware version you are running as well. I had major problems with at least a couple of the old ones, but the current one (2.07) is rock-solid.

Lars M. Hansen

'badnews' with 'news' in e-mail address)

That will teach to read and believe any advertising...I have it right here in my hand "WiFi Finder, model 33063.. Kensington Technolgy Group

regular local interference?

i had a simular situation at a somerfields supermarket installation.

took me weeks of visits to sort it out.

turned out to be the tills being pooled via wireless by the LL modem link back to HQ.

with a little bit of help from the local till eng, we moved him to his highest channel, & we took the lowest one.

worked ok after that.

might not be, but i wonder if another local firm has anything?

you should have a signal meter on atleast one of the cards that might help.

might also be a windows zero configuration thing, if you are using it.

mike

With winxP SP2, that box is no longer available unless you are running encryption. With encryption on, I don't find it to be a problem.

Taking a moment's reflection, roahboah mused: | | WAP's just an encryption protocol, not a physical entity. So it's not | WAP that's rebooting.

You are thinking of WEP. WAP stands for Wireless Access Point ... as in the Linksys WAP54G.

The smokestacks of the Information Age?

Yep. The surest sign of success is abuse and pollution. I guess Wi-Fi is quite successful.

At one point, Netstumbler was picking up about 120(?) assorted access points (50 of which had an SSID of "Linksys" and most of them on Channel 6) from the rooftop. Using XP SP2, the stupid "show available networks" would take literally forever to display a huge list of available networks, and then start scanning immediately when the next SSID would drift downwind. The good news is that most of the AP's had some form of encryption enabled. Progress, I guess.

Don't forget the wi-fi blocking wallpaper:

Many of the 2.4GHz cordless phones use frequency hopping spread spectrum which is required by the FCC rules to trash the entire 2.4GHz band instead of just part of it as with DSSS. Some phones are now coming out with DSSS which will not create interference. However, the imbiciles in cordless phone marketing have invented the misleading term "DSS". That's NOT direct sequence, but means "Digital Spread Spectrum", which could be almost anything.

Are you sure? I thought it was advertised as detecting only valid hot spots and would ignore non 802.11 devices? At least that's what the manual says.

What's inside:

Sounds defective. I had a Linksys do the same thing to me, I called Linksys and they RMA'ed me a new one. Been working fine ever since.

Carey