Router Associations/Disassociations

"Steve Berry" hath wroth:

I guess CM is a cable modem. What make and model wireless card is in your unspecified model WinXP SP2 computah? Is it a laptop?

Normally, the router will not initiate a disconnect. The client is the one that normally initiates a disconnect proceedure. This is usually part of a power save feature.

However, there are a few exceptions. One is for MAC and IP filters. Another is for WPA key exchange failure. In order for the router to determine if the MAC, IP, or WPA keys are valid, it has to first allow a connection. Once it has the connection, it can pass the necessary information back and forth. Based on what it gets from the client, it can continue with the connection, or disconnect.

Also, some routers that are customized for hot spots have the option of ultra short DHCP lease times. Typical is 1 day, but for high activity areas, 15 minutes would be much better. The idea is to keep the DHCP lease table free of stale connections. Although I haven't seen any routers that do this, this might also include a disconnect feature, just in case the client is still hanging around but idle. Dunno.

I'm not familiar with the Sweex LC000070.

Kinda sounds like the WPA key renewal interval. Are you using WPA?

HI Jeff,

Thanks for replying. I *believe* the Wireless NIC is a fairly old Isine card ( you're probably not familiar with them either ). Neither am I. The NICs don't appear to have any user-alterable features whatsoever, just it's capabilities are listed in Device Mangler. I'm guessing you mean power-save on the NIC as opposed to power save on the OS ? The router is setup to use association/connection control - but I get the same results even if I use no association/connection. Both client and router are using basic WEP at the mo'. Clients are using static IPs. DHCP disabled on the router. Think I might do a network sniff to see if can find the initiating culprite I'll try disabling WEP too. Any other suggestions ?

Rgds, S

"reachnet" hath wroth:

Well, I've never heard of the company. However, they're still around:

Ok, so you're using XP. Control Panel -> Network Find the Isine device icon. Right click and select properties. Under the name of the device listed in the box should be a mess of settings. All wireless cards have this feature.

No, both. If it's a laptop, going into standby mode will power down the wireless card. Also check if the bios has some power saving features.

I have no idea what you mean by that.

I think you're on the right track. Find out who's initiating the disconnect and you'll probably find the problem. I would suggest you also try some substitution. Find another known working wireless laptop and see if it does the same thing. If not, try a different access point. That will help isolate the source.

Officially, there isn't one - however I've since found out the NIC is using a Marvell chipset. There's drivers available for an ASUS NIC which uses the same chipset - Tried that one and it seems to work ok. Prob still exists though.

Err... nope - there's nothing there other than the expected Client for MS Networks, File and Printer Sharing for MS Networks etc.. Are we looking at the same thing ?

It's a desktop - I'll check the BIOS though.

Sorry. MAC filtering - results are the same whether enabled or not.

Scratching my head here. Done a sniff with CommView and *assuming* I'm interpreting the output correctly the disconnects are being initaited by the router (which also has the latest firmware). Hmm.. thanks anywayz, Jeff.

Probably not. Let's try again (this time with an XP box in front of me). Find the wireless device icon in the Control Panel -> Network thing. Right click and select "Properties". At the top of the window should be the name of the card (or driver). Select "Configure". You should have a bunch of choices including power mismanagment.

I think it's time for a substitute router to see if that's the cause.

Err.. nope - none of that is displayed at all, just General, Devices and Resources tabs. It's an old card/driver. I've got a feeling I'm fighting a lost cause here with this hardware..

I agree. I think it's time for hardware updates all round. Many thanks for your time Jeff. Much appreciated. BTW do you have any experience of OpenWRT ? I'm thinking of replacing the OS on this router, even though it's not officially on OpenWRTs supported hardware list. The router's cheap, so if I brick it, I brick it, no great loss.

Rgds, S

They have to be there. Looks like I missed a step. Let's try one more time.

Control Panel -> Network Find the wireless icon. Right click and select properties. Near the top is a box labelled "Connect Using". Inside the box is the name of the card or driver. To the right of the box is a button labelled "configure". Hit it. You should have multiple pages of settings and features.

Probably. But throwing money at such problems is too easy and no fun.

Very little. The local free wireless LAN uses OpenWRT for the hotspots. I tinkered a bit with OpenWRT. I started with Sveasoft, bailed almost immediately, and then went with DD-WRT. It's a bit erratic with the post-Beta daily hacks but the best I could find.

I have no idea if the Sweex LC000070 will accept an alternative firmware. I read one posting that claimed it's very similar to an SMC router. Do some research on compatibility before trashing the firmware.

Nope - you didn't miss a step. Just the three tabs I mentioned previously and none of them display NIC settings - only Resource settings - Memory/IRQ etc...Honestly. ;)

I've no idea either. There's not really enough info available to make an informed opinion. It'd probably be an all or nothing scenario if I went through with it. I'll do some testing with another router and sleep on it.

Again many thanks Jeff.

Rgds, S