DWL 2100AP keeps hiding....

When you say "won't be able to see the AP", does that mean:

  1. The SSID is invisible in "scan for networks" or similar SSID display?
  2. The SSID is found, but the client cannot get a DHCP address?
  3. The SSID is found, the client has an existing DHCP address, but cannot see the rest of the router, rest of LAN, or internet?
  4. The AP has gone invisible and you can see right through it.

If #4, there's a Nobel Prize waiting for you.

Please don't use pins. Voodoo is not supported by most access points.

Yep. What's your DHCP lease time? See Advanced -> DHCP as in:

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'm not sure exactly what's happening with DHCP but my guess(tm) is that you either:

  1. Don't have enough DHCP assignable addresses for the 9 clients.
  2. Have too short a lease time so that the router expires the lease overnight. When the laptop arrives in the morning, it tries to get a new DHCP assigned IP address, and either fails, or keeps trying to use the old IP address.
  3. If the clients are laptops that were taken home and used on a different wireless access point, it may have the home configuration saved. I've dealt with belligerent XP SP1 machines that will not automatically release the old IP address. I have to resort to: ipconfig /release ipconfig /renew to force the client to let go of the old IP and ask for a new one. This is especially a problem if you put the laptop in standby (power save, hibernate, whatever) instead of doing a full shutdown.

As I indicated, I'm not sure of the exact problem, but methinks it has to do with DHCP. I suggest a much longer lease time of 86,400 (one day) or larger.

If that doesn't work, I suggest taking advantage of the static DHCP assignment feature, where you pre-assign an IP address to each client, without resorting to static IP's.

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way the clients always get the same IP address. If they want to hold onto the old one, that's fine because it's the same as the new one.

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann
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We have small WLAN with a D-Link DWL 2100AP and up to 9 clients with DWL-G120 Adaptors.

It all works fine during the day, but first thing in the morning, as the clients come up, one of them wont be able to see the AP.

The AP is powered on all the time, so as soon as the last person is in, we power off and on the AP and then its all fine, and will run happily all day, until the next morning (or someone comes in very late!).

There appears to be no pattern to which client will not find/be found by the AP (Everyone gets a turn!). Its not even the same number of clients each time.

The AP is set with SSID not hidden, and a WEP key.

D-Link support seem to think there's some sort of problem with the

2100, but cant pin it down, and there's no firmware upgrade for this device (as yet!).

Anyone any suggestions as to possible other causes that are fixable?

TIA

JohnK

Reply to
John F Kappler

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Groan. So much for my DHCP theory. Also, forget about the Nobel Prize.

Any chance one of your machines has a duplicate IP address? That's a common problem with static IP addressing. One buggy firmware release on a different box I had to deal with would merrily pass out the routers IP address via DHCP. Naw, that can't be it because it's a random computah that screws up. Never mind.

However, I have an experiment worth trying. When you leave for the evening, unplug the ethernet connection between the router and the DWL-2100AP. That will eliminate anything that might be coming from the router. If it works in the morning, then at least we know where it's coming from. If it works, fire up Ethereal on one of the workstations and start capturing data on the LAN after hours.

If it's the same old problem, try the same trick, but this time on the wireless side. Just unplug the antenna for the night in case it's something coming in via the wireless port. I neither test points to any external influences, we're down to magic, witchcraft, ghosts, voodoo, and firmware bugs.

Also, you might wanna look at the access points status page for anything unusual with one of the working computahs.

Incidentally, several years ago, I had a problem at a department store. They would shut down all the networked cash registers with a common circuit breaker. In the morning, 27 clients would boot simultaneously. The 3Com SuperStuck II 3300 switches would often hang on random ports that required a power cycle of the switch to recover. While this has nothing too do with wireless, by any chance is everyone booting at exactly the same time?

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

Aaaah, a Nobel prize...... (sorry,.a Homer moment!)

No. 1. Scan for Networks find nothing (despite other systems (e.g. on the next desk) being happily connected). As I said, re-booting the AP immediately solves the problem (does annoy the other users though!)

All clients have static IPs Whilst it sometimes happens to Notebooks, it more regularly happens to Desktops.

JohnK

Reply to
John F Kappler

Thanks Jeff.

I'll try those steps, but it wont be until next week.

Cheers,

JK

Reply to
John F Kappler

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