Wireless Connection Lost after Reboot

[Keith]

Sorry for x-posting but I wanted to get maximum coverage for this post as
it's really annoying me.

I have a Dell laptop (Latitude D800) with built-in b/g wireless (Dell
TrueMobile 1300) and a Linksys WAP11 Access Point.

On my AP I have WEP swtched on, MAC filtering enabled, and I have disabled
SSID broadcast. I also use static IPs and have DHCP disabled for maximum
security.

They have always worked great together.

Last weekend I formatted my laptop to clean it up and I wanted to install
SP2 (it's Windows XP Pro by the way). Also installed the latest drivers for
my hardware from Dell.

After the format I am unable to connect to the wireless LAN unless I enable
SSID broadcast (which I obviously don't want to do).

If I turn on SSID broadcast, my connection works instantly. I can then
disable SSID broadcast and it continues to work.

However, as soon as I reboot the laptop, my connection is lost and I can't
get it back without re-enabling SSID broadcast.

I have tried it with Dell's software managing the wireless connection and
with SP2 managing the connection. I have even uninstalled all the dell
sofwtware except the driver needed for the hardware and still I get the same
problem.

I don't think it's the Access Point, as I have another laptop with a Linksys
PCMCIA card in and that works fine with the SSID broadcast disabled.

Has anyone got any advice please?

 

[Quaoar]

Sorry for x-posting but I wanted to get maximum coverage for this
post as it's really annoying me.

I have a Dell laptop (Latitude D800) with built-in b/g wireless (Dell
TrueMobile 1300) and a Linksys WAP11 Access Point.

On my AP I have WEP swtched on, MAC filtering enabled, and I have
disabled SSID broadcast. I also use static IPs and have DHCP
disabled for maximum security.

They have always worked great together.

Last weekend I formatted my laptop to clean it up and I wanted to
install SP2 (it's Windows XP Pro by the way). Also installed the
latest drivers for my hardware from Dell.

After the format I am unable to connect to the wireless LAN unless I
enable SSID broadcast (which I obviously don't want to do).

If I turn on SSID broadcast, my connection works instantly. I can
then disable SSID broadcast and it continues to work.

However, as soon as I reboot the laptop, my connection is lost and I
can't get it back without re-enabling SSID broadcast.

I have tried it with Dell's software managing the wireless connection
and with SP2 managing the connection. I have even uninstalled all
the dell sofwtware except the driver needed for the hardware and
still I get the same problem.

I don't think it's the Access Point, as I have another laptop with a
Linksys PCMCIA card in and that works fine with the SSID broadcast
disabled.
Has anyone got any advice please?

Enable SSID broadcast. Simple. Disabling it has no security benefits
whatsoever. Anyone interested can find your system in seconds with or
without SSID broadcast. It serves no purpose to disable SSID broadcast,
except for those who want to spend time on fruitless searches for
solving connection problems caused by disabling SSID broadcast.

Q

 

[Keith]

Enable SSID broadcast. Simple. Disabling it has no security benefits
whatsoever. Anyone interested can find your system in seconds with or
without SSID broadcast. It serves no purpose to disable SSID broadcast,
except for those who want to spend time on fruitless searches for solving
connection problems caused by disabling SSID broadcast.

Q

But it worked just fine before the reformat and SP2 install. It also works
perfectly on another laptop.

 

[Steve Winograd [MVP]]

But it worked just fine before the reformat and SP2 install. It also works
perfectly on another laptop.

I'm sorry, but I don't know why your connection has stopped working
with SSID broadcast disabled.

However, I agree with Quaoar that you should enable it. Here's a
quote from a Microsoft web page:

"You should not disable SSID (WLAN network name) broadcast since this
can interfere with the ability of Windows XP to connect to the right
network. Although disabling the SSID broadcast is often recommended as
a security measure, it gives little practical security benefit if a
secure 802.1X authentication method is being used. Even with SSID
broadcast from the AP disabled, it is relatively easy for an attacker
to determine the SSID by capturing client connection packets."

To see the full web page:

Securing Wireless LANs with PEAP and Passwords
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/topics/cryptographyetc/peap_5.mspx
--
Best Wishes,
Steve Winograd, MS-MVP (Windows Networking)

Please post any reply as a follow-up message in the news group
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