Wireless network flakey after upgrade to XP

[rick cameron]

Hi, all

I've just upgraded one of our home computers from Windows 98 SE to Windows
XP Home. I actually replaced the system unit, keeping the old hard drive,
and did an upgrade, rather than a new install.

The computer is connected to our wireless network using a Linksys WUSB11
ver. 2.5 adapter. This is an 802.11b adapter that connects to the computer
via USB. At the other end is a Linksys BEFW11S4 router connected to an ADSL
modem.

I'm using DHCP and WEP for the wireless LAN.

Under Windows 98, the wireless connection was pretty reliable. The signal
strength was always pretty high, and I was able to get to the Internet from
the computer, and to access a printer shared by the computer from a second
computer (which is wired to the router).

After the upgrade, the network is really flakey. The signal strength shown
by the Linksys config utility varies up and down wildly. The computer can
usually access the Internet right after boot-up; but after a minute or two,
it stops being able to connect. Similarly, I was able to print once from the
second computer, but soon that failed too.

The network setup wizard in XP Home wants me to choose from a couple of
network setups. I chose the one with all computers connected to a hub, which
is connected to a modem going to the Internet. My setup is slightly
different, since I have a full router, not a hub.

I'm running ZoneAlarm on the computer, but disabling it doesn't seem to
help.

I have the latest driver I can find installed - not very recent, though.
When I installed it, it upgraded the firmware on the WUSB11.

Any suggestions for things to look at, or things to try?

Thanks!

- rick

 

[Gary Tsang]

Hi,

Try disabling the 802.1x authentication on your wireless network card
properties.
If 802.1x authentication is enabled on your wireless network card and if
your access point doesn't support this authentication the connection will be
disconnected after a few minutes.

To disable 802.1x authenication over your wireless network card...

1.. Click Start, point to Connect To, click Show all connections, and then
double-click your wireless network adapter.
2.. On the General tab, click Properties.
3.. Click the Wireless Networks tab.
4.. Under Preferred Networks, click your home network, and then click
Properties.
5.. Click Data encryption (WEP enabled).
6.. Click the Association tab, and then click to clear the Network
Authentication (Shared mode) check box and the The key is provided for me
automatically check box, if they are selected.
7.. Click the Authentication tab, and then click to clear the Enable IEEE
802.1x authentication for this network check box, if it is selected.
8.. Click OK two times to accept the changes.

 

[Bob Willard]

Hi, all

I've just upgraded one of our home computers from Windows 98 SE to Windows
XP Home. I actually replaced the system unit, keeping the old hard drive,
and did an upgrade, rather than a new install.

The computer is connected to our wireless network using a Linksys WUSB11
ver. 2.5 adapter. This is an 802.11b adapter that connects to the computer
via USB. At the other end is a Linksys BEFW11S4 router connected to an ADSL
modem.

I'm using DHCP and WEP for the wireless LAN.

Under Windows 98, the wireless connection was pretty reliable. The signal
strength was always pretty high, and I was able to get to the Internet from
the computer, and to access a printer shared by the computer from a second
computer (which is wired to the router).

After the upgrade, the network is really flakey. The signal strength shown
by the Linksys config utility varies up and down wildly. The computer can
usually access the Internet right after boot-up; but after a minute or two,
it stops being able to connect. Similarly, I was able to print once from the
second computer, but soon that failed too.

The network setup wizard in XP Home wants me to choose from a couple of
network setups. I chose the one with all computers connected to a hub, which
is connected to a modem going to the Internet. My setup is slightly
different, since I have a full router, not a hub.

I'm running ZoneAlarm on the computer, but disabling it doesn't seem to
help.

I have the latest driver I can find installed - not very recent, though.
When I installed it, it upgraded the firmware on the WUSB11.

Any suggestions for things to look at, or things to try?

Thanks!

- rick

Flakey signal strength may mean that some connection is bad; power down
and reseat the connectors (USB and the wallwart if any). Flakey wireless
connections can also result from interference (2.4 GHz phones, WiFi from
neighboring houses, etc.

By the way, you should have told the Net Wiz that you get to the net
through a Residential Gateway; RG is M$'s term for a router.

 

[rick cameron]

Hi, Bob

There was indeed another wireless network - also Linksys - in the
neighbourhood. I switched channels (from 6 to 11) and that helped.

Do you think rerunning the Net Wiz & choosing RG would help? What effect
does the choice you make in Net Wiz have, anyway?

In the properties for the wireless adapter there's a choice of
Authentication Algorithm, with 3 options: WECA and two related to WEP.
Unfortunately the combo box isn't wide enough to show all the text of the
options!

I think this was originally set to WECA, but while trying to improve the
reliability of the connection, I changed this to one of the WEP options.

Can anyone explain what these three options mean, and suggest which one
might be appropriate?

Thanks again!

- rick

 

[rick cameron]

Thanks, Gary. I'll check on this.

- Rick

Hi,

Try disabling the 802.1x authentication on your wireless network card
properties.
If 802.1x authentication is enabled on your wireless network card and if
your access point doesn't support this authentication the connection will be
disconnected after a few minutes.

To disable 802.1x authenication over your wireless network card...

1.. Click Start, point to Connect To, click Show all connections, and then
double-click your wireless network adapter.
2.. On the General tab, click Properties.
3.. Click the Wireless Networks tab.
4.. Under Preferred Networks, click your home network, and then click
Properties.
5.. Click Data encryption (WEP enabled).
6.. Click the Association tab, and then click to clear the Network
Authentication (Shared mode) check box and the The key is provided for me
automatically check box, if they are selected.
7.. Click the Authentication tab, and then click to clear the Enable IEEE
802.1x authentication for this network check box, if it is selected.
8.. Click OK two times to accept the changes.

 

[remove_this]

This only works with WEP encryption. Do you have instructions for
WPA-PSK encryption? "Enable IEEE 802.1x ..." is greyed out and cannot
be unchecked.

Help,
BadB0y2K