Wireless Zero Configuration gets confused by non-preferred networks

[Gary Snethen]

My tablet PC (a Compaq TC1000) has recently begun
dropping connection with my wireless access point (a
Linksys WAP11 v2.6).

As far as I can tell, this appears to be a problem with
Windows XP's Wireless Zero Configuration system.

Here are the symptoms:

My home access point is configured to broadcast its
unique SSID, and this SSID shows up in my available
networks on the tablet PC. (This means that knowledge
base article 811427 does not apply to me.)

I have two SSIDs in my "preferred networks" section: one
with my home SSID and one with my work SSID.

When I first start up my tablet PC, it connects to my
home network and everything works just fine.

About once each minute, my wireless card "scans" for
other networks -- (I can see this on one of the tabs for
my wireless network card driver in the device manager) --
my assumption is that this is Windows XP's Wireless Zero
Configuration system doing its periodic scan for new
networks.

Sometimes the scan completes and I am still connected to
my home network, which is what I would expect. However,
every third or fourth scan, my tablet PC drops its
connection to my home network and a new wireless network
(named "ethernet") appears in my available networks. My
tablet PC does not actually connect to this new network --
it just disconnects me from my home network.

"Ethernet" is *not* listed in my preferred networks and
the box labeled "Automatically connect to non-preferred
networks" is *NOT* checked in the advanced properties of
my wireless network configuration. Yet somehow, the
intermittent presence (due to weak signal) of this other
network is causing Windows XP to drop my established
connection to my own strong-signal preferred and named
network.

I know the problem is in the tablet PC, because my
desktops (using wireless bridges) do not have the
problem. Also, if I establish a connection to my home
network and then uncheck the "Use Windows to
automatically configure my wireless network settings"
box, my connection is solid and never drops.
Unfortunately, this is not a good permanent solution
because the next time I hiberate and wake up my tablet
PC, Windows will not automatically connect to my network -
- nor will it automatically connect when I am at work. I
am then forced to re-enable the automatic configuration
and then disable it again once I connect.

I have a couple theories... one is that a neighbor has
installed a wireless network and isn't broadcasting his
SSID. (Would this cause the name to show up
as "ethernet" -- if not, what do anonymous networks show
up as?) In this case, maybe Windows is automatically
trying to connect me to the network despite the fact that
I don't have it in my preferred networks list. If this
*is* the problem, it's clearly a bug, since I have no
control over how my neighbor chooses to configure his
network.

Does anyone have any targetted advice for me? I've
already tried most combinations of network settings, but
to no avail. I would be happy to abandon the zero
configuration service altogether, but I need to find a
way to manually configure my TC1000's wireless card. (It
shows up as a Compaq mini-PCI card in the device manager.)

Thanks!

---Gary

 

[Barb Bowman [MVP-Windows]]

Have you turned off 802.1x authentication?

1.. Right-click the wireless connection, and then click Properties.
2.. Click the Wireless Networks tab.
3.. Select the network name in the Preferred networks window, and
then
click Properties.
4.. Select the Authentication tab.
5.. Make sure that the check box for authentication is not selected.