XP loses wireless connection & log in problem

[Joestout]

I've got a wireless home network running OK with two
desktop PCs running Win98SE. One is hardwired (Ethernet)
to MN-500 wireless Base-Station router and the other is
connected via a MN-510 Wireless Adapter. Firmware is fully
updated.

My son is home from college with a new Dell Inspiron 8600
laptop with Centrino chipset running XP-pro. His PC
readily detected the home wireless network. I gave him the
WEP key and he was able to surf the net (at least for a
short while). But we have two problems.

1. He loses network connection every 5 minutes or so for
no apparent reason. The laptop has an INTEL PRO/Wireless
LAN 2100 3A Mini PCI Adapter. According the laptop, this
signal strength is very good to excellent. (Sitting
physically right next to it is the Win98SE wireless
machine, which never drops out).

When watching the laptop's signal strength and quality
monitor, all is well and suddenly its disconnected. Its as
if there is a background task that's disconnecting it.
Immediately - in the tray - the balloon pops up
saying "One or more networks are available." At this point
I can immediately re-connect. When the connection is good,
pings from the Win98 wireless machine to the XP laptop
work 100%.

All this leads me to conclude that it's not a router
problem but a problem on the XP machine end.

What could this be? MS Hardware phone support says that
the problem must be with the Dell or its Intel 2100 3A
Mini PCI Adapter. Another person said this might be a
virus. Any ideas?

2. Before I understood all this, I suggested to my son
that he enable file sharing. The machine said he had to
reboot to establish new the settings, which he did. Now
WinXP-pro requires him to "log in" which is something he
did not have to do before.

Before this, when clicking the Start button, there was a
message that read "Peter is logged on." That message is no
longer there. The boy is freaked out that something major
has gone wrong with the OS.

How can we get back to the previous state (no WinXP log in
and message restored)?

Thanks in advance for your help,
Joe

 

[Joestout]

I found a work-around solution at

http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?
board.id=insp_network&message.id=15777&page=2

The work-around is to Disable the Windows XP
service "Wireless Zero Configuration".

Start -> Control Panel -> Performance & Maintenance ->
Adminstrative Tools -> Services-> Wireless Zero
Configuration

On the "General" tab click Stop and select Disabled from
Startup type. Then, click OK.

 

[Robert L [MS-MVP]]

thank you for the post.

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Don't send e-mail or reply to me except you need consulting services.
Posting on MS newsgroup will benefit all readers and you may get more help.

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Networking, Internet, Routing, VPN, Anti-Virus, Tips & Troubleshooting on
http://www.ChicagoTech.net
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties.

 

[Akash]

thank you for the post.

--
For more and other information, go to http://www.ChicagoTech.net

Don't send e-mail or reply to me except you need consulting services.
Posting on MS newsgroup will benefit all readers and you may get more help.

Robert Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
Networking, Internet, Routing, VPN, Anti-Virus, Tips & Troubleshooting on
http://www.ChicagoTech.net
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties.

I had similar problem with laptop with centrino chipset and was ready
to throw the access point out of window. I finally called NetGear help
line and so far it seems my problem of dropped connection has
diminished significantly.

They asked me to manually enter in Wep Key 1 10 chars between 0-9, A-F
for 64-bit encryption or 26 chars for 128-bit. According to them this
problem is with XP as it is using diff algorithm

This was few hours ago and so far it seems to be working, in fact I am
responding from my laptop using wireless connection. I did lose
connection few times in last few hours instead of every few minutes.

Hope this works (for you and me).

 

[Joestout]

I discovered later that this only works as long as you
don't re-start your computer. If you restart - you have to
let the "Wireless Zero Configuration" operation run until
the connection has been established. Then...

Start -> Control Panel -> Performance & Maintenance ->
Adminstrative Tools -> Services-> Wireless Zero
Configuration

On the "General" tab click Stop. Then, click OK.

If, as I previously recommended, you and select Disabled
from Startup type, the connection will not be completed
after restart. I'm not sure why, but I think this is
because the "Wireless Zero Configuration" must
authenticate that the network is 802.11.

Its an inconvenient but effective work around. There is
definately a bug in XP or the Dell firmware.

Sorry for any inconvenience caused by my original work
around post.

 

[Akash]

I had similar problem with laptop with centrino chipset and was ready
to throw the access point out of window. I finally called NetGear help
line and so far it seems my problem of dropped connection has
diminished significantly.

They asked me to manually enter in Wep Key 1 10 chars between 0-9, A-F
for 64-bit encryption or 26 chars for 128-bit. According to them this
problem is with XP as it is using diff algorithm

This was few hours ago and so far it seems to be working, in fact I am
responding from my laptop using wireless connection. I did lose
connection few times in last few hours instead of every few minutes.

Hope this works (for you and me).

That didn't last for too long. Started having dropped connection next
day again. Netgear tech support recommended getting a netgear pcmcia
card. I bought WAG511 and this has worked for me since yesterday. I
did get disconnected few times but I was able to connect again without
any frustration using Netgear utility. (I just got disconnected and
was able to activate the connection).

Wonder if there is a problem with Intel PRO 2100 mini wireless or
their software.

 

[Guest]

I had the nsame problem. On the Xp-pro client leave WZC enabled but disable 802.1x authentication as described at

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/..._web&mid=8fb10924-73a8-465e-9d01-011ab99d10e9