Re: More Wireless Router Connection Problems!!

gatorcellman@xxxxxxxxx hath wroth:

Thanks for the details. It helps.

>Windows xp pro SP2- disconnects every 20-30 minutes.

Frank found the answer. It's the WPA-PSK encryption rekey interval,
which is set to 1800 seconds (30 minutes). Apparently it's a bug and
Zyxel's problem. If you want to experiment, I suggest you dive into
the router configs and change the rekey interval to something like 120
seconds (2 minutes). If you now start seeing disconnects every 2
minutes, that verifies the problem.

I'm not sure what to recommend as a workaround. Increasing the rekey
interval just delays the problem. Switching from WPA-PSK to WEP is a
serious loss in security, but might be a good alternative until Zyxel
produces a fix.

>Right now don't
>have a cat5 cable long enough to reach the desktop, but signal is
>always shown minimum good and most of the time excellent.

Well, if you had a CAT5 cable, it probably would have worked just fine
as there's no encryption or rekeying happening with a direct
connection. The idea was to take the wireless out of the picture
temporarily.

>Apple G4 Powerbook OSX panther disconnects maybe once or twice in a
>full day of use, but not nearly as much as the xp desktop.

Hmmmm... If it's the rekey interval, the dropout times should be
exactly the same and rather consistent. I gotta read up on TKIP to
see how the rekey interval works. Right now, I have a cold, my brain
feels like mush, and I don't wanna do much reading.

>The reason I
>connected this directly to Zyxel via cat5 was to make sure it wasn't
>the dsl dropping. I used skype for about 2 hours with no problems this
>way, so seems to be a wireless issue, not dsl.

Agreed. Good troubleshooting.

>Toshiba laptop uses windows xp home SP2. Not sure of the model, cause
>it's out on a trip right now! It also displays the same problems as the
>desktop i.e. dropping connection every 20-30 minutes or so. Also
>connected this machine directly to router via cat5 and had no
>connection problems.

OK, that's two computers out of three that work directly, so it has to
be the wireless. I like isolating problems by substitution.

>All computers have g capability, so I turned off the b feature so it
>wouldn't possibly pick up another wireless b device that might slow
>whole network down. I don't know if that can happen if the device isn't
>"connected" to the network, or if just by picking up the signal, it can
>slow the network down.

The 802.11b compatibility feature requires only one 802.11b packet
heard to slow the 802.11g transfers down to a crawl. If the neighbors
are using 802.11b, your 802.11g speeds will suffer. Best to leave it
at "802.11g only" if you have no 802.11b devices on your network. The
only problem is when you have visitors bearing 802.11b devices.

>Yes, this is a European model (I'm here right now) but correct country
>is connected.

Ok, that eliminates that problem. I've read somewhere that some
routers seem to have a "feature" that refuses to allow connections
from clients that have a different country code. I don't know if this
is a feature, and accident, a rumor, or a regulatory requirement.
Treat it as a rumor for now.

>I completely disabled WZC so that might improve things.....I'll let you
>know.

It's worth a try. However, that will not do much for the same problem
in the G4 Powerbook. I have no idea whether it's better to use WZC or
the manufacturers drivers. I've played with it both ways and found
that on some devices (i.e. Linksys devices) WZC literally fights the
driver and must be disabled. On other machines, it works just fine.
If your Toshiba laptop is fairly new, it probably came with their
network config and diagnostics tool (I forgot the name) which offers a
nifty looking graphics front end for wired and wireless configuration.
It also takes care of autoswitching between wireless and wired
networks, offers some tolerable diagnostics, and has a nifty
"radar-like" display of wireless access points found. However, it
will do nothing for the current problem other than add another layer
of complexity. Oh well.

>It seems that the connection will come back after about 5 minutes or
>so, but it comes back almost immediately if I "repair" the connection
>via windows.
>
>The router is set with wireless port control auth required, reauth
>timer 1800 sec, idle timout 3600 sec, key mgmt protocol wpa-psk,wpa
>mixed mode NOT ckecked, group data privacy tkip, wpa group key update
>timer 1800 secs. So anything there you see is not correct??

Looks fine. In retrospect, I can't tell if it's the re-auth interval
or the re-key interval that's the problem. Try lowering each, one at
a time, to about 180 seconds (2 minutes) and see which one is the
culprit. Whichever it is, the problem is in Zyxel's firmware and I
don't think juggling the setting will do much more than delay the
disconnects.

Incidentally, such exercises is one reason that I fail to appreciate
all in one, integrated modem/router/wireless contrivances. They are
cheaper and in one case (direct access to DSL modem diagnostics) are
better, but they are hell when something goes wrong. If you had
purchased 3 separate boxes, (modem, router, and access point), the
problem could have been solved by simply replacing the relatively
inexpensive access point, with a different one, and left the DSL modem
and router alone. Instead, you may find yourself replacing
everything. There are also some other reasons for why I like
component systems, but they are not relevant to this problem.

Good luck.

>Thanks again......dan
--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
.

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