Re: Senao 2611 CB3 Deluxe Challenges

Hi, John,

John Navas wrote:
On 2 Jul 2006 06:49:00 -0700, "Skip - Working on the boat"
Again, follow my last few responses to you. Pay particular attention to
IP address issues, written to address your particular problem, and now
part of the wiki.

I must have missed those responses, as I didn't see any which addressed
IP issues. And, as you may have seen in the firmware download post,
I'm not really sure what I have.

However, here's an update on what I've been doing:

*** laptop (during radio configuration):
IP: 192.168.1.252
gateway: 192.168.1.1

*** CB3 bridge:
point-to-multipoint mode
SSID DUMMY (to be changed later)
IP: 192.168.1.251
gateway: 192.168.100.1

*** CB3 access point:
Set for CH 11
SSID BoatAP
IP: 192.168.1.250
gateway: 192.168.100.1

First, I configured the units, bare (no antennae), one at a time. As
indicated in other posts, I've never had a difficulty reaching the
configuration pages. Curiously, when I did the switch to AP from
bridge (recall that I'd been testing both units attempting to succeed
in surfing with either of them in bridge mode), it vacillated, showing
on the screen that it was changing back and foth several times. A
refresh of the screen (giving it a kick?) finally got it to settle down
in AP mode. I commenced setting up the parameters, naming and
otherwise preparing to make the two interact. Leaving both powered up,
I disconnected the NIC line. So far, so good.

Holding my breath, I connected them. Every other time I'd connected
them, I'd get immediate IP conflict messages. This time, nothing.
Hallelujah. Movement from where we'd been. These were both sitting on
my keyboard (I use an external keyboard with my laptop) and so my
internal wifi saw 'boat AP' loud and clear. So, I set about seeing if
they could communicate.

I started with the bridge (ethernet NIC and crossover cable, with the
stick antenna),set on the cabin roof, with the stick hung from the same
place as the Hawking I've been communicating through, and beat on it
umpteen times. Varying between "dummy" - which would not scan,
"wireless" (the default, which also would not scan), "sailing router" -
the AP I use with the Hawking adapter (sorry about the designation of
antenna earlier).- and (any) - the empty space for the SSID
specification, which *would* scan, I was eventually able to make it
associate with the 'sailing router'

The first several tries, it would not surf. More beating and toggling
(ok, resetting to different parameters) of SSID finally yielded an
association which would surf. Unfortunately, that was in the "any"
(nothing shown in the SSID line) mode, so I tried again. Eventually I
succeeded in getting an association with 'sailing router' which would
surf. During this bit, no other changes than SSID designationi were
done, so I have no idea whey it succeeded and other times didn't. None
the less... A first, in more than a year. If I could make this
stable, that, at least, is a starting point. Given that my computer use
would nearly always be at the nav (well, I'd be more comfortable
somewhere else, but it serves, at least!), being tethered by cat5 is at
least manageable.

So, I went on to reconnect the other unit, leaving the one which I'd
succeeded in the same state, powered up, but not connected to anything.
I attached both antennas to the appropriate pieces. I had them both
powered with an extension cord, and now they were on the cabin roof
under the dodger, with the stick hanging from the same place as the
Hawking, and the duck hanging into the salon below.

So, holding my breath, I connected them again with the crossover
pigtail. No IP conflicts!! That's a first, in a year plus.

Next was to turn on the internal wifi adapter. Holy cow! It
connected.

I wish that were the end of the story. Unfortunately, it's not. While
I was able to surf and mail for a while, and at what seemed to be
excellent speed and connectivity, the IP conflict reared its ugly head
again, and things ground to a halt.

Power cycling, by unplugging the extension cord, worked for about a
minute (after perhaps an hour of uptime before).

Fast forward to today, where I've been attempting to make it stable
again. Still (irregular - no predictability) IP conflicts, whether the
internal adapter is in DHCP or static mode as above. I can only
irregularly interrogate the bridge in static mode, never the AP, with
the internal adapter. As I type, having just repowered after a couple
hours off, there isn't an IP conflict, but my internal adapter can't
reach the bridge, where it did a moment ago It shows connected with
excellent strength to the AP, but can't interrogate it, either. Of
course, when I go to dhcp, I'll not be able to interrogate them at all,
and, having repowered in the "any" (no SSID in the blank), it connected
to the strongest signal, which isn't open. Attempting to reset it to
'sailing router' - the one my Hawking adapter uses successfully - has
made the bridge unreachable again.

So, there you have it. Like "Sleepers" - the movie - there was a brief
period of lucidity, but the system has returned to its former dementia
and insanity. No rhyme or reason for the IP conflicts. Ditto the
ability or not to reach the bridge or the AP for reconfiguration (in
the connected-to-each-other, over-wifi-URL/web-based interface).

So, while I don't know that I complied with your demands to follow your
instructions (I don't know that I know enough to do it properly or as
desired, and I didn't see the posts about IP stuff), this is what I
*did* do, and how it worked and then didn't.

Physical Address: 00-11-09-16-F9-33
IP Address: 192.168.1.252
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway: 192.168.1.1
DNS Server:
WINS Server:

That's what I see as connected right now - the IP is that of the "boat
AP", ditto the other stuff - from the "wireless connection status"
screen details section of the screen indicating my connection to 'boat
AP' with excellent signal strength, at 11mbps.

Going to dhcp configuration in my internal adapter yields a connection
to the unwanted AP - and since I can't get to the bridge to specify
which one I want, I'm stuck. Returning to the static state above
doesn't cure that.

This is the ipconfig /all for dhcp, with beacon being the closed
system; I can't get to the bridge to tell it to go to the proper SSID:

C:\DOCUME~1\REGIST~1.YOU>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : NavigationLaptop
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : beaconwifi.lan

Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : beaconwifi.lan
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : 802.11g MiniPCI Wireless
Network Ada
pter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-11-09-16-F9-33
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.2.121
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.2.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.2.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.2.1
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday, July 05, 2006
3:32:49 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, July 06, 2006
3:32:49 PM

C:\DOCUME~1\REGIST~1.YOU>

Any other ideas/troubleshooting?

Thanks.

L8R

Skip, rebedding stanchion and ladder bases


--
Best regards, FAQ for Wireless Internet: <http://Wireless.wikia.com>
John Navas FAQ for Wi-Fi: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi>
Wi-Fi How To: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_How_To>
Fixes to Wi-Fi Problems: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_Fixes>

.

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