Re: Question for Jeff Liebermann

On Oct 29, 6:45 am, Jeff Liebermann <je...@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Tue, 28 Oct 2008 20:49:03 -0700 (PDT), "void.no.spam....@xxxxxxxxx"

<void.no.spam....@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
So then shouldn't my computer have the same problem when I connect it
directly to the router, after it has been working behind the wireless
bridge?  But it has no problem moving from bridge to router.

Yes, that would seem logical.  However, I note from your original
posting that you're using Windoze 98.  I have no clue how it would be
expected to respond.  I'm going to do myself a big favor and not
excavate an old W98SE laptop and see.  Incidentally, if it's Win98SE
(second edition), you have a chance of getting things working.  If
it's the original Win98, or Win98SE without any updates, give up while
you're still sane.

Yeah I do have a computer with Win98SE and updates.

Here is what I have seen tonight:

With my computer plugged into the router and able to access the
internet, doing an "arp -a" on the computer shows 192.168.1.1 with the
router's MAC, and the router's web site shows my computer's IP with
the ethernet card MAC.

Then after plugging the computer into the wireless bridge, I can't
ping the router.  Trying a "arp -d 192.168.1.1" doesn't help the
computer ping the router.  I have to do "ipconfig /release" and
"ipconfig /renew" and then my computer is able to ping the router and
go on the internet.  But then "arp -a" still shows 192.168.1.1 with
the router's MAC, and the router's web site still shows my computer's
IP with the ethernet card MAC.

That's because the web page(s) are in the web browsers cache.  Can you
change pages in the web browser?  (especially one's that you have seen
before)?

After doing the "ipconfig /release" and "ipconfig /renew", I can visit
pages that I never visited before in the browser.


I don't see the MAC of the wireless
bridge anywhere.  Does that sound right?  (Note that I am not doing
any MAC cloning on the bridge.)

You're right (I'm wrong).  The computer should show the router MAC
address in arp -a, not that of the wireless bridge.  If you ping the
IP address of the Asus WL-520gU running DD-WRT in client mode, you
should see both the WRT54GL router and the client adapter with arp -a.

OK, after pinging the WL-520gU, I see them both in the "arp -a"
output.


At this point, I'm not sure where the problem is hiding.  Something is
having a problem deciding whether packets should go via ethernet or
wireless, but I can't tell from here.

At least I know of a couple workarounds now.

Look for a check box on the operating systems ethernet setup with
something like "detect media changes".  It should be checked.

I am running Windows 2000,

That's good to know.  Please re-read your original posting and explain
where you switched from Windoze 98 to Windoze 2000.
   "I've got an old Win98 computer with PCI 2.1 slots, and
   I wanted to give it wireless access using WPA encryption."

Yes, I will eventually move the bridge to be connected with my Win98
machine, although right now it is a little more convenient for me to
test it out with my Win2000 machine. And the Win2000 machine may need
wireless access at some point in the future, so it doesn't hurt to see
if it works there too.


and I don't see any sort of "detect media
changes" option anywhere.

See:
<http://www.windowsreference.com/networking/disable-media-sensing-on-e...>
In Win98, it was up to the ethernet driver manufacture how this was
set.  Some, particularly laptops, had some fairly creative default
setups.  In 2000 and XP, it's on by default.  Some drivers have check
boxes or settings to change it.

Looks like mine is on, according to the lack of that registry entry
mentioned in the link you provided.


I also looked at that route metric problem
link you provided, and it seems to be a new feature in XP, so that
wouldn't affect my computer.

The route metric is in every version of Windoze since the stone age.
The problem is that each version and some updates behave differently.

Thanks for the help, Jeff.
.

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