Wireless access point problems...

20 Feb 2005 3:33 PM

Mike

We added a WAP54G to our office to accommodate customers who come in & need
to use their laptops. We're using WEP & have broadcasting turned on. We have
a DHCP server on the LAN to pass out IP addresses to customers & customers
laptops are set to get a dhcp address. Anyone who works here & has a domain
account can log in to the domain, get an IP address & everything works fine.
Anyone else can't. What's happening is if you place the curser over the
network tray, it will say "Connected to 'wireless_network', signal strength
excellent", but computer is getting a 169.254.x.x address. I actually had
one laptop get a dhcp address, after the computer had been on about 15
minutes, but couldn't connect to or ping anything.
Am I missing something here?

20 Feb 2005 4:37 PM

Duane Arnold

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"Mike" <mikey***@hotmail.com> wrote in
news:g52Sd.18045$cW2.8713@fe2.texas.rr.com:

> We added a WAP54G to our office to accommodate customers who come in &
> need to use their laptops. We're using WEP & have broadcasting turned
> on. We have a DHCP server on the LAN to pass out IP addresses to
> customers & customers laptops are set to get a dhcp address. Anyone
> who works here & has a domain account can log in to the domain, get an
> IP address & everything works fine. Anyone else can't. What's
> happening is if you place the curser over the network tray, it will
> say "Connected to 'wireless_network', signal strength excellent", but
> computer is getting a 169.254.x.x address. I actually had one laptop
> get a dhcp address, after the computer had been on about 15 minutes,
> but couldn't connect to or ping anything. Am I missing something here?

You're missing the fact that the wireless computer cannot get an IP from
the DHCP server on the network and therefore it is timing out and getting
the 169.254.xxx.xxx IP being assigned by the O/S. The 169 IP should allow
the machine to access other machines on the LAN, but the IP will not allow
the machine to access the WAN/Internet, since the machine never got an IP
from the DHCP server on the network.

It could be that the 54G is defective, the 54G is mis-configured, or the
wireless NIC on the computer is ms-configured (or NIC could be defective
too but most likely not with client/customer machines) as to why the
computer is timing out and the 169 IP is being assigned.

I would suggest you get on the phone with Linksys Tech Support and track
down the problem.

Duane :)

20 Feb 2005 4:59 PM

riggor9999

Are only domain users allowed to get DHCP assigned addresses?

Are these laptop users in the domain ?

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"Mike" <mikey***@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:g52Sd.18045$cW2.8713@fe2.texas.rr.com...
> We added a WAP54G to our office to accommodate customers who come in &
> need to use their laptops. We're using WEP & have broadcasting turned on.
> We have a DHCP server on the LAN to pass out IP addresses to customers &
> customers laptops are set to get a dhcp address. Anyone who works here &
> has a domain account can log in to the domain, get an IP address &
> everything works fine. Anyone else can't. What's happening is if you place
> the curser over the network tray, it will say "Connected to
> 'wireless_network', signal strength excellent", but computer is getting a
> 169.254.x.x address. I actually had one laptop get a dhcp address, after
> the computer had been on about 15 minutes, but couldn't connect to or ping
> anything.
> Am I missing something here?
>

20 Feb 2005 5:49 PM

Jeff Liebermann

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On Sun, 20 Feb 2005 15:33:32 GMT, "Mike" <mikey***@hotmail.com> wrote:

>We added a WAP54G to our office to accommodate customers who come in & need
>to use their laptops. We're using WEP & have broadcasting turned on. We have
>a DHCP server on the LAN to pass out IP addresses to customers & customers
>laptops are set to get a dhcp address. Anyone who works here & has a domain
>account can log in to the domain, get an IP address & everything works fine.
>Anyone else can't. What's happening is if you place the curser over the
>network tray, it will say "Connected to 'wireless_network', signal strength
>excellent", but computer is getting a 169.254.x.x address. I actually had
>one laptop get a dhcp address, after the computer had been on about 15
>minutes, but couldn't connect to or ping anything.
>Am I missing something here?

I'll assume you're using the latest revision firmware in the WAP54G.
Sounds like you did everything correctly.

A few things to try:
1. Disable WEP and see if DHCP now works. It usually does.
2. The algorithm for converting ASCII keys to hex seems to vary by
manufactory. Try using a 10 digit hex 64bit key or a 26 digit hex
128bit WEP key. Hex WEP keys ALWAYS work. ASCII is sometimes a
problem.
3. Download the free "DHCP Query Tool" from:
http://www.weirdsolutions.com/download/index.html
It's at the bottom of the list. Load it on a malfunctional laptop and
see what it does. You do not need to have an IP address for this to
work as DHCP uses all 1's broadcast. I've seen where the DHCP server
returns garbage and the client ignores the garbage as some type of
sanity check. It might also be that the WAP54G is blocking broadcasts
for some odd reason (it shouldn't).

--
Jeff Liebermann    je***@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
150 Felker St #D   http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060    AE6KS 831-336-2558

20 Feb 2005 8:37 PM

DLink Guru

Yes, WEP is enabled and you have to enter the encryption keys before you
will connect.

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"Mike" <mikey***@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:g52Sd.18045$cW2.8713@fe2.texas.rr.com...
> We added a WAP54G to our office to accommodate customers who come in &
> need to use their laptops. We're using WEP & have broadcasting turned on.
> We have a DHCP server on the LAN to pass out IP addresses to customers &
> customers laptops are set to get a dhcp address. Anyone who works here &
> has a domain account can log in to the domain, get an IP address &
> everything works fine. Anyone else can't. What's happening is if you place
> the curser over the network tray, it will say "Connected to
> 'wireless_network', signal strength excellent", but computer is getting a
> 169.254.x.x address. I actually had one laptop get a dhcp address, after
> the computer had been on about 15 minutes, but couldn't connect to or ping
> anything.
> Am I missing something here?
>

21 Feb 2005 3:36 PM

Mike

I have the encryption key already set in the profile...

"DLink Guru" <rjacobs0spamfree@pacbell.net> wrote in message

news:Wx6Sd.45507$Dc.19056@trnddc06...
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> Yes, WEP is enabled and you have to enter the encryption keys before you
> will connect.
>
>
> "Mike" <mikey***@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:g52Sd.18045$cW2.8713@fe2.texas.rr.com...
>> We added a WAP54G to our office to accommodate customers who come in &
>> need to use their laptops. We're using WEP & have broadcasting turned on.
>> We have a DHCP server on the LAN to pass out IP addresses to customers &
>> customers laptops are set to get a dhcp address. Anyone who works here &
>> has a domain account can log in to the domain, get an IP address &
>> everything works fine. Anyone else can't. What's happening is if you
>> place the curser over the network tray, it will say "Connected to
>> 'wireless_network', signal strength excellent", but computer is getting a
>> 169.254.x.x address. I actually had one laptop get a dhcp address, after
>> the computer had been on about 15 minutes, but couldn't connect to or
>> ping anything.
>> Am I missing something here?
>>
>
>

21 Feb 2005 11:20 PM

Jonathan Sturges

Mike wrote:

> We added a WAP54G to our office to accommodate customers who come in & need
> to use their laptops. We're using WEP & have broadcasting turned on. We have
> a DHCP server on the LAN to pass out IP addresses to customers & customers
> laptops are set to get a dhcp address. Anyone who works here & has a domain
> account can log in to the domain, get an IP address & everything works fine.
> Anyone else can't. What's happening is if you place the curser over the
> network tray, it will say "Connected to 'wireless_network', signal strength
> excellent", but computer is getting a 169.254.x.x address. I actually had
> one laptop get a dhcp address, after the computer had been on about 15
> minutes, but couldn't connect to or ping anything.
> Am I missing something here?

Your DHCP server isn't doling out IPs for some reason. There are *many*
reasons this could occur, unfortunately. :-)

If you created a new subnet for these laptops, make sure the DHCP server
has a definition for the new subnet. Then there's the old BOOTP/DHCP
Helper requirement for DHCP servers not on the same subnet as the
clients; make sure your routers are properly configured with this.

That's obviously just a starting point, but hopefully that will help.
Also, use that DHCP client test tool another responder identified.

good luck,
Jonathan