Re: Wireless Connectivity

In article <1175737129.354590.234490@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
sblenkhorn@xxxxxxxxx says...

Even more so it seems to be a wireless connectivity issue to an extent
because I do have Offline files for wired stations and they have no
issues with going offline. I even have a single workstation that is
wireless and it has no issues. It really is an issue that is with two
laptops.

Since the problem is specific to 2 out of 3 wireless devices while the
other one (the workstation) is not having any problems, I would
concentrate on the laptop wireless NICs. Firmware, drivers, etc.

I have seen one case where an older wireless NIC was flakey with certain
WAPs. If you have access to a wireless NIC PCCard, you can try
disabling the internal wireless (assuming that's what you are using),
installing the PCCard NIC, and seeing if that makes a difference. [I
know it's a pain, but sometimes this sort of trial-and-error is the best
one can do.]

My laptop is an HP dv1000 with an Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG wireless
adapter. The other laptop is a Fujitsu LifeBook but not sure the
adapter at this point.

Intel wireless NICs are usually pretty good in my experience.

When we go offline the actual wireless
connection doesn't seem to miss a beat - never goes to the yellow dot
or issues that indicate a true signal problem.

If you do a Repair on the two laptop NICs, after the NIC is re-enabled
does the remainder of the process go quickly (acquire address, etc.)?

There are only two competing wireless signals usually and I will
double check their channel, but I believe they are not competing in
the same space - I have NetStumbler so I will double check that.

OK.

We are using WPA-PSK TKIP security on this configuration.

If *all* of your devices (WAP + NICs) support AES encryption, you might
try changing to that. This is because TKIP is a software-only
encryption method (actually an enhanced WEP) while AES depends on
devices having "hardware assist." If everything supports AES, you may
*reduce* the processing load on the WAP and NICs which may improve
reliability. (Bonus: A wireless network which uses AES is often 10% to
15% faster than one using TKIP.) However, you *cannot* mix TKIP and
AES.

I agree though that changing to a different solution would just be
masking the true issue but these Offline Files seems to be the only
thing really having any problems... otherwise everything is very much
operational - and my boss is killing me on this... she is tired of
this Offline business!

I appreciate the realities of mad bosses. That said, even if you need
to implement a temporary workaround for the O.F. issue, please keep
investigating the wireless problem until it is solved. Otherwise, you
will likely have other wireless-related problems later.

-- Owen Williams (SBS MVP)
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Wireless Connectivity
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