Wi-Fi card and Netbook

[mellz]

I have an Enterasys Wi-Fi card which the seller says worked with the netbook. I am trying to use it with a Belkin F5D6130 acces point connected to my home network. The acces point works fine with a Belkin Wi-Fi card in a Windows laptop.

The access point and theEnterasys card in the Netbook can see each other, and I can read the MAC address of the Enterasys card on my desktop computer and the MAC address of the access point on the Netbook in NetStatRF.

However, I cannot connect to the network with the Netbook. Opera keeps trying to find the web site I enter and Mail keeps trying to open my mailbox on my ISP and then the card times out.

Help!

[diem]

My guess is that your IP configuration is not quite right - the WiFi link is evidently working; TCP/IP is the 'layer' above this.

Is the access point (AP) set to provide IP addresses via DHCP, and does the AP have DNS server and default gateway entries set? When you attempt to go online with Opera, which entry do you select in the 'To Internet service' field on the 'Connect to Internet' dialog? What are IP settings of this entry in the ethernet control panel?

[mellz]

In answer to your questions:


My guess is that your IP configuration is not quite right - the WiFi link is evidently working; TCP/IP is the 'layer' above this.
[I agree.]

Is the access point (AP) set to provide IP addresses via DHCP, and does the AP have DNS server and default gateway entries set? [Yes to both questions]

When you attempt to go online with Opera, which entry do you select in the 'To Internet service' field on the 'Connect to Internet' dialog? What are IP settings of this entry in the ethernet control panel?[I hsve tried both the 802_11_Lucent and the rLAN. Both have the IP set to "Get DNS address from server" and "get IP address from server. The problem is then I try to set up an Internet Service in Control Panel I am given only a choise of direct connect and the various Gold Cards, not the Lucent or rLAN options. When I set up my account with my ISP i.D. and password, this information doesn't get used if I select Lucent or rLAN. If I select "New Internet Service, the Wi-Fi card never turns on. HELP!

[mellz]

Here is a more accurate description of what I have been doing and what has been happening with the enterasys Wi-Fi card and my Netbook:

I suspect I may be setting it up wrong.

Here is what I did:

I went to Control Panel, and in Ethernet settings, I selected the 802_11 Lucent setting.
In address, I left "get address from server" and "get dns from server" checked.

In Internet settings, the only service initially set up was "Dummy" with the choices "dialup" or "direct cable."

I set up a New Internet Service. I unchecked "manual dial" and input my ISP i.d. and password. (e.g. myuserid@isp.com and
password).

When I open Opera and ty to access a web page,the dialog box asing me what imternet service to use offers me the choices
Dummy, New Internet Service (the one I set up), my modem dialup connection, Lucen, IrLAN, LN and rLAN. If I choose the new
internet connection, I am presented with choices of various modem connectionsor direct cable. If I choose direct cable, the
Wi-Fi card never turns on. If I choose lucent, the card turns on, and my access point and the card can see each other
(each sees th MAC address of the other and theyexchange some packets, but I never get connected to the network. BTW, my setup
is as follows: ADSL modem into router. Access point into one of the 4 router outputs. This setup works fine with a Windows
laptop and a Belkin Wi-Fi card.

Mellz

[ktkawabe]

Hi Mellz,
Can you ping to something in your local network, like your DHCP server or your desktop?

Cheers,
Keita

[MartinG]

This is the point I'm at right now. I'm setting up an ad-hoc network at home and (presumably since it's ad-hoc) I need to get IP address(es) set for my home desktop machine (it not being a server per se). Does anyone know if they already exist by default (and where I'd find them under XP) or how you set them up?

Thanks,
Martin

[mellz]

Keita,

How do I ping from the Netbook?

Mel

[ktkawabe]

Hi Mel, please try this one:
http://www.piecafe.demon.co.uk/flfngr.htm

[mellz]

Keita,

When click on that link, it brings me to a page where there are download buttons for every program except flfnger. When I click on the link for flfnger, it bounces me back to the main menu!

Mel

[ktkawabe]

Hi Mel,
I tried myself, followed the link "download flfinger", and was redirected to the page where all of the programs including flfinger were listed. There I pressed "download flfinger" button and I was able to download it.
I hope this helps.

[ktkawabe]

Hi Martin,
When you're using "network sharing" I think your wi-fi side is configured automatically (but I may be wrong, I never touched WinXP and it's a long time since I did that in Win2000). Your Windows works as a DHCP server.

I somehow remember that in Win2000, when you enable "network sharing" for your internet-side network adapter and then select your wlan-side adapter for using this internet-side sharing, your wlan-side adapter is assigned a private IP address of 192.168.0.1, and anything connected to your wlan is assigned 192.168.0.x range with subnet mask 255.255.255.0.

Cheers,
Keita

[MartinG]

Hi Keita,

Thanks for your help but in the event I discovered what the problem was - my own stupidity! :rolleyes: My firewall was acting rather more efficiently than I'd given it credit for. One quick re-adjustment of the firewall settings and everything started working! (Doh!)

Another WiFi-newbie question: Does anyone know how you specify a MAC address under WindowsXP so that the connection will only connect with a specific node? It's easy to set this in EPOC but I guess the critical setting is on the server PC since that's the one that you don't want others connecting to, right?

Try as I might, I can't find anywhere where you'd enter this - unless it's what Windows calls the 'Network Identification'?...

Thanks & regards,
Martin

[diem]

Every ethernet network card has a MAC address set in its firmware. Whilst it is possible to 'spoof' this address in software, it cannot be changed under XP. To obtain the MAC address of the card(s) in your Windows machine, open a DOS prompt and type:

ipconfig /all


You can then enter this address into the access list of your firewall.

[MartinG]

The MAC addresses of the cards isn't a problem - they're printed on the bottom of the cards. ;)

Rather, I was under the impression that there was a setting in Windows Networking somewhere that would let you list specific MAC addresses that you could permit connection with. If it's a case of relying on 3rd party Firewall software then I suspect I'll need to upgrade as the freebie program ZoneAlarm doesn't seem to offer this functionality.

Thanks for the help Diem.

Martin

PS: If you don't mind me being nosey, what does the 'y a n' stand for. 'Yet Another Name' perhaps?!?

[MartinG]

Update: I knew I'd seen this somewhere intelligent! From your own website Diem:-

The very first and best thing you can do, if your wireless access point supports it, is to filter connections by MAC address. All network cards have a totally unique ID number called the MAC (Media Access Control) address. Somewhere in the config of your access point may well be the option to only allow connections from a editable list of MAC addresses. You are strongly advised to enable this feature, and add the MAC addresses of all your wireless ethernet cards. The address of the card will either be printed on the card itself, or can be obtained from the DHCP table elsewhere in your access point's configuration screens.

Try as I might, I've not been able to find (either under WinXP or the config. setting of my WLAN card) anywhere to specify MAC addresses that it's allowed to connect to...

[diem]

Indeed not - MAC address filtering is a firewall feature, and as such will only be found on a wireless access point (though not the most basic models) or a fully-fledged firewall. The D-Link DI-614+ has this feature for example. I'm not familiar with XP (nor will I ever be ;)) so I must admit I don't know if they have added such a feature.

yan is just one of my many nicknames (as is diem); its what my Dad used to call me when I was young (in fact he often still does!)

[MartinG]

Ah - thanks for the the clarification Diem. Since I've gone for a cheap'n'cheerful setup (peer-to-peer) at home and don't use an Access Point per se, I'd guess that I won't have the option in the hardware setup. Probably why I can't find it in fact...

Time to look for some better firewall s/w.

XP is okay - some nice bells and whistles but not quite as stable as 2000 (which is totally rock solid and doesn't require the same level of hardware to run it!). In hindsight I wouldn't pay to upgrade from Win2k... :rolleyes:

I've got a few nicknames from when I was younger too. Unfortunately if I were to use that sort of language here, you'd probably strike me off the membership list! ;)

Thanks again,
Martin

[mellz]

Keita,

You said:

"Hi Mel,
I tried myself, followed the link "download flfinger", and was redirected
to the page where all of the programs including flfinger were listed.
There I pressed "download flfinger" button and I was able to download
it.
I hope this helps."

The mystery is solved. My default browser for links in e-mail messages is Netscape 4.73
When viewed with this browsr, the download button for flfinger IS NOT VISIBLE! When I copied the link into Internet Explorer, the download button could be seen and I could download flfinger!

Mel

[mellz]

Keita,

You said:

"Can you ping to something in your local network, like your DHCP server
or your desktop?"

I installed flfngr and tried pinging to the i.p. address of my access point ant the i.p. address of my router with no response.

flfngr is working because when I ping to localhost I get a quick response.

BTW, in NetStatRF I notice that the Netbook is transmitting unicasr frames and receiving only multicast frames, but exactly double the number of frames it is transmitting.

Mel

[ktkawabe]

Hi Mel,

if you cannot ping to anything, my recommendation is to try to set up your LAN using fixed IPs with minimal hardwares (only temporalily) without connecting to the internet. In this way you can see if the entire TCP/IP layer is mulfunctioning or if it's only the DHCP part.

Concerning unicast/multicast packets, I don't have any idea, sorry. Normally netBook should first broadcast (i.e. neither multicast nor unicast) a "give me an IP!!" kind of packet, and the server responds with either unicast or broadcast, but I'm not sure if these transactions are captured by netstat RF or not.

Cheers,
Keita

[mellz]

Keita,

I have already tried to ping just to my own hardware, the fixed I.P. address of my access point (192.168.1.13)and the fixed I.P. address of my router (192.168.1.1), with no response to either.

Mel

[ktkawabe]

Hi Mel,
I read your postings again and it came to my mind that it's not clear if you have successfully used your enterasys card in your laptop. If not, can it be the MAC address filtering?

Cheers,
Keita

[mellz]

Keita,

I have successfully used the Enterasys card in my Windows 2000 laptop.

I have been unable to use it with the netbook.

I have the access point set to accept ALL MAC addresses (filtering OFF) and SSID's.

Mel

[ktkawabe]

Hi Mel, thanks for your reply.

OK, what happens if you tell both the AP and netBook to use the same ESSID? Like "temporary" or something? If nothing happens, I'm afraid this is almost the end of my suggestions. In that case, if you write down each and every parameters in ethernet settings on your netBook (Control Panel -> Ethernet ->Edit) as well as the AP and the router, it might be possible for me to look into further.

Cheers,
Keita

[walkerp]

Hi Mel,

I am successfully using this type of card with a Dell Truemobile 1184 Broadband Router connected via cable modem to the internet.

It worked with the default Lucent Rlan settings on the NetBook.

On the router I had to enter the IP address my PC is usually given by my ISP for it to connect to the Internet.

By the way I still have access to half a dozen of these cards if anyone has read through all this and wants to buy one!

[Craggy]

Originally posted by MartinG
Update: I knew I'd seen this somewhere intelligent! From your own website Diem:-

Somewhere in the config of your access point may well be the option to only allow connections from a editable list of MAC addresses.

HI, I think that this is the most important part of that quote. MAC filtering is done through a wireless access point. If you are using ad-hoc mode with two wireless adaptors it may not be possible.

Indeed, when I got my netgear MA102 access point I was disappointed to find that the config options did not offer this feature. Then I noticed that there were two config programs... One for direct connection via USB cable (no password needed), another using NNTP across the network to configure the device. Upon starting the second config program I found, to my gratification, a MAC filtering option.

[Craggy]

And it's now that I notice that there are two pages to this thread, and i just replied to one from ages ago!

[mellz]

THANKS! Many, Many thanks to PlutoPants for solving my problems,
both with the wired Gold Card ethernet card and with the Enyerasys
wireless card!

The answer was to set my ethernet connection to fixed I.P. address,
assign an I.P. to the Netbook and input the I.P. address of my router
for the Default Gateway and both DNS Server addresses!

Now if he could only help me with the triple beep reset I SOMETIMES
get when I send e-mail either out of the E-Mail application or from a
web page.
:p