Serious Help Needed With Wireless Client!

[paul.rowling]

Hi,

I have a Sony Vaio T1XP Notebook running Windows XP SP2. I have a wireless network set up which allows wireless connection in two buildings. The wireless network is bridged using access points to provide connection to both buildings.

Configuration is as follows:

House 1: ADSL Wireless Router hard wired to Access Point in bridge mode.

House 2: AP in bridge mode hard wired to a third AP operating in AP mode to supply wireless connectivity to upstairs. Fourth AP in repeater mode to supply wireless connectivity downstairs.

The router in house 1 acts as the gateway and is also the DHCP server.

When I take the laptop to house 1 the laptop connects to the wireless router directly, it then is assigned an ip address and I can then connect to the internet.

When I take the laptop to house 2 it connects to the wireless network, but it takes ages to get assigned an ip address, it then states that there is limited or no connectivity, but when I do an ipconfig it actually has been assigned a valid ip address, gateway, dns servers etc. However, I cannot ping the default gateway and cannot connect to the internet. I have a second laptop in house 2 which connects to the wireless network and is assigned a valid ip address and works fine, I can ping the default gateway and get on the internet no problem. I can't understand what's going on here? I have updated the drivers for the onboard WLAN but it has made no difference. I can't understand how one laptop works and the other doesn't, I also can't understand how this laptop works in house 1 but not house 2.
Please note that the 2 laptops are not the same machines.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Best Regards

Paul

[Rifleman @ Layman's PC]

Hi,

I have a Sony Vaio T1XP Notebook running Windows XP SP2. I have a wireless network set up which allows wireless connection in two buildings. The wireless network is bridged using access points to provide connection to both buildings.

Configuration is as follows:

House 1: ADSL Wireless Router hard wired to Access Point in bridge mode.

House 2: AP in bridge mode hard wired to a third AP operating in AP mode to supply wireless connectivity to upstairs. Fourth AP in repeater mode to supply wireless connectivity downstairs.

The router in house 1 acts as the gateway and is also the DHCP server.

When I take the laptop to house 1 the laptop connects to the wireless router directly, it then is assigned an ip address and I can then connect to the internet.

When I take the laptop to house 2 it connects to the wireless network, but it takes ages to get assigned an ip address, it then states that there is limited or no connectivity, but when I do an ipconfig it actually has been assigned a valid ip address, gateway, dns servers etc. However, I cannot ping the default gateway and cannot connect to the internet. I have a second laptop in house 2 which connects to the wireless network and is assigned a valid ip address and works fine, I can ping the default gateway and get on the internet no problem. I can't understand what's going on here? I have updated the drivers for the onboard WLAN but it has made no difference. I can't understand how one laptop works and the other doesn't, I also can't understand how this laptop works in house 1 but not house 2.
Please note that the 2 laptops are not the same machines.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Best Regards

Paul

Are the two wireless NICs in the two laptops the same?

Have you tried setting the network addresses and such up manually instead of relying on DHCP?

[Stalemate]

...When I take the laptop to house 2 it connects to the wireless network, but it takes ages to get assigned an ip address, it then states that there is limited or no connectivity, but when I do an ipconfig it actually has been assigned a valid ip address, gateway, dns servers etc...

This sounds like the message added with SP2's networking settings - it can be disabled if that's the case.

[FatalException0E]

This sounds like the message added with SP2's networking settings - it can be disabled if that's the case.

I think I've gotten that message before SP2 when I was too far away from the WAP.


Find out which AP each computer is connecting to. It sounds like there are at least 2 APs in house2 that you could be connecting to. Since your laptop was running on an AP in house1, it may be trying to connect to that. Since it can receive a little bit of signal from there, it may still be trying to hang on to that connection. We had similar problems with wireless connections on PDAs here recently.

[paul.rowling]

Hi,

The NIC's in the two laptops are not the same, it isn't possible for the laptop to be able to pick up the signal from house 1 either as it's completely out of range. Also it is only able to talk to one of the AP's in house 2 as it is based downstairs, therefore it is talking to the AP in repeater mode as I had to add this repeater so that I could get coverage downstairs.

I havn't tried disabling DHCP, but then again it works with the other laptop so it should work with this one aswell. Just for info, both laptops are sat next to each other, just incase you thought they were trying to access the network from different locations.

Cheers

Paul

[Archer]

If you take laptop 2 into house one does it exibit the same problem?

[paul.rowling]

Hi,

If I take laptop 2 into house one it doesn't exhibit the same problem that's why I can't understand what's going on here?

Cheers

Paul