xp sp3 v5503/v3311 wifi 802.11g connectivity problem
- Specs: P M 745, 512MB RAM, 80GB HDD, 14.1 SXGA+(1400x1050) TFT LCD, 64MB ATI Radeon 9600, 24x24x24x/8x CD-RW/DVD, Intel 802.11b/g PRO/ wireless 2200BG (MPCI), Bluetooth/Modem(CDC), 1Gb Ethernet(LOM), UltraNav, Secure Chip, Fingerprint Reader, WinXP Pro
Background: i have been using windows server 2008 since a month and during this time i procured 2 wifi routers and configured them to wpa2-psk and ssid broadcast off.
both appeared on the server OS as "Unnamed Networks" which were quickly configured and i could switch between the two seamlessly without restarting the laptop or putting it to sleep and waking it up.
Current problem: now i have moved to sp3 5503 (problem was present in 3311 build too) and the problem is that to switch between the networks either i have to restart the laptop or put the laptop on sleep and wake it up again. Also if the connection drops by chance there is no way but to either restart or put the comp on sleep and wake it up again.
This is highly annoying as i have to go in wireless networks setting and move the networks up or down and restart all the time. Is there any solution for this problem?
I would like the networks to appear as "Unnamed networks" in the "choose a wireless network" window as it does in Server 2008.
Thanks
Answers
Hi,
Thanks for reporting the issue..
The showing of the network name in the "choose a wireless network" when the AP is not broadcasting is not supported in windows XP. The article http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb726942.aspx#ECAA gives a detailed description on this..
From the issue of restart or hibernate / wake up it looks like an issue with the driver that you have installed for the wireless NIC.. Could you please try to update the driver of your NIC with the latest one and check if the issue still exists..
If you have the latest driver and still facing the same issue Could you please provide us the below details from your machine to investigate the problem..
1. The make of the wireless NIC and the driver installed on your machine.
2. Also we need the network logs for our analysis.. you need to follow the below steps to get these logs..
* You need to have the administrative rights to get the logs.
* Run the command “Netsh ras set tracing * enabled” in a command window
* Reproduce the problem i,e try to connect to a different SSID (NON-broadcasting) and wait for some time.. and as per your problem description the wireless NIC will not be able to connect to this. Now restart the machine or put it in hibernate and then wake up.. and now the wireless NIC will be able to connect to this SSID..
* Run the command “Netsh ras set tracing * disabled” in a command window
* The logs will be at %windir%\tracing..
Regards,
Sunil
[MSFT]
All Replies
Why are you using SP3 build 5503? According to what's reported here in this forums, it's not even confirmed as a legitimate build of win xp sp3.- the issue exists in build 3311 as well.
- Well, I understand that you found the issue exists in build 3311 as well, but that wasn't the question. I was asking why were you using build 5503, which hasn't been even confirmed in the forums as an actual build from Microsoft? For all we know, build 5503 could be a previous build release modified by a hacker managing to replace the original build number with 5503. On the subject of the wireless connectivity problem, could it be that the new features in Sp3 for networking like Network Access Protection or Black Hole Router Detection might be affecting your connectivity because those could be good places to investigate your wirless connection problem?
- 5503 sufficiently satisfies me to put it beyond such doubts.
i'm interested in knowing if anyone has had such a connectivity issue here? if so is there any fix for it? thanks
well, this is why I recommended to investigate the two main new features associated with win xp sp3 which are network access protection and black hole router detection because both new features involve networking and networking is related to your wireless networking problem. If there's any settings you can change to enable or disable network access protection and black hole router detection, test them out to see if the wireless problem has been eliminated.Hi,
Thanks for reporting the issue..
The showing of the network name in the "choose a wireless network" when the AP is not broadcasting is not supported in windows XP. The article http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb726942.aspx#ECAA gives a detailed description on this..
From the issue of restart or hibernate / wake up it looks like an issue with the driver that you have installed for the wireless NIC.. Could you please try to update the driver of your NIC with the latest one and check if the issue still exists..
If you have the latest driver and still facing the same issue Could you please provide us the below details from your machine to investigate the problem..
1. The make of the wireless NIC and the driver installed on your machine.
2. Also we need the network logs for our analysis.. you need to follow the below steps to get these logs..
* You need to have the administrative rights to get the logs.
* Run the command “Netsh ras set tracing * enabled” in a command window
* Reproduce the problem i,e try to connect to a different SSID (NON-broadcasting) and wait for some time.. and as per your problem description the wireless NIC will not be able to connect to this. Now restart the machine or put it in hibernate and then wake up.. and now the wireless NIC will be able to connect to this SSID..
* Run the command “Netsh ras set tracing * disabled” in a command window
* The logs will be at %windir%\tracing..
Regards,
Sunil
[MSFT]- @Sunil Rao
I have the trace records ready. How do i post them. there is no option to attach here. Please send them to shashank<dot>bansal<at>microsoft<dot>com
Thanks
Shashank
- sent!
- heh now final SP3 is out and still no solution for the 2200bg I get similar symptoms but little bit worse, it works for some time with WPA1 then boom gone and i have to do exactly same to get it back when I ran netstumbler it was very confused to find the card and had to choose manually and I think SP3 is confused too!!! and yea I tried multiple drivers from lenovo site but none worked
then finally it just keeping jumping connecting and disconnecting at least 4 times a SECOND but with open netowrks it connects ok (still not great I still havre to restart at least once a day)
now back to SP2 and wow what a relief didn't have to reboot for the last couple weeks
again here is my lappy
IBM ThinkPad T42 2373-6VU
using intel 2200bg drivers from lenovo's site and yes i tried many of them!!! i'm using 9.0.4.37 driver version from intel website and temporarily got a work around this wireless connection switching problem by disabing the ethernet adapter in the device manager, there is no problem switching between wireless networks now. try it and let me know if it works for you.
- I'm going to wait for everything to work properly last time it started working properly but it ended up with disaster so this workaround worked only for few days for me
